Monday, July 28, 2014

Hayes, Silversteen Developed Upper End of County

J.F. (Frances) Hayes was an industrialist from Pennsylvania who, like many others, came to western North Carolina for the business opportunities.  He and his associates and their business enterprises were responsible for the rapid growth in tourism and business in Transylvania County at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. 


Hayes purchased the failed Hendersonville and Brevard Railroad, re-established it as the Transylvania Railroad Company and extended the line to Lake Toxaway through the city of Toxaway (Rosman).

Toxaway Tanning Employees
Seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the abundant natural resources and the new rail line in the area 23-year-old Joseph Silversteen choose Toxaway to begin his tanning business.  The tanning process required hides, lumber and water.  The tannin from the bark of chest



nut trees was used to tan the hides which were then shipped by rail to businesses using leather.  Toxaway Tanning Company opened in 1902.

The people of Toxaway had a difficult time settling on a name for their growing community.  To avoid confusion with Lake Toxaway 10 miles further west a new name was needed.  Several changes were made before Joseph Silversteen ended the debated by combining the names of two of his business partners, Joseph Rosenthal and Morris Osmansky, for Rosman.

Silversteen acquire about 20,000 acres from George Vanderbilt to harvest timber.  Silversteen opened Gloucester Lumber Company in 1910 in Rosman, followed by Rosman Tanning & Extract and the Gloucester Company Store a year later.

The Gloucester Company Store sold a wide array of merchandise including hardware and farm implements, dry goods (textiles, clothing and sundries), packaged food and gas.   Employees used “scrip”, a substitute for U.S. currency that was part of their pay, to purchase what was needed.

Scrip booklets






The Company Store was an institution long after all of Silversteen’s businesses had closed.  H.J. Schain, Mr. & Mrs. A.P (Dock & Mae) Lusk and W.T. Owen purchased it from Silversteen.  Later the Jarrett brothers owned and operated the store until it closed in 1987.

The Company Store was an institution long after all of Silversteen’s businesses had closed.  H.J. Schain, Mr. & Mrs. A.P (Dock & Mae) Lusk and W.T. Owen purchased it from Silversteen.  Later the Jarrett brothers owned and operated the store until it closed in 1987. 

The Company Store also had a luncn counter where generations of Rosman natives gathered.  Doleburgers, hamburger with onion mixed into the ground beef before cooking, were a popular item.  But it was the Company Store Chili that folks still talk about.  The Owen Reunion Family Cookbook lists the ingredients for Pop’s Company Store Hot Dog Chili as 1 can Beverly sausage, ¼ cup ketchup and chilli powder to taste.  

Silversteen's businesses created jobs and a population explosion in Rosman.  He employed several hundred people in Rosman and at the logging camps.

Silversteen provided housing for some of his employees in Rosman.  Many of these houses are still in use today.  The houses ranged from single-family four-room homes to larger two-story homes occupied by two or three families.
Various Rosman Mill Houses

Early photo of Silversteen family home in Rosman
Joseph and Elizabeth Silversteen built a large two-story home in 1902.  The growing family, including daughters—Miriam, Dorothy and Adelaide, lived there until 1917 when Silvermont was completed.


In addition to Silversteen, Shaffer Lumber Company ran a logging and lumber operation from Rosman into the rugged area to the south of Rosman from 1910-1917.

To learn more about the Silversteen and Shaffer businesses and their logging railroads, as well as those of Carl Moltz and Louie Carr see chapter 7 in Logging Railroads of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains by Tom Fetters or "The Railroads of Transylvania County" in volume III of The Heritage of Transylvania County also written by Fetters.

Additional photographs can by viewed at nchistoryroom.blogspot.com.

 

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Rosman had Several Previous Names

The town of Rosman was officially established on February 20, 1905.  However the history of settlement in the area now known as Rosman goes back to a much earlier time.  The Cherokee had traveled along the Estatoe Path for hundreds of years.  It was at Rosman that this path crossed the French Broad River.  For this reason early trappers and traders knew the area as Estatoe Ford.

