snippets ~ chatham history BLOG

Captain Frank Siler, far right, Beaumont School

Captain Frank Siler, far left at school in Star NC

We love it when someone takes the time to share additional information about one of our posts. Wally Jarrell saw our photo of the Beaumont School, which noted that it was led by Captain Frank Siler--someone he had done research on--and he provided the following very interesting information.

From Wally--

I was very interested in seeing this photo, especially with the image of a younger Captain Frank Siler. Captain Columbus Frank Siler was one of the most well-known teachers of his day, having been a heroic figure in leading Co. M, 22nd Regt., NC Infantry during the war. He also at times took charge of much of the regiment in the absence of higher officers who had been wounded. He himself was wounded six times leading charges and even carrying the flag. He lost most of the use of his right arm. If you notice in the photo, he is holding his "left" arm. However, photos of that day were actually mirror images, and need to be reversed to see the modern-day version of a photograph. So, he is actually holding his right arm, as the records show.

Captain Siler was born in Chatham County to Andrew J. and Ruth Barker Siler in December 1840. Following his grandfather, the family moved to Randolph County before 1860, near Franklinville. He enlisted in Co. M and was mustered in as a fourth sergeant and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, then to 1st Lieutenant, and finally as Captain. He was ordered promoted to Major twice, but never received the promotions due to the hectic activity and rapid movements at the end of the war and the deaths of senior officers.

Coming home from the war, he graduated from Trinity College and became a teacher and a member of the Trinity Masonic Lodge. Tracking his career, I have documented at least 15 different schools where he taught or was principal, in several different counties, including the Holly Springs Institute in Wake County. He taught for several years in my hometown of Star and finished his career at Mt. Olivet Academy in Randolph County. It is interesting that the Beaumont School was held in the Beaumont Lodge No. 160 Masonic lodge building, as he was a Mason. That lodge dissolved in 1874. In 1909 he moved to the Confederate Veteran's Home in Raleigh and agreed to be the Sunday School teacher there. He died soon after he arrived -- on 28 July 1909, and was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh. He was remembered in the newspapers as a "Hero of Heroes."

There are two, maybe three photos of him when he was older. Above shows Siler with his school in Star, taken about 1904. He stands on the far left. 

Thanks to Wally for sharing his research!

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #Education #Teachers #FrankSiler

Bell's church. Photo from Chatham County Historical Association collection.

A history of the church is provided on the Bell's Church website:

https://www.bellsbaptistchurch.org/blank-page-1

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #BellsBaptistChurch

Siler City became a songbird sanctuary on February 23, 1939, by proclamation of Mayor O. B. Reitzel. It was the third town in the South to be so designated, coming after Hendersonville, NC and Milledgeville, GA. The bird sanctuary distinction for Siler City was instigated by Mrs. Henry Pike of the Siler City Garden Club.

The Siler City Garden Club was awarded first place in the state for bird work during the year 1947. Under Mrs. Pike's guidance, school children had built 345 bird houses that year and thirty-six species of birds had been identified.

From Hadley, The Town of Siler City: 1887-1987.

Thanks to Mark Ellington for the photo!

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #SilerCityNC #birds #1930s #SongbirdSanctuary #SilerCityGardenClub

D.G. Fox general merchandise and produce store in Siler City, located at what is now 115 South Chatham Avenue, ca. 1890s. The Siler-Matthews house is visible in the background. The owner, D.G. Fox, and his son M.M. Fox are standing in the doorway.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #SilerCityNC #GeneralMerchandise #Store #1890s

This map from John H. London's Bygones and Survivors booklet shows the locations of "old homes and structures in and around Pittsboro 1787 - 1900."

You can learn more about many of the structures noted on the map in London's booklet -- which is now on our website as part of his publication, Since Then: https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/SinceThenHistoryofPittsboro.pdf

The Architectural Heritage of Chatham County, NC covers historic structures in the entire county. The book is available for use in the Chatham Community Library. Copies of the Architectural Heritage book are also available for sale in the Chatham Historical Museum and on CCHA's website: https://chathamhistory.org/Shop

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #ChathamCountyNC #PittsboroNC #Pittsboromap #oldhouses #ArchitecturalHistory

Siler City beauties. 1940s?

Shirley White identified the three ladies as Louise, Polly, and Jean Darden. Can anyone identify the young man on the left?

From Duane Hall's Historic Siler City collection. Thanks Duane and Shirley!

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #SilerCityNC #girls #1940s

Don't miss Margaret Wicker's first-hand recollections about the Coal Glen Mine explosion that occurred in Chatham on 27 May 1925. The interview is just one of the resources about the mine disaster available on our website thanks to Paul Wilson, who has collected information about the event for years. A small part of the interview is included here:

"We were chopping cotton out in this field. I was just little, and my mother had some colored women and white women helping her chop cotton. There was a whole bunch of them out there. I was playing in the dirt with a little black girl.

