I wish I could help you with the full name. I am looking through the association meeting booklets I have from 1924 to 1992. I don't have the full set. October meeting 1926 list J. M. Williams, I. J. Eason and C. D. Womble as messengers October 1931 J. M. Williams is listed as Ass't Clerk for the Association meeting. I noted J. M. Williams address was Elm City, NC As late as 1948 he is still clerk at Upper Town Creek. I do not find his name after that. Have not found a full name.. I have a James Marshall Williams b. 1896 but would feel J. M. would be older. No parents for James Marshall. Bill

Please plan for anyone who can come to the grand opening of the Humber House on May 8 at 10:00 am. _________________________________________________________________ Quick access to your favorite MSN content and Windows Live with Internet Explorer 8. http://ie8.msn.com/microsoft/internet-explorer-8/en-us/ie8.aspx?ocid=B037MSN55C0701A

For Upper Town Creek there is listed a J.M. Williams as clerk in the Contentnea Primitive Baptist Church. The Pastor being A.M. Crisp. Does anyone know what the J.M. stands for under J.M. Williams. reply to pawards@lexcominc.net. My great grandfather was William Bert Williams. I am still trying to find his parents. Anyone know of any relation to J. M. Williams? Thank you, Peggy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Kittrell" <wbk99@embarqmail.com> To: <nc-pcfr-l@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 10:12 AM Subject: [NC-PCFR] Contentnea Primitive Baptist > Here are some Primitive Baptist notes from 1924 Meeting > > Minutes of the Ninety-Fourth Annual Session > of the Contentnea Primitive Baptist Association > Held with the Church at Pleasant Hill > Edcombe County, NC October 11, 12, 13, 1924 > Officers > Elder J. P. Tingle, Moderator Grantsboro, NC > H. L. Brake, Clerk Rocky Mount, NC > Eld. J. E. Mewborn, Asst Clerk Snow Hill, NC > Ordained Ministers and Address > Jas. Corbitt, Greenville, NC > G. M. Corbitt, Greenville, NC > A. M. Crisp, Pinetops, NC > D. A. Mewborn, Farmville, NC > T. C. Hart, LaGrange, NC > T. B. Lancasteer, Goldsboro, NC > John P. Tingle, Grantsboro, NC > J. B. Roberts, Greenville, NC > W. B. Kearney, Snow Hill, NC > J. E. Mewborn, Snow Hill, NC > Luther Joyner, Greenville, NC > > Names of Churches, Pastors and Clerks > Autry's Creek, A. M. Crisp, Pastor, J. F. Brown, Clerk > Bear Creek, W. B. Kearney, Pastor A. R. Sutton, Clerk > Bethel, J. P. Tingle, Pastor, J. P. Tingle, Clerk > Beaverdam, Emma Ealler, Clerk > Damascus, C. F. Denny, Pastor, J. D. Gates, Clerk > Blount's Creek, Tillman Sawyer, Pastor, P. L. Hill, Clerk > Galloways, J. S. Corbitt, Pastor, J. S. Corbitt, Clerk > Goose Creek Island, W. W. Styron, Pastor, N. W. Ireland, Clerk > Hancocks, W. M. Monsees, Pastor, Josephus Cox, Clerk > Kinston, L. H. Hardy, Pastor, R. H. Temple, Clerk > Meadow, D. A. Mewborn, Pastor, D. A. Mewborn, Clerk > Macedonia, J. P. tingle, Pastor, B. F. Fulcher, Clerk > Moores, R. E. Adams, Pastor, J. J. Thorne, Clerk > Nahunta, T. B. Lancaster, Pastor, V. A. Bartlett, Clerk > Pleasent Hill, G. W. Boswell, Pastor, H. L> Brake, Clerk > Red Banks, No pastor, Sister Bessie Brooks, Clerk, Jethro Mills, ass't > Sanday Bottom, W. B. Kearney, Pastor, Mrs. Mary Croom, Clerk > Sandy Grove, J. W. Wyatt, Pastor, G. M. Hardy, Clerk > Town Creek, A. M> Crisp, Pastor, Mrs. W. M> More, Clerk > Tysons, No pastor, A. P. Turnage, Clerek > Upper Town Creek, A. M> Crisp, Pastor, J. M. Williams, Clerk > > Pitt County Family Researchers website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpcfr/ > > Message archives address: > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=nc-pcfr > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NC-PCFR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