When Western North Carolina was opened for settlement in the late 1700s land speculators purchased large tracts of property with the intention of reselling it for a profit.  Charles McDowell of Burke County owned thousands of acres in what was originally Buncombe County including several hundred acres on the French Broad.  Although McDowell never lived here, his daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and William Paxton lived all their married lives in the Cherryfield area.

Other early land owners included George Isaac Glazener, George Washington Galloway, John Owen, and James Owen.  These early families were often connected through marriage and many of their descendents still live in the area.

In 1857 Giles Glazener, Jr. (descendent of both George Isaac Glazener and James Owen) gave property for a church and school to the trustees of the Church of Christ at the Zion Meeting Place.  This school served the families of the surrounding area for nearly 50 years.  The school was moved to the Presbyterian (later Methodist) Church in Rosman when they outgrew the Zion building.  Zion Baptist Church continued on the property until 1950 when it moved across the river onto Rosman’s Main Street.

According to North Carolina Post Offices and Postmasters there was a post office at Calvert in 1888.  The name was changed to Jeptha in 1890.  It seems that this was located east of the current center of Rosman.  The Jeptha post office closed on August 15, 1901.

Depot at Toxaway City (Rosman), 1903
Meanwhile the Toxaway post office had opened on December 7, 1900 when the railroad reached the place where the old Estatoe Path had crossed the French Broad River for hundreds of years.  Although the name of the post office would change several times in the next few years the heart of what was to be Rosman was firmly established when the railroad by-passed the Jeptha post office and a depot was built at Toxaway.

A post office was re-established at the Calvert depot on August 18, 1901 just 1.6 miles east of Toxaway but that community remained quite small.

Next week’s Picturing the Past column will feature Joseph Silversteen’s  impact on Rosman in the early 1900s.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Friday, July 18, 2014

King Mill Destroyed by 1916 Flood

The original King Mill was built by Jonathan King around 1840 on King Creek north of Brevard.  It was used to grind wheat and corn.  When the old mill was beyond repair Jonathan’s son, Samuel Barnett King, built a new mill across the creek.  The new mill powered the production of fine furniture and lumber for home building and other uses.      


James Columbus King, son of Samuel, operated the mill his whole life.  In poor health, James King died on July 18, 1916—the same day flood waters  destroyed the mill.  King never knew that his life work had been washed down the small stream turned raging river named for his family.




Monday, July 14, 2014

Cherryfield Landmarks Include Morgan Mill and Whitmire Mill

In the early 1800 about 50 families had settled in an area where cherry trees grew in small clumps and along a creek dividing land into separate fields.  The creek was known as the creek of the cherryfields and the area soon picked up the name of Cherryfield.

J.C. Whitmire's Store, Cherryfield
For the most part this was a farming community.  Raleigh Waldrop was born in Cherryfield in 1914 and has lived there almost his entire life.  In an interview with Peggy Hansen for her book, Transylvania Memories, Waldrop stated that Cherryfield, “Never was a town.  Just the church, a little ol’ school, the depot and J.C. (John Columbus) Whitmire’s Store.”

John Waldrop, Cherryfield RR Agent & Postmaster
The railroad ran through Cherryfield on its way from Brevard to Lake Toxaway.   In August 1913 John Waldrop, Raleigh’s father, became the station manager for Southern Railroad at the Cherryfield Station.  Along with station manager he also served as the Cherryfield Post Master until the mail delivery was transferred to Brevard in September 1931.

Longtime Cherryfield landmarks include Morgan Mill and Whitmire Mill.

Morgan Mill Blacksmiths, Florida Fowler & George Morgan
Built about 1856 by “Big Jim” Morgan, Morgan Mill was the longest running mill in Transylvania County.   The original mill had a double wheeled mechanism.  This was replaced by a spruce pine wheel around 1865.  A later metal wheel came from the Breese Mill on King Creek after it was destroyed by the 1916 floods.  Morgan Mill continued to run until the early 1980s.  

Albert S. McKinney worked at Morgan Mill on and off for more than 60 years.  He learned the miller’s trade from his father, Thomas Stephen McKinney, who ran the mill in the early 1920s.  He was still grinding meal at the time of his death in 1982, at the age of 86.

