I am concerned over the condition of the Dellenback/Mitchell House now owned by
the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust. Below are my recent
comments in a letter to the Dellenback and Mitchell Families, who lived in the
house over the last one hundred years. The Birthplace has owned the house for
over a decade and to the best of my knowledge have done nothing to preserve the
structure. You will read in the following quote what their plans are for it,
which can best be described as doing nothing.
The Birthplace
claims the main reason for its current condition is the lack of money. To rehab
it and bring it up to the code standards of today would be an enormous expense,
"at least enormous to us who operate on a shoestring." The Birthplace claims
they wanted the property because of its obvious connection to the Stuart family,
but that the house itself is not of significant historical interest to gather
grant funds. If it had been the original Letcher home that would have been a
"horse of a different color." The Birthplace openly talks of demolition
the house and doing an archaeological dig. When asked their response is "If
someone out there leaves us a pile of cash that would be a prime place to put
it.” This is unacceptable to me and speaks to why I believe the site needs to be
county, state or national park.
I have suggested many times over the last few years that this house would be a
perfect opportunity to take the significant Tobacco Funds and turn the house
into a museum to show what life was like on a tobacco farm in the twentieth
century. I have offered to raise money repeatedly to save the structure. I know
of a carpenter and his family that offered to move into the house and begin
working on the structure in exchange for rent if someone would supply materials.
I know for a fact that a local supplier offered to give materials to help with
the project. Sadly, I know that all these offers to help have been ignored
and/or rejected. I believe the Dellenback/Mitchell House, which is over a
hundred years old could become a jewel for our area and in telling the story of
our local history. This is just one of the many reasons that it is plain to me
that the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace should not be in charge of the site
anymore. I would not say things like this about the organization that I
started except it obvious to me that something has to be done. Having written a
book that prominently tells the stories of your family’s time on this historic
property, I feel it is my responsibility to call this to everyone's attention. I
have not served on the Board of Directors for more than a decade, but I have
continued to promote and write about the history of the property. If you feel as
I do I hope you will express your concerns to the organization as I have asked
the two families who owned and lived in the structure. Do not be misled by the
Birthplace's comments such as above. The organization claims to be in great
financial condition. They could do this, but it requires them do something more
than dress up once a year and drive from Stuart, Virginia, where the officers
live to be seen.
J. E. B. Stuart
Birthplace Preservation Trust
276-251-1833
LAURELHILL@JEBSTUART.ORG
JEB STUART BIRTHPLACE
P O BOX 1210 STUART, VA 24171
First Woman President (An Article From The Past Appropriate
For Today)
As it is Women’s History Month and with the
election in the news I thought this old post from the newsletter
was appropriate for today.
Officially the United States of America has never had a member
of the female sex as commander-in-chief, but our southwest
Virginia neighbors in Wytheville might disagree. An exhibit in
the Boyd Museum tells the story of Wytheville native, Edith
Bolling Galt Wilson, the woman many believe was the first woman
President of the United States. The twenty-eighth President of
the United States was born in Staunton, Virginia. His father, a
pastor, moved his family to my mother’s hometown of Augusta,
Georgia. Thomas Woodrow Wilson became a noted historian and
professor and later President of Princeton University and then
Governor of New Jersey He was elected President in 1912
defeating Theodore Roosevelt and the sitting President William
Howard Taft. Wilson’s first wife, Edith Louise Axson Wilson died
in 1914 right as World War One broke out in Europe. Edith
Bolling was born in October 1872 in Wytheville, Virginia in what
is today above a hotdog restaurant and an antique store. Her
father, a local judge, held up court to be present for her birth
and she said that she came into the world making men wait. The
5’ 9” brunette married Norman Galt in 1895, but he died in 1908.
She spent many years touring the world and living a very
independent life before meeting Woodrow Wilson in 1915. Courting
the Widow Galt became an obsession for President Wilson. He took
her on long car rides in the Virginia countryside and proposed
after three months. Edith and Woodrow were married in December
1915. Wilson stayed out of Word War One and was reelected in
1916, but eventually the U. S. entered the war. Wilson proposed
a peace plan called the 14 Points and traveled to France to
attend the peace conference. Wilson returned home and suffered a
stroke in October 1919 while campaigning for a League of Nations
similar to today’s United Nations. The Senate had to ratify the
Treaty of Versailles and would eventually reject it much to
Wilson chagrin. Edith controlled access to him only bringing up
matters to him that were “important” and when to bring them up.