All at once, we heard this big noise, like booooom, and black smoke just boiled and rolled up in the sky. All the women started screaming and hollering. Their husbands worked in the mine.

Everybody that lived up and down in those houses knew what the explosions were, and people were just hollering and screaming and going every which way. It just got plum dark, black like night, with all that black dust and smoke. In just a few minutes, there was another explosion.

My daddy didn't work in the mine, but he worked with them. He cut timbers and cross ties and things like that for them. He got in somebody's car and came out here to our house to get some sweet milk, because two men had went to open the air shaft's doors. When the second explosion came, it blew them back up the slope and 'bout killed them. I don't know why, but they wanted milk for them.

That's where I was, somewhere along here in the middle of this field. I was just a young 'un and scared to death. I know there wasn't any more chopping cotton that day."

The Coal Glen-Farmville Mine Disaster was the worst industrial accident in North Carolina history--killing 53 men, making 38 women widows, leaving 79 children fatherless, making Farmville a ghost town, and virtually putting an end to coal mining in North Carolina. Paul Wilson's collection of resources relating to this Chatham County disaster is provided on our website:

https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/CoalGlenMiningDisaster/CoalGlenMiningDisasterMainPage.pdf

#ChathamNCHistory #ChtathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #FarmvilleNC #CoalGlenMine #MiningDisaster #IndustrialAccident #Mining #DeepRiverCoal #CoalMining #OralHistory #1920s 

Simon Green Atkins was born in Haywood, Chatham County to two formerly enslaved people. He went on to co-found the North Carolina Negro Teachers’ Association. Later, he created Slater Normal and Industrial School which in time would become Winston-Salem State University. Simon Green Atkins’ life was dedicated to Black education and educators. His legacy remains to this day through Winston-Salem State University, one of North Carolina’s 12 Historically Black Colleges.

Learn more in this podcast produced by Ella Sullivan for a Girl Scout Gold Award. Her podcast on Atkins is one of eleven produced for her project, which is aimed at creating community identity through teaching local history.

To listen (or read) here's the link:

https://chathamspast.wixsite.com/alookinto/simon-green-atkins

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #BlackHistory #AfricanAmericanHistory #HaywoodNC #SimonGreenAtkins #WinstonSalemStateUniversity #ellasullivan 

This photo show a slice of Pittsboro's champion holly tree that is on display in the local history area of Chatham Community Library. The attached "ruler" marks growth rings, indicating that the tree was planted (or began to grow on its own) about 1853. When it was cut in 2008, it was believed to be in bad health at about 155 years old. Its diameter at the time was about 34 inches. It was believed to be the oldest holly tree in the US.

For a short time, the tree's remarkable age and size made it a Pittsboro icon. It was located across West Street from the old Justice Motor Company building (then the General Store Cafe and later the Pittsboro Roadhouse). There was a community effort to save the tree, which had declined since the parking lot that surrounded it was paved about 15 years earlier, but those efforts were unsuccessful.

The Grand Trees of Chatham group saved the slice of the tree that is on display at the Chatham Community Library. We are pleased to have this reminder of a part of Pittsboro's natural history. What we DON'T have is a photo of the tree while it lived. If you have one in your photo collection, please share it with us so it can be made a permanent part of the Chatham County digital photo collection. Thanks!

There's a large holly tree in the front yard of Mike Shepherd in Pittsboro that currently holds the record for being the largest holly tree in Chatham by the Grand Trees of Chatham group. Mike reports that it is still alive and is even larger than the old "parking lot" holly. The Grand Trees records indicate that Mike's tree is 45' tall, has a trunk circumference of 111" and an average spread of 45'. According to Mike, his property was owned by the Bland family in about 1850, and the Bland sisters carved their names in the tree. So, we don't know it's exact age, but it has been around for a really long time! Mike's tree is located across the street from the Pittsboro Baptist Church in downtown Pittsboro.

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamHistory #ChathamNC #PittsboroHolly #trees #GrandTreesofChatham #ChathamCommunityLibrary 

Devils Tramping Ground outing! What a treasure!

This old postcard showing a group posing at the Devils Tramping Ground in Chatham was contributed by Wally and Sandy Jarrell. The participants are wearing what appear to be Sunday-best outfits and holding springs of what must be the grass that grows around the naked circle of the Devils Tramping Ground. A buggy can be seen on the far right of the photo.

If you can help date the photo from the clothing of the men and women and the buggy, please share your thoughts! The Devils Tramping Ground has been a recognized place of interest in Chatham since at least as early as 1882, when it was mentioned in a Texas newspaper.

Many thanks to Wally and Sandy Jarrell for sharing this photo with us! It's a great piece of Chatham County history!

#ChathamNCHistory #ChathamCountyNC #DevilsTrampingGround #DTG #1880s