Historic Webster Vol. 6 No. 2

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Historic Webster Vol. 6 No. 2

1979

Historic Webster is a newsletter of the Webster Historical Society, Inc., created at the Society’s founding in 1974. The publication helped to serve the Society's mission of collecting and preserving the history of Webster, North Carolina. Webster, established in 1851, was the original county seat for Jackson County.

newsletter of the Webster Historical Society, Inc. • p VOLUME VI, NUMBER 2 WEBSTER, NORTH CAROLINA SPRING, 1979 On the Scene with Lawrence C. Frizzell ''Entertainment'' Entertainments around Web­ster in my day were few and far between, but when the Ingle Sisters put on a show in the courtroom everybody turned ot and enjoyed it to the limit. The three sisters played violins (fid­dles) with a flair that brought down the house. There was also a tight wire act that was pretty good, and several other things to round out the show. After­ward a number of fiddles ap­peared in the community and music was heard over the coun­tryside. Some of us stretched wires or ropes between posts and tried to imitate the tight rope artists, with scant success. Social activity was rather limited in those days. Occa­sionally there would be a dance, or something called a "candy pullingn to vary the monotomy. the "candy" was molasses mix­ed with a little flour to help thicken it and boiled until it was quite thick. When it had cooled somewhat, a boy and a girl would grease their palms with butter, take a big gob of the mollasses in their hands , and, facing each other, stretch the candy between them in loops and pull it back and forth until it was smooth, firm , and a little creamy. It was then placed on plates and was eaten with much appreciation. "Court Week", held twice a year, also varied the monotomy a little. " Week" was not quite accurate, because court usuaJly lasted two weeks, and brought a lot of people in to town for the litigation. In addition to the jurors and litiga nts , lawyers from adjoining counties usually were in attendance. The local lawyers included Walter E. Moore, Felix Alley, Will Sherril, and Coleman Cowan. mr. Moore usually put on quite a show with his impassioned speeches in de­fense of his clients. Mr. Cowan occupied an office on the north side of the courthouse, and his light, which was visible from our house above the cemetery, was almost always shining until late at night. He later built himself an office between Mr. Oscar Coward's store and Cap­tain Terrill's house where his secretary , Miss Ethel Leather­wood, held forth. He later married her as I remember. She was able to take shorthand, which was an unusual accom­plishment in Webster . He met an untimely death in the early twenties when his car ran over him as he was opening a gate up on Locust Creek. He and his brother Napoleon, the minister, were among the most outstand­ing of the old residents of Webster. Another of the out­standing and brilliant attorneys was Frank Ray of Franklin. At that time there were two hotels , or boarding houses, in Webster ; the Mountain View Hotel, owned and operated by Mr. F. H. Leatherwood, and the Coward House, owned operated Continued On Page 3 Mrs. Allison was daughter of early WNC family Eugenia Johnston Moore was 19 years old when this photograph was taken. This is a copy of a tintype. By Eugenia Johnston Moore Allison I, was born September 10, 1878 at Brasstown, North Carolina, Clay County. My parents, Daniel Killian Moore of Buncombe County, North Carolina , and Matilda Caroline Dickey of Cherokee County, North Carlina were married October 28, 1868. To this union five children were born: Fred, Blanche, Harriet, Lucinda Margaret and I, the youngest. My parents were well educated for their day and taught us to love reading and other educational things. I was about six years old when I started to school in a one room school house with logs for fuel and one teacher and the school lasted three months with two weeks out for "fodder pulling". I grew up on a farm where we always had horses, cows, hogs, sheep, and chickens to supply good food for a growing family. My father , a son of colonel Charles Moore, was born where Enka now stands and grew to manhood there, being educated in Sand Hill Academy. He was born on October 23, 1845. Many of the citizens of his day were educated there. My mother, born May 13, 1846, after attending