It was six weeks before he left his bed. There was no mention of
the stroke to anyone. The doctors cooperated with the cover up
Warren Harding succeeded Wilson to the Presidency, but Wilson
outlived him dying in 1924. Edith lived until 1961 devoted to
the memory of her husband and very partisan in her politics.
They are buried together at the National Cathedral in Washington
D. C. and their post white house home is open to visitors. In
1967 the twenty-fifth amendment was added to the United States
Constitution, which specifies in detail what should happen in
the event of Presidential disability. A new book, Edith and
Woodrow by Phyllis L. Levin, takes the former to task for her
actions when the latter her husband the twenty-eighth President
was stricken with a stroke to the point that she kept the League
of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations from being
formed, and resulting in World War Two and other horrible events
of history. A recent documentary on PBS on Woodrow Wilson takes
a somewhat different view of Mrs. Wilson along with a new book
by Wilson scholar John Milton Cooper Breaking The Heart of The
World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations.
NEW BIOGRAPHY OF J. E. B. STUART
RELEASED ON HIS BIRTHDAY
Laurel Hill Publishing is pleased to
announce the release of God’s Will Be Done: The Christian Life of J. E. B.
Stuart by Thomas D. Perry. The 147 page book is a biography of Patrick County
Virginia’s most famous son Civil War General James Ewell Brown Stuart focusing
on his faith along with his life and military career. The book will be available
locally exclusively at Booth #110 in the Just Plain Country Store in Stuart,
Virginia, until February 12 when it will be released nationally. Cost of the
book is $14.99.
Did you know that J. E. B. Stuart?
Founded churches in Kansas that are still
standing.
Gave $100 to the formation of a church in
Patrick County.
Bought his men copies of the scriptures
from his own pocket.
Gave Temperance speeches throughout his
life after promising his mother at 12 he would not drink.
These are some of the history revealed in
this new book.
Thomas D. Perry is the author of Images
of America: Patrick County Virginia published by Arcadia J. E. B. Stuart’s
Birthplace: The History of the Laurel Hill Farm, The Free State of Patrick:
Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War and Ascent To Glory: The Genealogy of
J. E. B. Stuart published by Laurel Hill Publishing.
Perry started the J. E. B. Stuart
Birthplace in 1990, the 75 acre park that preserves the site of the house where
Stuart was born and spent his first 12 years. Visit
www.freestateofpatrick.com/Laurelhill.htm for information about the history
of the site. In 2005, Perry started the Free State of Patrick Internet History
Group, the largest historical organization relating to Patrick County Virginia
history with 550 members. Membership is free of charge to anyone interested in
history. Members receive a monthly email newsletter about local and regional
history.
www.freestateofpatrick.com/fsop.htm.
Perry will be speaking on March 1, 2008,
at the first annual symposium at the Bassett Historical Center. He lectures all
over the country about Stuart and Patrick County History. He is a Life Member of
the Patrick County Historical Society and on the Board of Directors of the
Bassett Historical Center, Patrick County’s regional history library.
Patrick County Historical Society
Vice-President Larry Hopkins speaking on the Danville and Western Railroad "The
Dick and Willie" at the Bassett Historical Center Symposium on March 1, 2008.