George Edward Harris, Jr. was the son of George Edward Harris, Sr. and Isabella Augusta Hearne. (I had just posted an auction notice her her farm, "Peebles Farm", being sold. George E. Harris, Jr. wrote many radio scripts and stage plays. SOURCE: Daily Reflector Nov 13, 1945 Great Honor for Greenville Author Edward Harris, native of Greenville is the author of a play to be produced on Broadway soon. The comedy, "Forgotten Lady" is to go into rehearsal the first of December and will open in New York the middle of January, under the sponsorship of Edith Gordon, with Elsie Ferguson as star. Based on some anedotes about the late Mrs. Patrick Campbell the story according to the author happens to parallel the life of Elsie Ferguson herself. Star of silent piectures famous on Broadway, voted by the artists of America the most beautiful woman in the country, Miss Ferguson had to retire from the theatre some years ago because of illness. However in 1943 she returned to the stage and achieved a great personal triumph in a play that did not succeed, "Outrageous Fortune". Mr. Harris at that timesubmitted "Forgotten Lady" to her. She was immediately enthusiastic about it and announced her wish to appear in the title role. Edith Gordon acquired the manuscript last spring. In September Mr. Harris went from his home at Atlantic Beach to New Yorkconferred with Miss Gordon and Miss Ferguson about the final revision but came back to North Carolina for the actual work. Star and producer have heartily approved this latest version. Miss Gordon is now copleting her organization and negotiating for the lease of a theatre. The author is taking advantage of this interval for a visit to his mother, Mrs. G. Harris of 635 Contanche Street. He intends to remain in Greenville until the casting of "Forgotten Lady" begins.

Here are some Primitive Baptist notes from 1924 Meeting Minutes of the Ninety-Fourth Annual Session of the Contentnea Primitive Baptist Association Held with the Church at Pleasant Hill Edcombe County, NC October 11, 12, 13, 1924 Officers Elder J. P. Tingle, Moderator Grantsboro, NC H. L. Brake, Clerk Rocky Mount, NC Eld. J. E. Mewborn, Asst Clerk Snow Hill, NC Ordained Ministers and Address Jas. Corbitt, Greenville, NC G. M. Corbitt, Greenville, NC A. M. Crisp, Pinetops, NC D. A. Mewborn, Farmville, NC T. C. Hart, LaGrange, NC T. B. Lancasteer, Goldsboro, NC John P. Tingle, Grantsboro, NC J. B. Roberts, Greenville, NC W. B. Kearney, Snow Hill, NC J. E. Mewborn, Snow Hill, NC Luther Joyner, Greenville, NC Names of Churches, Pastors and Clerks Autry's Creek, A. M. Crisp, Pastor, J. F. Brown, Clerk Bear Creek, W. B. Kearney, Pastor A. R. Sutton, Clerk Bethel, J. P. Tingle, Pastor, J. P. Tingle, Clerk Beaverdam, Emma Ealler, Clerk Damascus, C. F. Denny, Pastor, J. D. Gates, Clerk Blount's Creek, Tillman Sawyer, Pastor, P. L. Hill, Clerk Galloways, J. S. Corbitt, Pastor, J. S. Corbitt, Clerk Goose Creek Island, W. W. Styron, Pastor, N. W. Ireland, Clerk Hancocks, W. M. Monsees, Pastor, Josephus Cox, Clerk Kinston, L. H. Hardy, Pastor, R. H. Temple, Clerk Meadow, D. A. Mewborn, Pastor, D. A. Mewborn, Clerk Macedonia, J. P. tingle, Pastor, B. F. Fulcher, Clerk Moores, R. E. Adams, Pastor, J. J. Thorne, Clerk Nahunta, T. B. Lancaster, Pastor, V. A. Bartlett, Clerk Pleasent Hill, G. W. Boswell, Pastor, H. L> Brake, Clerk Red Banks, No pastor, Sister Bessie Brooks, Clerk, Jethro Mills, ass't Sanday Bottom, W. B. Kearney, Pastor, Mrs. Mary Croom, Clerk Sandy Grove, J. W. Wyatt, Pastor, G. M. Hardy, Clerk Town Creek, A. M> Crisp, Pastor, Mrs. W. M> More, Clerk Tysons, No pastor, A. P. Turnage, Clerek Upper Town Creek, A. M> Crisp, Pastor, J. M. Williams, Clerk

I thought this might be of interest to some of you. The Peebles Farm mentioned in this advertisement is where Blue Banks is located on the north side of NC 43 west of Greenville. The old Peebles cemetery is located on this property. Belle Harris is Isabella Augusta "Belle" Hearn (b. Mar 13, 1873), d/o Benjamin Howell and Charlotte Elizabeth Moore Hearne. Belle was the wife of George Edward Harris. John "Jack" and Pennetta A. E. Roberson Hearne were the parents of Benjamin Howell Hearne, and they are buried at Blue Banks. DAILY REFLECTOR November 10, 1945 Auction Sale of Farm Lands On Saturday, November 17th 1945 at 10:00 o'clock A. M., I will offer for sale at public auction at the "Peebles Farm" six miles west of Greenville on the Falkland highway my farm as follows: My farm known as "Peebles Farm" in Falkland Township six miles west of Greenville on the Falkland highway, containing approximately 160 acres of land with 17 acres of tobacco allotment (1945) My farm known as the "Teel Place" in Greenville Township near Mt. Pleasant Church containing approximately 40 acres of land with 8.6 acres of tobacco allotment (1945) Approximately 37½ acres of woods land in Greenville Township on the Stokes highway between said highway and the Old Stokes Road Approximately 371/2 acres of woods land in Greenville Township on south side of dirt road leading to Stokes. At the same time and place, I will also sell team, tobacco sticks, plows farm tools and implements and farm trailer Terms of sale will be announced at the sale. The owner will show you these farms if you are interested in buying. Owner reserves the right to reject or accept any and all bids made. (Mrs.) Belle A. Harris, Owner Greenville, N. C. Harding and Lee, Attys