school near her home went to school at Franklin and boarded with "Uncle Jack" Johnston and wife, who was cousin Eugenia Siler Johnston. My mother named me for this very prominent couple of Franklin, Macon County, North Carolina. My grandmother, Harriet Lowery Siler, a daughter of Esther Siler, is where we trace our relationship to the Silers in Macon County. My grandfather Moore was married twice, first to a Miss Penland, and to this union was born a son, Hamilton, cousin Walter Moore's father, and a daug-hter A valine, who married Jack Alvin Candler, Charlie Candler's grandfather . .In later years he married Lucinda Killian and there were six children; one daughter, Margaret Eliza, who married Julius Alexander, and five sons, including my father,· who was a Confederate veteran ~nd lieu­tenant. David was in the Confederate army and was killed and buried in Richmond, Virginia. J ames was a doctor and a bachelor, who went to Arkansas and practiced there. Robert was also in the Confederate army and a captain. Samuel was the youngest and he went a lso the Arkansas, where he married, lived and died, leavmg two daughters there. Of the five sons, three of them had o~e son each and each one made a lawyer and later m hfe each Judge: Hamilton, cousin Walter 's fath er ; Robert, cousin Charlie's father ; and Daniel, my father , who was Fred's father was elected the youngest judge in North Carolina. He died in 1908 a the age of 38. Continued On Page 2 Webster meant school, church, friends By Anne Morgan Sea lor When my father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Mor­gan, bought the F . H. Lea th­erwood house, on Webster's Main Street about 1919, and we moved from Sylva to Webster, I was six years old. I remember how excited we children were about living right in the middle of Webster, close to school and church. We did not have to go by buggy into "Town" anymore, although that was a big thrill too. We enjoyed getting acquain­ted with all the new neighbors. On one side lived Mrs. Eugenia Allison , who was also the post master and a marvelous neigh­bor. On the other side lived, first Mr. and Mrs. Swanger and later Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Woody, and farther up the street, Mrs. Mattie McKee and just across the street Mr. and Mrs. Joe Hoyle. Needless to say they all had good sized familie.s. which meant a lot of children to play with. There was great excitement about being able to walk to school and come home at lunch time, which we did except in very bad weather. My first trip to the school house was with my older brother, and he timed the walk to see just how long it took us. We had instructions for "no stopping" along the way. My first visit to Mr. Lewis Broyles' store was with my father. I was duly impressed with him , as he gave me a piece of candy in the shape and of the color of a peach. My father pro­bably paid him for it, but I do not remember that part of the story. I think everyone in Web­ster loved Mr. Broyles. He was never in a hurry nor did he loose patience with any customer. During the hot summer months, almost every week-end there was an ice cream supper in the natural park in front of his store. I remember my mother helping with the arrangements, and my older brothers were very good at truning the handles on the ice cream machines. Our house was an "L shape" There was an outside door for every room, far too many for my mother to worry about, so my father tore down two of the rooms. We had the deepest well around, about 110 feet I think. When it came to drawing water from it I thought it was a mile. Most of the people who gathered at the post office twice a day for their mail , would draw water from the well, because it was very cold. We always had a social time just before "mail time" and a lot of people would s it on our front porch waiting for Mr. Authur Allman, who carried the mail from Sylva to Webster for a ll the years I was in Webster. We enjoyed the news Mr. Allman brought, and of course the tales he used to tell about his experiences, even his Continued On Page 4 Mr. and Mrs. William H. Morgan, about 1919. Page 2, HISTORIC WEBSTER, Spring, 1979 Mrs. Eugenia Moore Allison was Webster's Continued From Page I My gra ndfather Moore, of Scot Irish descent, left Scotland on account of religious persecution and went to Ireland. He came to American and settled in Buncome County. The brother who