Over 100 people
attended the Bassett Historical Center Symposium on Saturday,
March 1, to raise money for the Building Fund of the Bassett
Historical Center. The committee has raised $350,000 of the
projected $800,000 needed to expand the regional history
research library that is part of the Blue Ridge Regional Library
System with branches in Patrick and Henry Counties. Larry
Hopkins spoke on the Danville and Western Railroad. He is a
Human Resource Manager for Hanesbrands, Inc. at its Woolwine
location in Patrick County, VA. Larry currently serves as the
Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Patrick County
Historical Society and Museum, and previously served on the
Board of Directors of the Mt. Airy Museum of Regional History in
Mt. Airy, NC. Born in Patrick County, he and his wife, Eva,
have resided in the town of Stuart for more than 30 years where
they raised their two sons, Josh and Ryan. After receiving his
BA from Mars Hill College, Larry returned to Patrick County and
developed a strong interest in local history. In 1976, he made
his first visit to the Bassett Historical Center, where many
hours were spent in the basement doing family research and
talking with Mrs. Shirley Bassett. Pursuing other local
interests and research eventually led to railroading,
particularly the Danville & Western Railway Company, better
known locally as the “Dick n’ Willie.” Larry has spent more
than a decade collecting facts, photos and memorabilia
pertaining to the railroad. He has shared this information on
several occasions at local and state sponsored events. In 2001,
Larry was featured as the guest speaker for the annual meeting
of the Southern Railway Historical Society, and the following
year did a presentation at the 22nd Annual National
Narrow Gauge Railroad Convention held in Providence, Rhode
Island. In recent years during his spare time, he has been
working on a book about the Danville & Western. He will speak
on the Danville and Western Railroad “The Dick and Willie” at
the symposium. Dr. R. P. Stephen Davis Jr. is the Adjunct
Professor of Anthropology and Research Archaeologist and
Associate Director of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology
at UNC-Chapel Hill. Ph.D. University of Tennessee in
Anthropology from 1986, M.A. University of Calgary in
Archaeology from 1976 and B.A. University of North Carolina in
Anthropology from 1974. Dr. Davis will spoke on Historic Siouan
and Catawba Communities of the Carolina Piedmont: An
Archaeological Perspective, which examine the Dan River Culture
including the work of Richard Gravely in Henry County. We were
pleased to have Ed Gravely, son of Richard, present at the
symposium. Henry Wiencek spoke on The
Hairstons: A Family in Black and White. His written work has
encompassed subjects from the founding fathers, topics relating
to slavery and the Lego Company. In 1999, he produced The
Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White, which
chronicles the history of the racially intertwined Hairston
clan. It won the
National Book Critics Circle Award for biography and
autobiography. Wiencek has written on George Washington and
slavery in his most recent book, An Imperfect God: George
Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, which
earned him the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history.
Henry has written for the National Geographic Guide to Americas
Great Houses series and the World of Lego Toys.
Born in Boston and educated at Yale, Henry lives with his
wife, writer Donna Lucey and their son, Henry near
Charlottesville, Virginia. He will speak on The Hairstons: An
American Family in Black and White. The Bassett Historical
Center is our regional library. I drive over fifty miles to come
work at the library when I could reach my alma mater Virginia
Tech or any library regionally including the library in Stuart.
Why? The Bassett Historical Center is simply the best little
library in Virginia. People from every state in the United
States and foreign countries use the services of the library. It
is not a historical society such as the do nothings in Stuart
and Martinsville, but a real research library. The Bassett
Historical Center has been called ‘the best little library in
Virginia’. The Center has grown considerably since it merged
with Blue Ridge Regional Library in 1992. From that time through
2004, the patron count increased 1359% over a period of 13
years. Since 1998 it has increased of 125% per year. People
from all 50 states and 9 foreign countries have visited the
Center. The family files number 9496; local history files number
2518, and books number 11,074. It is time for expansion of the
facility. They need to double the present size so that they will
be able to accept new collections that otherwise may be sent to
another facility outside of the immediate area. An estimate of
$800,000 has been given to add 4195 square feet to our existing
building. Tax-deductible donations for memorials or honorariums
will be considered for shelving, furniture, display units or
even one of the three large rooms proposed. There is no more
important historical project in this REGION than preserving the
materials of the Bassett Historical Center. My mentor O. E.
Pilson of Ridgeway, Virginia, did not leave his substantial
Patrick County collection to the Patrick County Historical
Society he left it to the Bassett Historical Center and today an
entire room houses his materials. We pleased to have his
daughter, Jane, present on Saturday too. Special Thanks to
David Wright and his family for the use of EMI IMAGING’s
auditorium as they are most gracious to let us hold this
symposium here today. Complimentary water was donated by the
Dollar General Market in Collinsville, by Tim Merriman,
manager. Thanks to each of the members of the Bassett
Historical Center’s Building Fund Committee, and especially to
Ruby Ann Davis for taking care of the publicity for this event.
Thanks also to Daphne Stone, Betty Scott, Hiram Dillon, Doug
Belcher, Beverly Millner, Brian Williams and JoAnn and Charlie
Philpott.