We are presently working on the Daniel (Daniels) family in Pitt County, NC Here is an excerpt taken from Zion's Landmark, the Primitive Baptis newspaper. The tombstone noted her husband was R. L. Daniel. In her obituary his name is given as Robert. I believe it is Robert Lanier. Will post some more information on the Daniel family. SOURCE: Daniel Cemetery, Whichard-Cherry Run Road, Pactolus, NC H. E. Daniel, Wife of R. L. Daniel b. 1828 d. NOTE: Her name may have been N. E. Daniel (We may have mis-read the tombstone as we have H. E.) SOURCE: Zion's Landmark Sister N. E. Daniel died near Greenville in Pitt county, NC.. February 21st, 1911. She was the daughter of Lewis Purvis and wife of Edgecombe County, NC. She was born the 11th day of August 1828 making her 82 Years, 6 months and 10 days. She was married to Robert Daniel by whom she had one child, who married W. H. Harrington. NOTE: Her daughter was Della E. and married William Henry Harrington on Oct 18, 1870 in Pitt.

This series of the Daily Reflector is very good and I have enjoyed it so much. Keep up the good work, Bill Annette Ginn Roebuck, Senior Sis > From: wbk99@embarqmail.com > To: nc-pcfr-l@rootsweb.com > Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:31:35 -0400 > Subject: [NC-PCFR] DAILY REFLECTOR > > DAILY REFLECTOR November 10, 1945 > > Belvoir High School News > > The Home Economics girls at Belvoir are still doing fine work > > Last Thursday morning the ninth grade had as their chapel > > Program a fashion show, which consisted of the following ninth > > Grade girls modeling their second complete garments dresses: > > Edna Corbett, Enes McLawhorn, Earline Stocks, Estell Dunn, > > Rosa Bibbs, Christine Pollard, Christine Stocks, Beatrice Coggins, > > Janet Parker, Jane Clark, Juanita Dickerson, Dorothy Buck, > > Susie Irene Pollard, Peggy Roberts, Mattie Ruth Harrel and > > Sarah Jones. Enes McLawhorn won the prize having the most > > attractive dress. > > Tuesday night at the second Parent Teachers Association > > meeting of the year the following tenth grade girls modeled > > dresses they had just completed. > > Elleen Hathaway, Nancy Worsley, Naomi Garris, Doris, Harris, > > Marjorie Stancill, Barbara Hathaway, Betty Hathaway, and > > Gladys Harris. These girls designed their own patterns and cut > > them from newspaper thus having them very original. > > Gladys Harris won the prize. > > Margaret Windom won the prize for the eleventh grade > > Modeling which took place the same night. A contest between > > Doris Thomas, Frances Taylor, Margie Tyson, and Ruth Morris. > > These girls made dresses of more difficult designs. All of these > > dresses had fancy work either embroidery appliqué or stiched > > with wool, displayed on them. > > Virginia Moore a member of the 11th grade class throughout > > the evening for the girls modeling > > All day Thursday the home economics girls helped prepare > > for the teachers banquet which was held that night. They stuffed > > celery, stripped carrots, cut lemons, shelled pecans, set tables, etc > > and then Janet Parker, Jane Clark and Audry Bell came around in > > their little white aprons, finishing the day serving the guests in > > an elaborately designed room in which all the Belvoir teachers > > participated in decorating. > > > > > > > > > Pitt County Family Researchers website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpcfr/ > > Message archives address: > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=nc-pcfr > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NC-PCFR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ Express your personality in color! Preview and select themes for Hotmail®. http://www.windowslive-hotmail.com/LearnMore/personalize.aspx?ocid=TXT_MSGTX_WL_HM_express_032009#colortheme

DAILY REFLECTOR November 10, 1945 Amos Shivers Died Winterville Today W. Amos Shivers, 75, died at his home near Winterville this morning at 9 o'clock. He had been in declining health since he suffered a stroke in February 1940 and critically ill for a week. Funeral services will be held at the home Sunday afternoon at 3:30 Burial will be in the Shivers family cemetery near the home. Mr. Shivers was born and reared near Bethel. He was married to Miss Almeta Fulford in 1888 and moved to near Winterville where he had lived the past 57 years. He was a member of Reedy Branch Free Will Baptist Church and a member of Mohican Tribe of the Order of Red Men. Surviving are a son Amos Willis Shivers of near the home. Four daughters: Mrs. J> G. Harris and Mrs. G. W. Harris of near the home. Mrs. Roxie Stocks of the home and Mrs. H. H. Worthington of Winterville. 23 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren and a sister, Mr. D. C. Davenport of near Winterville The Red Men will serve as active pallbearers and also take charge of service at the grave. The grandchildren will serve as flower bearers