came with him settled in South Carolina. I remember my grandfather and grandmother Dickey very distinctly as I grew up in about a mile from where they lived and often visited them : My grandfather was a farmer and businessman and prominent in state and county affairs and represented Cherokee County in the legislature. After he died 1 often spent nights with grandma and helped her work when she had no one to help her about her housekeeping. My grandmother was a most lovable old lady and lived to a ripe old age. My father and mother begged her many times in her declining years to break up housekeeping and come and live with us , but she wanted to stay in her own home and died there. After learning as much as it seemed I could, I attended Hayesville High School a while and went to Aunt Myra Slagles and went to school there one session ; then later on , when I was almost grown, I lived at my brother Fred's and went to Asheville Normal School for more than a year until I went to see the Ringling Circus with my brother, who introduced a friend of his, a rather attractive and charming bachelor, who fe ll in love with me at first sight, he a lways said , ahd he "kinder swept me off my feet". So in one year we ~ot Jllarried. We lived a good and happy life and had four precious. children ; Ruth Rebecca , Thomas Brag, Jr ., Daniel Moore, and Isabella Josephine. Right here I failed to say th is charming bachelor was the late Thomas Bragg Allison of Webster, Jackson County, North Carolina . He was a wonderful husband and father and I had never known a sorrow until he sickened and died with Isabel was six months old. At almost 28 years I was left to train , educated and provide for a growing family with help fro both our good families and relatives. In the year 1908 after my husband's death in 1906, my mother and brother Fred died with the terrible typhoid fever and my precious little Tom sickened and died a few months later. After my husband 's death I moved to my father 's at Brasstown, Clay County, and lived there until December, 1908. After my mother's death , my father decided to move back with me to my home in Webster, where my ch ildren could haVe the advantage of a good school, nearby church, and be near cousin Walter Moore and our good Allison relatives and friends. My father lived with me until his death in February, 1920. He was a wonderful "Old Southern Gentleman" and was so much help to me in advising, controlling and guilding the children (and financially , too l. When Isa bel was 8 years old I was appointed postmaster at Webster and served the public to the best of my ability until! was 70 years of age and was automaticlly retired. My annuity check has been a great help and comfort to me all these years and enabled me to live in my own home. After my children were all married , and in their own homes, my oldest daughter Ruth, who had married John H. Morris and lived a happy life, was stricken with cancer and died November 13, 1942, leaving three precious children , John H. Morris, Jr ., age 10 years, Thomas Allison Morris, age 7 years and Mary Eugenia Morris, age 5 years. John was a wonderful father for them and he, Florence Fisher, the faithful colored woman who had lived with them since John H. Jr. , was born, and I did our best to look after and guide these precious children until John was married again. <Editor's Note : Mrs. Eugenia Allison was Webster's postma ster for thirty-four years. She wrote this biography years after she retired from her work . "Aunt Gene" was modest in her writing. She did not say that her grandfather was William Moore, who built the first house west of the Blue Ridge, that her husband was the first white child born in Webster. and that she was a mainstay in the Webster Community. She served on the offic ial board of the Webster United Methodist Church: she was a Eastern Star member: and she was a leader of theW. A. Enloe Daughters of the When Mrs. Allison passed away on Ocotber 17, 1970, at age 92, she was a great lady, who had the admiration and respect and love of her family . friends , and neighbors .) A wedding Last Wednesday at high noon the marariage ceremony of Miss Eugenia Moore and Mr. T. B. Allison, of Webster , was solemnized by Rev. J. T. Stover at the country home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. D. K. Moore, on Brasstown , 7 miles south of Murphy. The occasion was character­ized by