Regional History
Library Receives Government Funding
Five agencies in Martinsville and Henry County will receive nearly $1
million in the federal Omnibus Appropriations Act. “I think the funds will be
positive for our area and helpful for Martinsville and Henry County,” said Fifth
District U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, of the $935,000 included for
local agencies in the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act Conference Report. Local
organizations receiving funds “worked hard and have a good track record, and I
think they helped themselves,” Goode said. Among the local agencies receiving
funds is the Bassett Historical Society receiving $98,000 Goode said. http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com
The Bassett Historical Center “The Best Little Library in Virginia”
From the Doomsday Book of William the Conqueror written in 1085 in England to
the latest research on the Goblintown Grist Mill in Patrick County there is only
one local resource that holds both and that is the Bassett Historical Center of
the Blue Ridge Regional Library, in my opinion, the best local history library
in Virginia. Many years ago while reading Henry Wiencek’s The Hairstons, An
American Family in Black and White on page 175, I came across a section on
finding obscure material at the library in Bassett. Intrigued I began to visit
the library. Over the years in researching J. E. B. Stuart, I have traveled from
West Point to Kansas to many libraries, but I never cease to return to the banks
of the Smith River. If you are stuck on a genealogical question, finding an
ancestor from the Civil War or just want to kill some time reading about Thomas
Jefferson, this is the place for you.
The historical center contains nearly 7000 family files and books on all the
local families, bound material and books from all the counties in Virginia and
many counties in West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky and
Tennessee. Copies of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, William and
Mary Quarterly, Virginia Genealogist, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy,
Appalachian Quarterly, Family History Magazine, AAHGS News, Ancestry and
Piedmont Lineages are among the periodicals you will find at the Center. A
visit to the banks of the Smith River might include an encounter an opportunity
to talk railroads with Kenny Kirkman. Patrick County’s own Pamela Hollandsworth
volunteered cataloging the papers of my mentor O. E. Pilson. Other collections
include those of Lela C. Adams, John B. Harris, Grady Garrett, Eunice Kirkman,
Ruth F. Morris and the Henry County Bicentennial Collection (29 volumes) made up
of transcribed records from minute and/or order books, plus loose papers found
in the Henry County Courthouse. Internet connections to Ancestry.Com,
AncestryPlus, and HeritageQuest provide the patrons with census records and can
be a used as a guide when one is searching for someone not in the immediate
area. They also provide social security records of a deceased person, plus vital
statistics, military records, and books in which a family surname is
referenced.
For years, the historical center was located in the back room of the present
building, but in 1998, the regular library moved across Highway 57 to a new
facility leaving the entire building on the banks of the Smith River to the
Historical Center. Today, the back room over looking the river contains military
and Native American materials. If you want to find your ancestor in the Civil
War, there is no better room to begin that search. All of the Howard Virginia
Regimental Series along with the entire index of Confederate Soldiers published
by Tom Broadfoot, the Time-Life series on the war and most of the Official
Records of the war are present with many supplementary publications. You can
work with large screen computers as George Stoneman and Jubal Early peer down on
you from pictures above the door and if you sit in the right place you can look
upon Sauratown Woman or a glance to the shelves will bring you in contact with
my favorite item, a brick from Stuart’s birthplace. The staff of the Blue Ridge
Regional Library’s Bassett Historical Center are Library Director Patricia Ross
with Fieldale’s Anne Copeland, Mr. Sam Eanes and Cindy Headen will come through
for you too. Copeland summed up what any historical library should do, “the
amount of material we are able to share with the public only came about because
so many people were willing to share with us.”
Genealogy Queries
The Patrick County Genealogy Society will publish genealogy
queries in the quarterly newsletter of the organization and monthly in the local
newspaper. Send queries to David Sheley 4522 Dobyns Road, Stuart, VA 24171.
UNC CIVIL WAR SYMPOSIUM
“Civil War
Symposium in Honor of Alan Stephenson”
Donor of the Stephenson Chair in Civil War History
MARCH 29, 2008
CARROLL 111
8:15 RECEPTION
8:30 “Rush to Disaster: Secession and the Slaves’ Revenge”
William Barney, University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
9:40 “The Troubled Legacy of U.S. Grant”
Joan Waugh, University of California at Los
Angeles
10:50 “Robert E. Lee: The British View”
Brian Holden Reid, King’s College, London
11:50 LUNCH PERIOD
1:10 “The Army of Northern Virginia and the Narrowing Margin of
Error”
Joseph T. Glatthaar, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill
2:20 “Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: Hollywood and the Civil
War Since
‘Glory’ ” Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia
Co-sponsors Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense Center for the Study of the American South Department of History
Free and Open To the Public
“The
Civil War Symposium in Honor of Alan Stephenson” on March 29 in
Carroll Hall 111 is a tribute to Stephenson, who received a
bachelor’s degree in history from UNC in 1967. He established
the Stephenson Distinguished Professorship in Civil War Studies
now held by Glatthaar. The symposium is free and open to the
public. For more information, contact Jackie Gorman at (919)
962-3093,
jackie@unc.edu.