DAILY REFLECTOR November 10, 1945 Funeral Services for Leon S. Pender Funeral services for Leon Evans Pender, 59, were held at the home of his sister, Mrs. A. J. Moore on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 by the Rev. Robert W. Bradshaw, pastor of Jarvis Memorial Methodist Church. Burial was in Cherry Hill cemetery. Pallbearers were J. L. Kilgo, H. A. Page, W. T. Lipscomb, J. S. Ficklen, J. H. Waldrop and D. C. Moore, Jr. Out of town persons attending the funeral were, Misses Virginia Sledge, Lida and Penelope Grey of Tarboro; Henry A. Page, Jr. and Mrs. Martha Page Blackmore of Aberdeen and Mrs. Helen McMahon, Mrs. Jessica Stevens and Miss Pauline Chamberlain of Souther Pines.

DAILY REFLECTOR November 10, 1945 Belvoir High School News The Home Economics girls at Belvoir are still doing fine work Last Thursday morning the ninth grade had as their chapel Program a fashion show, which consisted of the following ninth Grade girls modeling their second complete garments dresses: Edna Corbett, Enes McLawhorn, Earline Stocks, Estell Dunn, Rosa Bibbs, Christine Pollard, Christine Stocks, Beatrice Coggins, Janet Parker, Jane Clark, Juanita Dickerson, Dorothy Buck, Susie Irene Pollard, Peggy Roberts, Mattie Ruth Harrel and Sarah Jones. Enes McLawhorn won the prize having the most attractive dress. Tuesday night at the second Parent Teachers Association meeting of the year the following tenth grade girls modeled dresses they had just completed. Elleen Hathaway, Nancy Worsley, Naomi Garris, Doris, Harris, Marjorie Stancill, Barbara Hathaway, Betty Hathaway, and Gladys Harris. These girls designed their own patterns and cut them from newspaper thus having them very original. Gladys Harris won the prize. Margaret Windom won the prize for the eleventh grade Modeling which took place the same night. A contest between Doris Thomas, Frances Taylor, Margie Tyson, and Ruth Morris. These girls made dresses of more difficult designs. All of these dresses had fancy work either embroidery appliqué or stiched with wool, displayed on them. Virginia Moore a member of the 11th grade class throughout the evening for the girls modeling All day Thursday the home economics girls helped prepare for the teachers banquet which was held that night. They stuffed celery, stripped carrots, cut lemons, shelled pecans, set tables, etc and then Janet Parker, Jane Clark and Audry Bell came around in their little white aprons, finishing the day serving the guests in an elaborately designed room in which all the Belvoir teachers participated in decorating.

Here is note on Black Jack OFWB Church's contribution. The Free Will Baptists were asked in 1913 to raise $3,000. for the Ayden Seminary-Eureka College, with Black Jack ask to contribute $200.00.

Judy, directed you in the right direction. Go to Mount Olive College website and there will be info about Eureka College. It seems in my history of Black Jack OFWB Church, the church gave money for the establishment of the school. Then we ended up with the bell which we have today.

I attended the Red Oak church from about 1943 to 1956. Here's a paragraph about the early church taken from the 100th anniversary booklet. The eleven charter members were: Julia A. Corey, William H. May, Lemicey C. Nichols, Elizabeth W. Smith, Joshua Smith, Theophilus Smith, Benjamin W. Tyson, Elvira Tyson, May E. Tyson, Moses W. Tyson and Clemmie Watford. Their meeting places were Forbes Schoolhouse (used for the first four years), Watford house (an empty home nearby, which was used for one year), Nichols schoolhouse (located nearby in the Arthur community. From this from this movement and the meeting held in the Arthur community, another church, Arthur Christian Church was born. After three years of meeting in this community (Arthur) it was decided to move back to the original community and preach in the Frog Level Schoolhouse.