a lithe quiet happiness of a home wedding. The bride wore a becoming dress of li~ht grey. She is a beautiful girl of many admirable and attractive qualities. The groom stands high in Jackson county as a business man and possesses personal traits that wins friends wher­ever he goes. Following the ceremony a delicious luncheon was served, after which the bride and groom , accompanied by several friends , left for their future home at Webster. On Wednesday night a recep­tion was given the bridal party by Mrs. Nettie Dickey at Drum­mers' Home, and those who know that house, so famous for clever entertaining and unstin­ted de licacies, know how that table was furnished. After sup­per the company was entertain­ed by Col. Walter Moore and Capt. J. E. Smith with violin and piano accompaniment by Miss Mamie Moore. The SCOUT wishes them much happiness in their future life. Miss Maggie Moore accom­panied the bridal party Thurs­day morning to Webster. - From THE CHEROKEE SCOUT, December 18, 1899. Row I (L-Rl L 1921 Mrs. Allison on 1 Moore, Dan Allison, Isabel Allison, 1\ Allison and her children were living i Bragg Allison , Jr., and Isabella Jose[ Hicks Wilson House. The building on Morris, are in front of the post office Mrs. Allison and children ( L-R) Rul Webster home. 4. 1954 Mrs. Allison a Caroline Matilda Dickey Moore. 2. t Eugenia Moore Allison. , post master for 35 years he steps ol her home (built 1850 by Dr. C.Z. Candler's lather). In the photograph are (L-R) Enloe :rs. Fred (Lela) Moore, Dan Moore, and Mrs. Allison. 2. 1908 This photograph was taken when Mrs. n Brasstown, North Carolina. Children (L-R) Daniel Moore Allison, Ruth Rebecca Allison, Thomas 1hine Allison. 3. 1924 Mrs. Allison is in front of her house known as the Gribble House. It was also the the right was the Masonic Hall. Row 2. t. 1939 Mrs. Allison and her granddaughter, Mary Eugenia located in the corner of her yard. The mail bags are ready to be picked up by Arthur Allman. 2. 1916 11, Isabel, and Dan are on the porch of their house in Webster. 3. 1958 Mrs. Allison in yard of her td her sister, Mrs. Blanche Allison. Row 3. I. 1900 Mrs. Allison's parents, Daniel Killian Moore and ()2 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Bragg Allison and their daughter Ruth Rebecca in Webster. 3. 1958 Mrs. HISTORIC WEBSTER, Spring, 1979, Page 3, Recollections by Janice Monteith Blanton "Mrs. Eugenia Allison" I remember the winter I stayed at night with Mrs. Al­lison, londly relerred by many as "Aunt Gene," for a remark· able "salary" ol 50 cents a week! She usually spent the winter in Florida with her daughter, Isabel Carleton , but for some reason she chose to spend this particular winter in Webster, with me, a teenager, recruited as her nightly "guar­dian. " We lived next door, and I would go over to Mrs. Allison's each night around eight o'clock. Mrs. Allison, a d!gnified sou­thern lady, was remarkable in many ways. Rather ta ll , she was usually dressed in a cotton dress which always looked freshly pressed. Her snow white hair was very carefully pinned up on her head in a becoming style. constantly whistling and singing, Mrs. Allison was con­sistently happy. She always greeted me cheerlully, and we would sit together by the lire­place and chat or listen to records. One ol the hit records I particularly enjoyed on these evenings was " Mockingbird Hill." In r eflection, I am amaz­ed at how contentedly she, an elderly lady in her eighties, shared my musical interests and seemed so sincerely inter­ested in my teenage involve­ments that we discussed during these nightly visits. Each night when we were ready for bed, Mrs. Allison would take two old-fashioned irons sitting by the fireplace and carelully wrap each with a heavy towel or cloth. Our bedrooms were unheated and Col. Frizzell often icy cold in winter. When we went uostairs to bed. the last thing Mrs. Allison did each nigh-t was to open the two double windows in our rooms four to five inches wide- no matter what the temperature was out­side- and place one of the care­fully wrapped warm irons at my feet. She would then cheerlully bid me " Good Night" and take the other iron to her room to use. Each morning , I awaken to the cheery sound of her voice, calling me to breakfast. Shiver­ing, I would rush downstairs to the warm kitchen, heated pri­marily by a small, portable oil heater, to enjoy a hot breaklast or bacon , eggs, and