Washington Times Civil War Page
Every
Saturday the Washington Times newspaper produces a Civil War Page. Here is a
recent article on J. E. B. Stuart.
A list focused on the
history of the only railroad with corporate headquarters in North Carolina. This
list supports anyone interested in the history of the railroad or the towns,
industries and people it served. Those interested in producing scale models of
the railroad will find help here as well. The A&Y was a short line railroad
running from Sanford through Greensboro to Mount Airy with branches to Ramseur
and to Madison. This railroad existed from 1899-1950.
The Free State Of Patrick: Patrick County Civil War Virginia Second Edition
Tom Perry is looking for more photos and letters for an updated second edition
of the book on Patrick County In The Civil War to be released in 2009. Send an
email to
freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com if you know of any letters or photos of Patrick
County Civil War soldiers that could be used.
Images of America: Patrick County Virginia
On Sale
Monies Raised For
The Following Groups
Ararat
Ruritan Club
National
Ruritan Scholarship For Virginia Tech
Dan River
Park
Bassett
Historical Center Building Fund
J. E. B.
Stuart Birthplace
Collinsville
Library History Day Program
Book Mobile
Fund Patrick County Library
Patrick
County High School Alumni Association
Patrick
County Music Association
Reynolds
Homestead
Willis Gap
Community Center
Patrick
County 4-H
News From the Website
"We Conquer by continuing"
If you would like to receive this monthly email newsletter,
please send an email to
freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com
with the word ADD in the subject line.
Membership
is 548 people interested in Patrick County History and
receiving the monthly email newsletter.
The Free State Of
Patrick website
www.freestateofpatrick.com reached 73,348 hits since
inception and 50,542 in the last year.
New Series Of Books By Tom Perry Beginning In 2008
Copyright 2007 Tom Perry. No material to be used without permission.
Between 1845-1848, James
Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart spent three years in Wythe and Pulaski
Counties in Southwest Virginia going to school. During his time
in Wytheville, Virginia, named for Thomas Jefferson’s mentor
George Wythe, Stuart made a friend. His name was David French
Boyd (1834-1899). Boyd’s papers contain a manuscript titled
The Boyhood of J. E. B. Stuart detail his friendship with
Stuart. Boyd described his friend “Jim” or James Stuart as
independent, sturdy and self-reliant with energy, fortitude,
rugged honesty and courage along with common sense. Boyd
portrayed Stuart’s focus and competitive nature describing a
game of marbles, where Boyd says he never tried harder to win a
fight than he did to win a game of marbles. He tells of Stuart’s
sense of humor when he got into a fight with a smaller quicker
boy who grabbed Stuart by the hair and threw gravel about his
head. Stuart feigned injury as he saw the schoolmaster
approaching. Stuart grinned at his fighting partner from behind
the schoolmaster as he took switches to Stuart’s antagonist, who
happened to be David F. Boyd. Stuart’s fun loving nature got him
into trouble, but he made the most of it as Boyd described a
whipping that Mr. Buckingham gave him was so minor that Stuart
cried out “ludicrously” in pain. One story had Boyd and Stuart
on top of a chicken coop in Wytheville one day studying Latin,
when Stuart suddenly started dancing around the roof. He grabbed
Boyd and gave him such a whirl that the latter fell off the
building knocking him unconscious. Stuart leaped down regretting
his action telling Boyd, “Oh, I didn’t mean to do it. I wouldn’t
have hurt you for the world.” Another connection to the Stuart
Family involves a romantic liaison. Tradition holds that Boyd
was engaged to Ellen Spiller, but when the engagement ended, he
left Wythe County. Ellen Spiller married Stuart’s cousin
Alexander S. Brown and later became the second wife of William
Alexander Stuart. In 1860 Boyd made his way south to Louisiana.