Jo, Mt. Olive College has a Free Will Baptist History Room that might have information that would be of interest to you. Judy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jo Prytherch" <jprytherch@earthlink.net> To: "PCFR" <nc-pcfr@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 8:31:30 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [NC-PCFR] Seminary at Ayden Bill, did you ever come across any history of the Seminary at Ayden? I would be interested in knowing more about it. My grandfather was the Rev. C. J. Harris whose sermon there in 1904 was mentioned in the clipping you found. I'd love to know more about that Seminary. Love, Jo Pitt County Family Researchers website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpcfr/ Message archives address: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=nc-pcfr ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NC-PCFR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I have a picture of my grandmother, Bertha Tollena Manning, about 14 years of age, inside one of the old school houses.  She is sitting at a desk, I believe.  Paula Baker Researching Cole, Wilkerson, Norman, and White in Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana and Baker, Tyson, Manning, and Stocks in North Carolina "We are not free, separate, and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way." Thomas Mann ________________________________ From: Roger E. Kammerer <kammerer@hotmail.com> To: PCFR PCFR <nc-pcfr@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 5:15:56 PM Subject: [NC-PCFR] Remembering the Old Country Schools Remembering the Old Country Schools             The days of the little one room school house where students would trudge in all kinds of weather is only a memory. The last one teacher school in Pitt County, the Ellis School, on the east side of Tar Road, was consolidated with other schools in 1950 and the students were transported to bigger and better schools. Many of the remaining older people raised in the country still remember with fondness their little neighborhood country school.             Since the arrival of settlers into Pitt County there has always been an interest in education. From old records we know that there were some school teachers in the county in the 1770’s. In 1786 an Act of NC General Assembly changed the name of Martinsborough to Greenville and incorporated the Pitt Academy. This started Greenville’s long history of schools and academies.             Certainly Plantation owners and families with means would get together and build a community school house or academy and hire itinerant teachers to teach their children.  In “King’s Sketches of Pitt County” he writes that around 1810...“Conditions then existing in the State applied to Pitt County. It might be called a primitive age, an age of simplicity. At this time there was not a public school in the State. The great mass of the people could neither read nor write, education being the accomplishment of the few and wealthy. There were few private schools. The school house was built of logs, with a dirt chimney; a log was sawed out at one side for a window; the seats were made of split logs, the split side being somewhat smoothed and supported on round legs driven in holes bored in the underside, and such seats had no backs; a shelf built to one side of the house answered for a desk for writing, the pupil sitting on one of the benches; the floor was of rough- hewn timber, with many and large holes that let in the cold in winter. The teacher was held in little esteem and was practically a servant and nurse for the smaller children. The teacher was generally a woman, practically imported from New England, and generally ended her career in the school room by marrying the son of the house and causing a row in the family. The teacher's pay was a pittance.” By 1850, it appears from the Superintendent of Common Schools report that most of the teachers in Pitt County were men.             In October 1817, The Pleasant Grove Academy opened on the road leading from Greenville to Charles Jenkins Store (near Rountree’s Church). The trustees were Jonathan Frizzle, Charles Jenkins, Jesse Rountree and James Powell. They advertised that” all the various branches in English, Latin and Greek Languages, will be taught in this Academy, and every exertion used to improve the Morals of the pupils.”             By 1830 the spirit of education come over the people of Pitt County and the State. The Greenville Female Academy was chartered in 1830. The incorporators were Gen. William Clark, Archibald Parker, John C. Gorham, Richard Evans, and Absalom Saunders. The Clemmons Academy (in Carolina Township) was chartered in 1831, with Willie Gurganus, Thomas E. Chance, Edmund Andrews and William Clemmons, as Trustees. The Contentnea Academy (near the Moye’s Cross Roads near Farmville) was incorporated the same year with Moses Turnage, Lewis Turnage, Abram Baker, Elbert Moye, William D. Moye and Alfred Moye, as Trustees. The Jordan Plain Academy (located about two miles north of Pactolus, on the Williamston Road) was incorporated in 1832 with Hugh Telfair, Thomas Jordan, Valentine Jordan, Benjamin F. Eborn, James Little and Churchill Perkins, as Trustees. .             In 1840 Common Schools were established across the State and Superintendents of Common Schools were elected for each county.  According to the 1848 Pitt County Common School Report, Alfred Moye was the Chairman of the Pitt County Superintendents of Common Schools and there were 31 school districts in Pitt County. Tax money was raised for upkeep of the schools and to pay the teachers.  Eventually teacher’s knowledge was tested and the subjects taught standardized.  Under the law of 1852, the Chairmen of the Board of County Superintendents was authorized to refuse to pay any Teacher who did not hold a regular Certificate from the Committee of Examination for his county; and these Certificates had to be annually renewed, and were good only in the county they were given.             In January 1845, Josiah Barrett advertised to the public that he had employed a teacher from up North and again opened his Academy near Joyner’s Crossroads, Pitt County. He invited those who wished to give their children a good education to enroll at his school. Subjects taught were the usual spelling, reading, writing, grammar and arithmetic. Astonishingly, also included were “Geography, Rhetoric, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Trigonometry, Algebra, Geometry, Surveying, and Ancient and Modern Languages.” Board could be had with respectable families in the neighborhood for $4.00 a month.             A pioneer Pitt County educator, Mrs. William Henry Smith, better known by her friends as “Aunt Pollie Nelson Smith,” (1825-1907), is honored for doing more for the education of poor children in Pitt County than any dozen people in it. Being a busy mistress of a large plantation and raising children, she began teaching her and her neighbor’s children in 1845. According to an autobiographical sketch she stated “she had to study her grammar as she taught it having never studied it at school.” She further wrote, “she mastered it and taught it successfully.” She taught in a small one room school house on the plantation, but eventually had to give it up because of family duties. Her husband hired a teacher and the school ran until 1869 when the financial burden forced it to close. In 1870, seeing the need for educating her seven children, Pollie Nelson Smith set up a school on the second floor of her house. This school grew to again include the children in the neighborhood and the school removed to the one room school house on the plantation. The school continued to grow and with the help of a noted NC educator, John Ghost Elliot, a large two story school house was built in 1882 to teach the numerous students. She taught her last school in 1901 and seven of her children, twenty one grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren became teachers in Pitt County and elsewhere.             