Dear List: Does anyone know about the political and social climate in Warren Co during the period of 1840s to 1860s or where I might obtain some information on the "times" of that period. Have been transcribing deeds for my Warren families for the last few weeks, and before I jump to some hasty conclusions would like to find out a bit more about what was going on there during that time. (especially the financial climate) Appreciate any help anyone could offer. Thank you very much. Mary Jean Z

Mary Jean, The following are some excerpt from "The County of Warren 1586-1917," by Manly Wade Wellman.... The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was completed in 1840..... Warren Co had a total pop of 12,919, of which 8.200 were slaves. The 1840 census recorded all citizens as planters and farmers except 20 in commerce, 132 in manufacture and trades, 3 at work on canls, lakes and rivers, 21 in "learned professions," and one as a miner. "Thirteen veterans of the Revolutionary War drew pensions in Warren Co. William Askew was the oldest (103) and William R. Duke, once a commissioner for the establishment of Warren County's boundaries, was the next oldest at niney-four. Blind and feeble, he lived at the home of his son, Dr. M. Duke." Warren boasted one college, the newly chartered Warrenton Female College. Wellman's description of this period is a "time of progress." "Public schools became a fact in the county and elsewhere in the state by 1846, but Mrs. Allen's school closed in Warrenton -- partly because of the sharp anti-slavery pronouncements of her former assistance, Mary Cheney, still remembered a decade after she had left Warren Co as the bride of Horace Greeley. At Warrenton Female College, too, the abolitionist leanings of Principal Nelson Graves so distressed teh board of trustees that in 1847 they replaced him with Daniel Turner, soldier, Congressman, and the popular son of a distinguished Warren family. The school grew at once, even though Gravces founded in 1848 a rival school which he called the Warrenton Female Collegiate Institute." "Harriet Beecher Stowe's explosive 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' ame to Warren County, and Anna Pritchard set down a most accurate judgment: 'It is very evident that she was entirely ignorant of Southern manners & life.' But 'Southern Life,' a South Carolina attempt to answer Mrs. Stowe, she dismissed as 'a very silly book indeed.'" The 1850 census credited Warren Co with 13,912 inhabitants, 4,601 of them white, 444 free colored, and 8,867 slaves. The town of Warrenton had shown considerable growth under near-boom conditions with a population of 1,242 free and slave. Co had 12 schools with total 34 teachers, and 1,001 pupils including two free colored children.....but 509 white adults were illiterate. Churches numbered 21. Methodists most numerous (12 in all). 6 Baptist; 2 Christian, 1 Episcopal. "The people were prosperous. Warren County's 100.247 acres of cultivated farm lands were valued at $1,274,103, exclusive of improvements and equipment. The county produced 2,430,730 pounds of tobacco in 1850, and 349,502 bushels of corn. The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, after a first decade of somewhat precarious existence, was thriving enterprise, and from the depot at Ridgeway a fine road led to Warrenton. A large omnibus drawn by six horses met the train and brought travelers to the county seat." The old ocurt hosue replaced in 1853 by a finely proportioned Georgian building of brick and stone - 2 stories, 4 columns across a broad porch. Pvt business continued to expand. The Masonic Lodge erected a three-story building with the prosperous furniture factor of Samuel Mills on the ground floor and lodge rooms above. The Thespian Corps was organized to play light farces and heavier dramas... newly founded Warrenton Male Academy.... "Warren Co seemed the true center of culture, fortune, and happiness, and its people knew no foreboding of war, agony, and disaster." Jan 1857 brought a HUGE snowstorm.... con't 1857..... "Yet a conscious dislike of the North and its philosophies and culture kept growing. ... Warren Co glorified in the fierce pronouncements of Souther leaders, not the least of whom was Weldon Edwards, powerful in the state senate. "When Pres James Buchanan visited NC i the summer ofr 1859, Edwards boarded the train in VA to greet Buchanan as an old friend, accompanied him to Raleigh where the President spoke, then brought him back for a visit at Poplar Mount, the Edwards' plantation north of Ridgeway. The house and yard were full of Warren's leading Democrats,, come to greet Buchanan. The President hoped for preservation of the Union, but Edwards publicly expressed his belief that 'tumult and peril' waited in the near future." "Apprehension and excitement over slavery and states' rights were strong in Warren County ...." "The John Brown Raid at Harpers Ferry dismayed Warren County slaveholders, and sons of the county's best families flocked to join the Warren Rifles under Capt T.L. Jones, and the Warren Guard under Capt Ben C. Wade. A mounted company was organized the southern part of the county. Military enthusiasm...was at a white head and equally intense was the political feeling." "Warren Co was strongly pro-slavery and Democratic. it goes on to tell how, for the most part, Warren Co supported secession from the Union... however, it points to exceptions to this rule, notably some of the teachers/principals of the schools... also a story about an aged Pennsylvania jeweler named King who had taught his Negro janitor, John Hyman, to read and write....a mob rushed into King's store, threatened the jeweler and his wife and began to plunder the showcases... others came to the rescue, got the King's to Ridgeway on a northbound train. goes on then to talk about the numbers of Warren Co men who died up in the "bloody Seven Days" in Richmond. Hope this gives you some of what you're looking for..... let me know if you need more details or have other questions, Mary Jean. -Sandy On Wednesday, July 9, 2003, at 01:22 PM, EDZIMM@aol.com wrote: > Dear List: > Does anyone know about the political and social climate in Warren Co > during > the period of 1840s to 1860s or where I might obtain some information > on the > "times" of that period. > > Have been transcribing deeds for my Warren families for the last few > weeks, > and before I jump to some hasty conclusions would like to find out a > bit more > about what was going on there during that time. (especially the > financial > climate) > > Appreciate any help anyone could offer. > > Thank you very much. > Mary Jean Z > >