David French Boyd and his brother Thomas Duckett Boyd
(1854-1932) became members of the faculty at Louisiana State
University and its predecessor the Seminary of Learning of the
State of Louisiana in Pineville, which was near Alexandria,
Louisiana. The Superintendent before the Civil War was future
Union General William T. Sherman. During the war, Union forces
captured Boyd twice. After the first capture, tradition holds
that Sherman released him due to their pre-war friendship. When
the war ended in 1865, the school reopened with D. F. Boyd as
Superintendent. He remained at the school until 1880 when he
resigned or was dismissed depending on where you read about it.
Boyd went to Auburn University as President, but returned to LSU
in 1884. Over the next thirteen years, David F. Boyd came and
went at LSU before his death in 1899. Today, two buildings on
campus bear the names of the Boyd brothers and the Boyd
Professorships are the highest faculty rank at the home of the
“Bayou Bengal Tigers.” The nickname of the athletic teams comes
from the Louisiana troops in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern
Virginia. Boyd rests in Magnolia Cemetery in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.
Remembering George Charlie Cox
While getting ready to do
a book signing in Bassett on March 10, 2007, I was told of the passing of George
C. Cox. I knew that something was wrong because George Cox would have been there
otherwise. He was the type of person who would call me out of the blue to tell
me he enjoyed something I wrote or something he saw on the webpage that he was
interested in. While there are lots of jealous and petty people in Patrick
County, George Cox was one of the rare people who was positive, who would tell
you that you were doing good work. He was one of the few people who read my
proposal on a history consortium in Patrick County and commented on it and he
commented on it positively. He will be missed.George Charlie Cox died on March
9, 2007, at Memorial Hospital in Martinsville. He was born October 25, 1925, in
Patrick County to Jesse James Cox and Mary Alice Wright Cox. He was preceded in
death by his parents; a son, Steven Wayne Cox; two sisters, Lois Ellen Cox and
Minnie Edmonds; and two brothers, Robert Albert Cox and Jesse Cox Jr. In
mid-1942, Cox went to work at Bassett Industries making Army truck beds. He
joined the military on Dec. 31, 1943, and was assigned to the 258th Engineer
Combat Battalion for the duration of World War II. He served in England, France,
Holland, Luxemburg and Germany during the war and Okinawa and Korea afterward.
He retired from the Army in June 1966 with more than 20 years of service.
Afterward, he worked in quality control and in the Planning and Technical
Service Department until he retired in 1984 with 15 years of service. Cox was a
member of Chatham Heights Baptist Church. After retiring, he published the Cox
Family History Book. In 1999, Cox and his wife bought the old Hall-Grist mill
and grocery store, which they spent seven years restoring. Both buildings are
listed on the National and State Register of Historical Places. He was a
long-time member of the Patrick Henry Allied Families of Virginia, which honored
him in 2006, and serves on its board of directors and as historian. He also was
a member of the American Legion Pannill Post 42 for 39 years; Martinsville Elk’s
Lodge No. 1752; and the Martinsville Wrestling Boosters Club. He was president
of the 258th Engineer Combat Battalion for 2005-06 and a member of that
organization for 59 years. He was accepted into the Colonel George Waller
Chapter Sons of the American Revolution, and served on the Martinsville Planning
Commission for four years. He also was a founder of the Martinsville-Henry
County Honor Guard. George Charlie Cox is survived by his wife of 58 years,
Irene Caldwell Cox of the home; a daughter, Vera Ann Cox Dionne of Martinsville;
a son, Charles Edward Cox of Jacksonville, N.C.; three sisters, Lucy Hopkins of
Fieldale and Vera Rogers and Hazel Norman, both of Collinsville; a brother,
Ervin Cox of Bassett; and seven grandchildren.
The funeral was held 2 p.m. on Monday, March 13, 2007, at Chatham Heights
Baptist Church with the Reverend Mike Hatfield officiating. Pallbearers were
Barry Amos, Richard Edmonds, Mike Rogers, Charles Cox, Andre Dionne and Madison
Cox. Burial will be in the Cox Family Cemetery in Patrick County. George Cox
rests today near Iraq War Hero Jonathan Bowling.