In 1924, an old Confederate veteran wrote an article to the local newspaper about the early country school he attended as a child at Hollywood, Pitt County. “I remember well the first day I went to school, it was in August 1857. I was six years old, never had been in a school room before and was very bashful. I had to walk 2 ½ miles. As I entered the door, the first thing that attracted my attention was the teacher, an old man, sitting in an old rickety chair and a long switch near by his side. Of course I didn’t like the looks of that much. My next attention was given to the house and furniture. The house was about 16 feet square, built of logs, covered with shingles. It had one door, two very small windows, a dirt chimney, with a fireplace about 8 feet wide. The cracks between the boards, with about half of them torn off, gave plenty of ventilation, especially in cold weather. The furniture consisted of four benches about 14 feet long, being the slabs, sawed off of popular logs, with legs put in, with an average of about two feet high, so the children could swing their feet to their own heart’s content. Also there was a writing desk sitting across the middle of the room in proportion in height to the benches. Our water supply was from a hole dug near the side of a branch. The hole was about four feet deep, and three feet wide and five or six feet long at the top. Dug with a slant from the top so that the children could walk down and dip and drink all they wanted. Our school year was about three school months divided in two parts, first beginning about the middle of July and continuing for about six weeks, then stop and house the crop and do what else there was to be done. School started again about the fifteenth of October and continued for about six weeks more, then came the end with no commencement and no picnic.”             Other complaints made about these early schools were the muddy roads, no bathroom facilities and ticks on the path to the school. In Feb. 1903 a freak occurrence happened when a wind storm blew over a public school house in Swift Creek township. The school was in session at the time, but none of the pupils were injured, though several were badly frightened. Because of the damage to the building the school had to suspend for the remainder of the term.             Eventually every small community and crossroads in Pitt County had a school house. With the large consolidation of the schools in 1938, most of the little country school houses were sold off to become private residences, tenant houses and barns. Thankfully someone at the Board of Education took snapshots of a large number of these small country school houses. They were preserved in scrapbooks and later saved from the trash by an alert secretary who knew their value to Pitt County history. William B. Kittrell, the noted Pitt County historian, borrowed the scrapbooks and had them scanned onto a CD. They now they can be viewed at Sheppard Memorial Library. _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ SkyDrive: Get 25 GB of free online storage. http://windowslive.com/online/skydrive?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_skydrive_032009 Pitt County Family Researchers  website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpcfr/ Message archives address: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=nc-pcfr ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NC-PCFR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Bill, Does Reedy Branch Church have any minutes from long ago?  I have Tysons who attended that church.  Paula Baker Researching Cole, Wilkerson, Norman, and White in Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana and Baker, Tyson, Manning, and Stocks in North Carolina "We are not free, separate, and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way." Thomas Mann ________________________________ From: Bill Kittrell <wbk99@embarqmail.com> To: Jo Prytherch <jprytherch@earthlink.net>; nc-pcfr@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 8:20:49 PM Subject: Re: [NC-PCFR] Seminary at Ayden Jo, here is a note relating to the article I wrote on the history of Black Jack Original Free Will Baptis Church. Will do some more checking in my church files. Also I have about 6 pages on C. J. Harris, a few written by Lucille Harris Roberson and Resolution of Respect by Central Conference. Church Bell     The bell was hung in the steeple in 1928 and remained there until removed in October of 1984 and a new steeple put in place.  The size of the old steeple was 16 x 16.  This was done in preparation for the renovation of the sanctuary.  The bell was originally used by the Ayden Seminary-Eureka College.  The bell was sold at auction and purchased by a member of the church.  The Grover Smith family gave the bell display and sign.  The bell was rung for all services in earlier days. Here is the information plate on the bell display. Black Jack Original Free Will Baptist Church Bell The Church sign and bell display given in memory of Grover W. Smith 1915-1976 by his family     This bell hung in the steeple of the Black Jack Original Free Will Baptist Church from 1928 until October 15, 1984.  When both the bell and the original steeple were taken down from the church.  The bell and the original steeple were taken down from the church.  The bell was previously owned by Ayden Seminary-Eureka College, established in 1897 and burned on November 5, 1931.  Reportedly bought by the Black Jack Original Free Will Baptist Church at auction sale from the college located at Ayden, N. C.  The bell was rung at Black Jack for many years as a call to worship at church service. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jo Prytherch" <jprytherch@earthlink.net> To: "PCFR" <nc-pcfr@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 8:31 PM Subject: [NC-PCFR] Seminary at Ayden > > Bill, did you ever come across any history of the Seminary at Ayden?  I > would be interested in knowing more about it.  My grandfather was the Rev. > C. J. Harris whose sermon there in 1904 was mentioned in the clipping you > found. I'd love to know more about that Seminary. > > Love, > Jo > Pitt County Family Researchers  website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpcfr/ > > Message archives address: > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=nc-pcfr > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NC-PCFR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > Pitt County Family Researchers  website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpcfr/ Message archives address: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=nc-pcfr ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NC-PCFR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Remembering the Old Country Schools The days of the little one room school house where students would trudge in all kinds of weather is only a memory. The last one teacher school in Pitt County, the Ellis School, on the east side of Tar Road, was consolidated with other schools in 1950 and the students were transported to bigger and better schools. Many of the remaining older people raised in the country still remember with fondness their little neighborhood country school. Since the arrival of settlers into Pitt County there has always been an interest in education. From old records we know that there were some school teachers in the county in the 1770’s. In 1786 an Act of NC General Assembly changed the name of Martinsborough to Greenville and incorporated the Pitt Academy. This started Greenville’s long history of schools and academies. Certainly Plantation owners and families with means would get together and build a community school house or academy and hire itinerant teachers to teach their children. In “King’s Sketches of Pitt County” he writes that around 1810...