In 1998, the mill collapsed under the weight of heavy snow.  It was later dismantled completely.

J.L. Whitmire Farm & Mill
Whitmire Mill was built by J.L. (John Leander) Whitmire in 1939.  This was the first turbine operated mill in the county.  Whitmire used the engine from a 1928 Buick to run the turbine until a race was dug from Cherryfield Creek to provide water power. 

During WWII the mill operated 24 hours a day.  Later they ground corn Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday and Friday were delivery days to stores throughout southwestern North Carolina.
On Saturday local farmers would bring corn to be ground for their families and livestock.  The milling fee, known as a poll, was a small percentage of what was ground.

In 1964 floods destroyed the walls of race.  In November 1964 J.L. Whitmire passed away.  His widow and sons decided it would not be profitable to rebuild and the mill was closed.


Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Monday, July 7, 2014

County's Baptist Association Began in 1863

The Transylvania Baptist Association held its first annual meeting on October 16-18, 1863 at Little River Baptist Church.  Although there were eight churches represented (Bethel, Cathey’s Creek, Little River, Boilston, East Fork, Macedonia, Zion and Pleasant Grove) in this new Association only six attended the initial meeting.  The others were “prevented by high water.”

At this first meeting a Constitution was written, Rules of Order were established and committees and church representatives were appointed.  J.H. Duckworth served as the Moderator; S. Wilson was the Clerk and J. Osborn the Treasurer.  The minutes of this meeting contain a list of ordained ministers including B.E. Chastain and J.H. Duckworth from Cathey’s Creek, E. Allison from Davidson River, and G.W. Mace and J.B. Marsh from Calhoun.  Licentiates were P.H. Kennermore from Cherry Field, J.M. Hamblen from Cathey’s Creek and E.M. Anderson from Calhoun.

The annual meetings were held in mid-October at a different church each year.  By 1875 the Association consisted of 24 churches located in Transylvania County, western Henderson County and northern Greenville County, SC.  However, by 1920 it was made up of only Transylvania County churches.

In 1918 the annual meeting was cancelled after “the Board of Health for Transylvania County issued an order prohibiting all public gatherings… for the purpose of preventing the Spanish influenza from assuming an epidemical form.”  They did publish a report though.

Rocky Hill Baptist, 1896
The Library has copies of the reports from the meeting for 1863, 1864, 1865, 1875, 1886, 1889, 1892, 1893, 1895, 1896 and 1903-1946 (except 1905).  While there is not an index to the reports there are a lot of names of church leaders, ordained ministers and licentiates.   From 1907 through 1920 the names of church members who had passed away during the year were listed, sometime there was also a brief obituary.
The 1911 and 1916 minutes include a history of “The Founding of the Baptist Cause” in Transylvania County.

General locations of churches, financial information, new member churches and churches disbanding, church construction projects are included.  There are reports from the Thomasville Baptist Orphanage, the Temperance Committee, the Baptist Hospital (including a few mentions of locals treated there) and the  B.Y.P.U. (Baptist Young People’s Union).

Turkey Creek Baptist, Homecoming 1920
There are also random tidbits of information such as, “The churches of Dunn’s Rock and Toxaway were dropped from the Association on account of drunkenness in their members” in 1896.


For family researchers who ancestors were connected with one of Transylvania’s early Baptist churches it may be worth digging through some of these early reports.  Your grandfather may have been a delegate, committee member or contributor.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

North Carolina Outward Bound Opens Year-Round

On this day in North Carolina History,

"The nation's first year-round Outward Bound school opens in Morganton. 

North Carolina Outward Bound was originally envisioned as a sea school, probably to be located on the Outer Banks, but high land and equipment costs drove it inland.

At first, the school accepts only 16- to 25-year-old men. Gradually, however, it becomes all-inclusive. By its 25th anniversary, it will have graduated some 30,000 students." (1967)

Source: Powell, L. (1996). On This Day in North Carolina History.Winston-Salem, North Carolina: John F. Blair, Publisher.