Preserving history is the job of us all. I
do not believe it is our government’s sole responsibility to preserve our
heritage. It is particularly good to see individuals in Patrick County doing
just this. George Charlie Cox and his many friends have undertook to preserve
the Turner Store and the Goblintown Grist Mill on the banks of Goblintown Creek
in the Elamsville section of the “Free State of Patrick.”
In
May 2004, George Cox showed me around the site talking about the 3000 pound mill
stone recently lifted into place, a water course big enough to drive a car down
the feed the outside wheel. Mister Cox, like myself, spent many pleasant days
with the late Ophus Eugene Pilson on history jaunts around the region.George’s
brother, Jesse J. Cox, Jr., and Richard Edmonds, both deceased, worked on the
project. Cox recalled fondly his late brother’s daily trips to the mill to feed
the birds living around the structure. Virginia Landmarks Register staff called
the application from the Goblintown Grist Mill “the best researched sights” they
ever received. The mill was placed on National Register of Historic
Places.Turner’s Store
built in 1902 stands nearby the mill. This historic treasure was not only a
general store, but also the Goblintown Post Office. The building includes a
fireplace from the Beaver Creek plantation in Henry County. A photo on the wall
near the fireplace shows George and Irene Cox on their wedding day in 1948. As
they were congratulated that day, we should congratulate and thank them today
for preserving a part of Patrick County’s many faceted histories.
On the week that
UNC-Chapel Hill played Duke in basketball I though it was
appropriate to remember Burke Davis, a Carolina grad who pulled
for Duke. This appreciation was written when I found out about
his death.
Recently, my old friend
Stephen G. Willis, who now lives south of Richmond with his wife
Susan and two children, emailed me with the news that Burke
Davis had died. Steve wanted to know if I had read the biography
of Marine Chesty Puller, one of the forty-seven books written by
Davis, and if not Steve, the former U. S. Army tank driver,
would send it to me. Steve felt that since my new son in law
Casey Wilson had served in the Marine Corps that I should read
it. Steve loves to tell people that as kids he read J. E. B.
Stuart, The Last Cavalier by Burke Davis before the
“Founder” of the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace. Steve was also the
first person to give money to save Laurel Hill, Stuart’s
Birthplace in Ararat, Virginia. What many people might not know
is for many years Davis and his wife lived in Meadows of Dan
overlooking the Rock Castle Gorge across the gorge from the pull
off along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Patrick County, Virginia,
where J. E. B. Stuart was born.
The obituary read simply “Walter Burke Davis, Jr., age 93,
writer and historian, died August 18, 2006 in Greensboro, North
Carolina.” W. Burke Davis meant more to me than I could ever put
in words. He was the person that brought James Ewell Brown
Stuart to life for me and many others in his 1957 book J. E.
B. Stuart, The Last Cavalier, but he was more than simply
the author of the book. In 1990, Judge Peter Hairston took me
with him to Chapel Hill to the North Carolinian Society meeting
where Burke Davis received an award. The excitement I felt on
meeting Davis was akin to my daughter Ashley being turned loose
in a shopping mall with her father’s money. I explained to Burke
Davis my plans to preserve Stuart’s Birthplace in Ararat and he
heartily endorsed our efforts.
Over the next few years Burke and his lovely wife
Judy showed up at events in support of the preservation of
Stuart’s Birthplace. At the first encampment, Burke Davis was
seen with a grandchild along the Ararat River explaining who
Stuart was to his offspring without ever telling us he was
there. During talks such as when James I. Robertson, Jr. spoke
at the Reynolds Homestead for the Birthplace, there in the
audience quietly taking it all in were Burke and Judy. During
the first two years of fund raising for the Birthplace, a
royalty check from his publisher for his part of the proceeds
for his book on Stuart would arrive signed over the Birthplace.
Finally, one of the proudest documents I possess is a letter
from Burke to J. E. B. Stuart IV expressing confidence in me and
the effort to preserve Laurel Hill.
Walter Burke Davis, Jr. came into the world in Durham, North
Carolina as the son of to W. B. and Harriet Jackson Davis. The
family moved to Greensboro in 1919 and he was educated in the
city’s public schools and later attended Duke University and
Guilford College. He graduated from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1937 with a degree in journalism.
Burke Davis was that rarest of men, a UNC grad that pulled for
the Duke Blue Devils. I use to say tongue in cheek that he
overcame his education.