“Conditions then existing in the State applied to Pitt County. It might be called a primitive age, an age of simplicity. At this time there was not a public school in the State. The great mass of the people could neither read nor write, education being the accomplishment of the few and wealthy. There were few private schools. The school house was built of logs, with a dirt chimney; a log was sawed out at one side for a window; the seats were made of split logs, the split side being somewhat smoothed and supported on round legs driven in holes bored in the underside, and such seats had no backs; a shelf built to one side of the house answered for a desk for writing, the pupil sitting on one of the benches; the floor was of rough- hewn timber, with many and large holes that let in the cold in winter. The teacher was held in little esteem and was practically a servant and nurse for the smaller children. The teacher was generally a woman, practically imported from New England, and generally ended her career in the school room by marrying the son of the house and causing a row in the family. The teacher's pay was a pittance.” By 1850, it appears from the Superintendent of Common Schools report that most of the teachers in Pitt County were men. In October 1817, The Pleasant Grove Academy opened on the road leading from Greenville to Charles Jenkins Store (near Rountree’s Church). The trustees were Jonathan Frizzle, Charles Jenkins, Jesse Rountree and James Powell. They advertised that” all the various branches in English, Latin and Greek Languages, will be taught in this Academy, and every exertion used to improve the Morals of the pupils.” By 1830 the spirit of education come over the people of Pitt County and the State. The Greenville Female Academy was chartered in 1830. The incorporators were Gen. William Clark, Archibald Parker, John C. Gorham, Richard Evans, and Absalom Saunders. The Clemmons Academy (in Carolina Township) was chartered in 1831, with Willie Gurganus, Thomas E. Chance, Edmund Andrews and William Clemmons, as Trustees. The Contentnea Academy (near the Moye’s Cross Roads near Farmville) was incorporated the same year with Moses Turnage, Lewis Turnage, Abram Baker, Elbert Moye, William D. Moye and Alfred Moye, as Trustees. The Jordan Plain Academy (located about two miles north of Pactolus, on the Williamston Road) was incorporated in 1832 with Hugh Telfair, Thomas Jordan, Valentine Jordan, Benjamin F. Eborn, James Little and Churchill Perkins, as Trustees. . In 1840 Common Schools were established across the State and Superintendents of Common Schools were elected for each county. According to the 1848 Pitt County Common School Report, Alfred Moye was the Chairman of the Pitt County Superintendents of Common Schools and there were 31 school districts in Pitt County. Tax money was raised for upkeep of the schools and to pay the teachers. Eventually teacher’s knowledge was tested and the subjects taught standardized. Under the law of 1852, the Chairmen of the Board of County Superintendents was authorized to refuse to pay any Teacher who did not hold a regular Certificate from the Committee of Examination for his county; and these Certificates had to be annually renewed, and were good only in the county they were given. In January 1845, Josiah Barrett advertised to the public that he had employed a teacher from up North and again opened his Academy near Joyner’s Crossroads, Pitt County. He invited those who wished to give their children a good education to enroll at his school. Subjects taught were the usual spelling, reading, writing, grammar and arithmetic. Astonishingly, also included were “Geography, Rhetoric, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Trigonometry, Algebra, Geometry, Surveying, and Ancient and Modern Languages.” Board could be had with respectable families in the neighborhood for $4.00 a month. A pioneer Pitt County educator, Mrs. William Henry Smith, better known by her friends as “Aunt Pollie Nelson Smith,” (1825-1907), is honored for doing more for the education of poor children in Pitt County than any dozen people in it. Being a busy mistress of a large plantation and raising children, she began teaching her and her neighbor’s children in 1845. According to an autobiographical sketch she stated “she had to study her grammar as she taught it having never studied it at school.” She further wrote, “she mastered it and taught it successfully.” She taught in a small one room school house on the plantation, but eventually had to give it up because of family duties. Her husband hired a teacher and the school ran until 1869 when the financial burden forced it to close. In 1870, seeing the need for educating her seven children, Pollie Nelson Smith set up a school on the second floor of her house. This school grew to again include the children in the neighborhood and the school removed to the one room school house on the plantation. The school continued to grow and with the help of a noted NC educator, John Ghost Elliot, a large two story school house was built in 1882 to teach the numerous students. She taught her last school in 1901 and seven of her children, twenty one grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren became teachers in Pitt County and elsewhere. In 1924, an old Confederate veteran wrote an article to the local newspaper about the early country school he attended as a child at Hollywood, Pitt County. “I remember well the first day I went to school, it was in August 1857. I was six years old, never had been in a school room before and was very bashful. I had to walk 2 ½ miles. As I entered the door, the first thing that attracted my attention was the teacher, an old man, sitting in an old rickety chair and a long switch near by his side. Of course I didn’t like the looks of that much. My next attention was given to the house and furniture. The house was about 16 feet square, built of logs, covered with shingles. It had one door, two very small windows, a dirt chimney, with a fireplace about 8 feet wide. The cracks between the boards, with about half of them torn off, gave plenty of ventilation, especially in cold weather. The furniture consisted of four benches about 14 feet long, being the slabs, sawed off of popular logs, with legs put in, with an average of about two feet high, so the children could swing their feet to their own heart’s content. Also there was a writing desk sitting across the middle of the room in proportion in height to the benches. Our water supply was from a hole dug near the side of a branch. The hole was about four feet deep, and three feet wide and five or six feet long at the top. Dug with a slant from the top so that the children could walk down and dip and drink all they wanted. Our school year was about three school months divided in two parts, first beginning about the middle of July and continuing for about six weeks, then stop and house the crop and do what else there was to be done. School started again about the fifteenth of October and continued for about six weeks more, then came the end with no commencement and no picnic.” Other complaints made about these early schools were the muddy roads, no bathroom facilities and ticks on the path to the school. In Feb. 1903 a freak occurrence happened when a wind storm blew over a public school house in Swift Creek township. The school was in session at the time, but none of the pupils were injured, though several were badly frightened. Because of the damage to the building the school had to suspend for the remainder of the term. Eventually every small community and crossroads in Pitt County had a school house. With the large consolidation of the schools in 1938, most of the little country school houses were sold off to become private residences, tenant houses and barns. Thankfully someone at the Board of Education took snapshots of a large number of these small country school houses. They were preserved in scrapbooks and later saved from the trash by an alert secretary who knew their value to Pitt County history. William B. Kittrell, the noted Pitt County historian, borrowed the scrapbooks and had them scanned onto a CD. They now they can be viewed at Sheppard Memorial Library. _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ SkyDrive: Get 25 GB of free online storage. http://windowslive.com/online/skydrive?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_skydrive_032009