the best toast I've ever eaten, made on an old toaster which " pressed" the bread tightly. I suppose the heated iron was a forerunner of the electric blanket; however, at the time, I remember thinking that open­ing windows in the dead of winter was a terrible idea. But, looking back on the experience, I realize that that winter was one of the healthiest of my lile 1 Certainly, the nightly compan­ionship of such a line lady made it one of my most memorable. Who knows , perhaps that cool, fresh night air was one of Mrs. Allison 's secrets for living such a long and healthy lile? Janice Monteith Blanton will continue to write a feature for lollowing issues ol HISTORIC WEBSTER. Mrs. Blanton grew up in Webster. She will report on people in the village whom she remembers. Court Week Fun Continued From Page I by Mr. Nathan and Mrs. Sophia Coward. She was known by everybody as "Aunt Soph" (Both these houses burned in the 1910 lire). The two hotels were totally inadequate to han­dle all the court week visitors, so they spread out into the country wherever they could find accommodations. We bare­ly had room for all the members of our family , but during court week we had many guests, lriends or my father throughout the county. My mother would make "pallets" on the floor for these guests, and they seemed happy with the primitive ar­rangements. Colonel Lawrence C. Frizzell, a son of W. D. and Ellen Long Frizzell. was born in Webster November 25, 1891. After school in Webster and college at North Georgia, he was given a com­mission in the army in 1917. He retired in 1946 and he and his wife now live in Fort Myers, Florida. Colonel Frizzell's column now is a re_gular l'eature in HIS­TORIC WEBSTER and in the next issue he will write about "Preachers." AJIIIIJ!MIIIMlD. ~HISTORIC~ 't'1 I'i ·;-\i~ WEBSTE! newsletler ol the Webster Historical Society, Inc. Spring. 1979 Webster. North Carolina 28788 Editor Joe P. Rhinehart Contributors : Janice Montieth Blanton, Lawrence C. Friz­zell. Isabel Allison Carlton. Mary Morris, Anne Morgan Seal or Published quarterly by the Webster Historical Society and printed by the Hera ld Publishing Company, Sylva, North Carolina Page 4, HISTORIC WEBSTER, Spring, 1979 Morgans had stamina of the pioneer family Continued From Page 1 hearty laugh, always left every­one in a good mood. My father, who was a car­penter by trade, worked away from home a great deal of time. frantic when I returned. I was so frightened after it was all over, I cried. My father loved horses and kept at least one for many years after he bought a car. In his almost two weeks later. He had a wild time picking the feathers off the chickens to make chick­en broth. A cook he was not, but he really tried, and the people did survive. We laughed many Anne Morgan Sealor remembers the Leatherwood House as looking like this when the Morgan family moved there in 1919. - I recall he worked on a lot of dams being built in Georgia and Tennessee. Tullulah Falls was a early one, then Alcoa , Calder­wood, Tennessee Valley, and Chickamauga. I'm sure there were others, but I do not remember them. He traveled on horseback for a long time, and then he bought a Model-T Ford. When he brought it home all the older children got to drive it alone down to the school house and back. I had never been under a steering wheel, but my father said the only way to learn to drive was just like swim­ming; in other words, we were tossed into the water. I made my trip fine , but my mother was James, 1944 What has become of the six Morgan children? James (1009·1976 ~ joined the navy in 1927. After working in the Akron, Ohio, rubber fac· tories, he worked for thirty years at the Western Carolina Sanatorium in Black Mountain. l-Ie married Margaret Alcox earlier life he had depended on his "team" for a livelihood. He hauled lumber from Caney Fork to Sylva when he and my mother were first married, on November 24, 1907. After they moved to the "hollow" he kept a couple of horses for the grand­children to ride, but my mother used to say, he fooled no one with that story. He just loved having the animals around. I vividly recall one very bad winter, about 1920, when every­one in the town had influenza and my dad was the only one who did not. He tried to take care of everyone. He went for a doctor, but he was so busy he could not come to Webster until Fred, 1927 from eastern North Carolina in 1950. Fred< 