He worked for twenty-seven years as a newspaper man
was on the Charlotte News, the Baltimore Evening Sun and the
Greensboro Daily News. Davis also served as a special
writer for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and wrote a
history of the Southern Railway for the railroad. Davis was a
co-founder of the Sarah P. Duke Gardens of Duke University and a
board member of the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel
Hill. Horticulture, the care of ornamental and vegetable
gardens, was among his chief interests. He served as a Juror for
Biography for the Pulitzer Prizes in the 1980s. He was named a
Distinguished Alumnus of Guilford College and received an
honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Greensboro
College.
He was preceded in death by three sisters, Marjorie Hulton,
Virginia King and Marian D. Plummer. He is survived by the
former Juliet Halliburton Burnett; his wife of 24 years, which
time he referred to as “My halcyon days.” Additional survivors
are two children of a previous marriage, Angela Davis-Gardner of
Raleigh, North Carolina, and Walter Burke Davis, III and his
wife, Kelly Cherry of Halifax, Virginia. Davis leaves four
grandchildren: Sarah D. (Mrs. Jason) Long and Kathryn D. (Mrs.
Matthew) Brigger, both of Clarksburg, Maryland, D. Williams of
Broad Run, VA, and Heath Gardner of Raleigh, North Carolina.
There are two great-grandchildren. Other survivors who have
welcomed him into their lives are his stepson, Timothy B.
Burnett and wife, Jane of Greensboro, and their daughters,
Allison (Mrs. Brenton L.) Smith and her husband of New York,
Catherine Burnett of Chapel Hill and Elizabeth Burnett of New
York, Also especially close in his affection are the children of
his step-daughter, Miranda B. Miles, Brian Miles and his wife,
Clara of Niceville, Florida and Hallie Miles Bouchard and her
husband, Marcian of Durham. There are also four
great-grandchildren. The last time I saw Burke Davis and his
wife Judy was at a performance of Frank Levering’s play The
Last Cavalier based on Burke’s book now nearly fifty years
old. It was appropriate that the last time I saw him was at this
wonderful production based on his writings about Patrick
County’s most famous son because without him many of us would
not know “Jeb” Stuart. One line from Frank’s play came to mind
as I thought about our recently departed friend and wrote this
appreciation. When Stuart describes his tall Prussian Heros Von
Borcke being wounded, “a giant has fallen.” Burke Davis was the
author of 47 books, chiefly military history and biography, but
also wrote historical and natural history works for young
readers. Davis is best known for his books on the Civil War, all
of which remain in print after fifty years. Davis won the
Mayflower Award in 1959 for his book, To Appomattox: Six
April Days as the best non-fiction work by a North Carolina
writer. He is the only person ever named to the North Carolina
Hall of Fame in both literature and journalism. He was named
Distinguished Alumnus of Guilford College and received an
honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Greensboro
College. A number of his books were presented to the White House
Library by the American Library Association. For many years his
titles were among the Fifty Notable Books as listed annually by
The New York Times. Burke Davis rests today in Greensboro’s
Forest Lawn Cemetery next door to the Guilford Courthouse
Battlefield he wrote about and the place J. E. B. Stuart’s
great-grandfather Major Alexander Stuart was captured by
Banastre Tarleton during the 1781 battle. At
his request there was no memorial service. If you knew Burke
Davis you would understand why. I never met anyone with so many
reasons not to be humble that was. Once I asked him to come
speak for the Birthplace and he declined saying with a wink and
a big smile that he had “lost his marbles.” He commented that no
one would be interested in hearing him speak. He could not have
been more incorrect about anything in his life. When Ken Burns
was looking around for a Southerner to be a “talking head” for
his monumental PBS series called The Civil War, Burke Davis was
going to do it if Shelby Foote declined. The mere fact that his
books are still in print speaks to his talents as a writer and a
historian. His book on Stuart holds up nearly fifty years after
publication as the most readable and one of the best researched
of the five soon to be six biographies (Jeffrey Wert is writing
a new one) of the man from Patrick County. W. Burke Davis was
proud he chose “The Free State of Patrick” as home and we should
be too. I will miss him, but we still have him in nearly fifty
readable books. If you could look up what a “Southern” gentleman
and a scholar should be, you would find Burke Davis.
"Never attribute to malice what you can explain with stupidity" -- Hanlon's
Razor