Jo, here is a note relating to the article I wrote on the history of Black Jack Original Free Will Baptis Church. Will do some more checking in my church files. Also I have about 6 pages on C. J. Harris, a few written by Lucille Harris Roberson and Resolution of Respect by Central Conference. Church Bell The bell was hung in the steeple in 1928 and remained there until removed in October of 1984 and a new steeple put in place. The size of the old steeple was 16 x 16. This was done in preparation for the renovation of the sanctuary. The bell was originally used by the Ayden Seminary-Eureka College. The bell was sold at auction and purchased by a member of the church. The Grover Smith family gave the bell display and sign. The bell was rung for all services in earlier days. Here is the information plate on the bell display. Black Jack Original Free Will Baptist Church Bell The Church sign and bell display given in memory of Grover W. Smith 1915-1976 by his family This bell hung in the steeple of the Black Jack Original Free Will Baptist Church from 1928 until October 15, 1984. When both the bell and the original steeple were taken down from the church. The bell and the original steeple were taken down from the church. The bell was previously owned by Ayden Seminary-Eureka College, established in 1897 and burned on November 5, 1931. Reportedly bought by the Black Jack Original Free Will Baptist Church at auction sale from the college located at Ayden, N. C. The bell was rung at Black Jack for many years as a call to worship at church service. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jo Prytherch" <jprytherch@earthlink.net> To: "PCFR" <nc-pcfr@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 8:31 PM Subject: [NC-PCFR] Seminary at Ayden > > Bill, did you ever come across any history of the Seminary at Ayden? I > would be interested in knowing more about it. My grandfather was the Rev. > C. J. Harris whose sermon there in 1904 was mentioned in the clipping you > found. I'd love to know more about that Seminary. > > Love, > Jo > Pitt County Family Researchers website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncpcfr/ > > Message archives address: > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index?list=nc-pcfr > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NC-PCFR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Bill, did you ever come across any history of the Seminary at Ayden? I would be interested in knowing more about it. My grandfather was the Rev. C. J. Harris whose sermon there in 1904 was mentioned in the clipping you found. I'd love to know more about that Seminary. Love, Jo