1911· ) graduated from Webster School in 1929 and joined the navy in 1930. He married Mildred Doughty of Omaha, Nebraska, in 1939 and retired from the navy as a lieutenant commander in 1957. He now lives in Santa Teresa, times later about him taking the Black Draught on one trip and the next he would take chicken broth. It took about two weeks for everyone to get over the high fevers but even longer to reco­ver enough to stay out of bed any length of time. I remember Dr. C.Z. Candler coming to our house about two weeks later and telling my mother that he could not have done as well as my dad did under the circumstances. My mother who was the dau­ghter of Wilson and Elizabeth Franklin Sutton of Dillsboro was a very good seamstress. She could look at something and copy it with no problem. She sewed for five boys and me for Anne, 1927 New Mexico. Anne ( 1913- ) graduated from Webster School and Knoxville Business College. She married William M. Sealor of Arlington, Virginia, where she now lives after retiring from Woodward and Lothop Department Store. She has two children, Joe and Peggy, who often visited their many years, as well as for other people. She loved to sew and taught me at a very early age. I remember she crocheted six· teen window panels for Mrs. Walter Watt, whose husband worked for The Charlotte Ob­server and who lived down the street. I have often wondered if she really appreciated the amount of work that went into doing those panels. They were really beautiful and I could see them each time I passed the Watt's house. That was my mother's project for a whole year at night, just after supper until bedtime. When I first started sewing at an early age, my feet would not reach the treddle and one of my younger brothers sat on the floor and worked it for me. I made my first quilt top at age seven and by the time I was eight it was quilted. I did the whole thing alone. My mother said I had worn it out before it was finished since I had to take out so many stitches, but I used it for many years. I still have a Yo-Yo spread that was made from my dress scraps before I was twelve years old. As we grew up and I grad­uated from high school, in 1931 we became involved in earning a living, which meant leaving Webster. My two older bro­thers, James and Fred, joined the Navy and I went to business school in Knoxville. Later, one brother, joined the army, and the two youngest, Roy and Richard, joined the navy. Mo­ther and Dad had four sons in the service, during the second World War, at one time. I often wonder how they stood the an­xiety. Both had the stamina of true pioneers and lived to celebrate fifty one years of married life. Dad joined the Methodist Church about 1955, contrary to the fact that he was descendant of Perminter Morgan of Vir· ginia, who was the first Baptist minister to organize a Baptist Ray (left), 1932 grandparents. Ray (1915·1940) was in the navy and was killed in South Dakota. Roy (1917· ) graduated from Webster School and spent ele· ven years in the navy. He and his wife, Mildred Wright, are the parents of five children and I t Mr. and Mrs. William H. Morgan on their fiftieth wedding anniversary, November 1957. They moved to Webster in 1919 and lived in the Leatherwood House on Main Street. In 1932 they moved to the "Hollow House." Church and Association in Ru· therford (later McDowell) and Buncombe Counties in the late 1700's. Dad's parents, Nancy Jane Green and Phillip James Morgan, were also Baptists. Dad and Mother sold our house in Webster and moved to the " hollow" in 1932. I think they enjoyed living there but missed the neighbors. All my brothers and I have always considered the house in Webster " home", since we did not really live in the "hollow" . I think had we lived ther, even for a short while, it would have a different meaning. The Morgan grand­children think the "hollow" was the greatest place for a summer vacation . Roy /Richard, 1930 live on Long Is land. He works in electronics. Richard ( 1920- ) graduated from Webster School in 1938, joined the navy in 1939 and was discharged in 1944. He and his wife, Grace McDaniel, and their two children live in San Fran· cisco. He is retired from the Internal Revenue Service.

1970s

Webster (N.C.)--History--Periodicals

Jackson County (N.C.)--History--Periodicals

North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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