Before Thomasville Part I
The following article about Thomasville, NC was sent to me by another Lambeth researcher. It is quite lengthy so I will be posting it in three parts. It is taken from:
-M. Jewell Sink and Mary G. Matthews, assisted by James Hoover originally published in Historical gleanings of Davidson County, North Carolina. By Davidson County Bicentennial Committee in 1976.
Transcribed by Ruth Ann Copley
Thomasville Library
Davidson County Public Library System
BEFORE THOMASVILLE, WHAT?
PART I
What was happening in the area that is now Thomasville Township from the time the County was formed (1822) until Thomasville was founded (1852) and Thomasville Township of Davidson County was set up (1868)? Was it a wooded area or a farming area? Did the inhabitants participate in county government? What about schools, churches and industries?
Old maps show that there were two main roads leading through the area -the Old Greensboro Road roughly paralleling the present northern and western boundary of the present township and the Old Raleigh Road near the southern and eastern boundary. From deeds and hearsay it is found that there were crossroads, some no more than “pig paths, ” joining these two main roads, and one road, at least in the latter part of the period, from Lexington to the Thomasville area. The MacRae-Brazier North Carolina Map of 1833 shows only four post offices in Davidson County, of which Fair Grove was the only one in this township area.
When the map was made, Fair Grove had long been a thriving settlement. In 1796 George Hoover, a Revolutionary War veteran, and his wife, Margaret Hoover, bought from the estate of John Lewis Beard a plantation, which they called “Deer’s Lick,” and built a home near the present location of the Southgate Shopping Center. Margaret was the daughter of John Lewis Beard, a wealthy landholder of Salisbury, and sister of Michael Beard who in 1789 had bought some 80 acres of land and laid out lots for the present city of Lexington. The children of George and Margaret Hoover were: Christina, Elizabeth, George Jr., Charles, Felix and Valentine. Christina married, first, Philip Mock of Abbotts Creek area and after his death, Joseph Spurgeon, who as State Senator had introduced the bill to form Davidson County. Charles Hoover after marriage lived on his plantation near Abbotts Creek. (A more detailed account of his life will be given later in this article.) George Hoover, Jr., moved to Asheboro and became a general in the militia there. Felix Hoover, who married a daughter of Col. Frederick Goss, moved with his family to Tennessee a few years after their marriage. Valentine Hoover inherited part of his father’s estate, including the home place, and was a leader in religious and community affairs. He had two sons who were killed in the Civil War, leaving no issue.
Elizabeth Hoover married David Mock who began buying tracts of land in 1810 and continued until he had several hundred acres. It is believed that he built and lived in the house that is now the residence of Mrs. Robert Rothrock. He became a Justice of Davidson County’s Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, was elected the County’s first clerk of the Court and was one of the officials who implemented the act erecting the county. In 1835 and 1836 they sold their property to Nathan Kendall and moved to Missouri.
The deed for the 293 acres of land stated “all that tract or, parcel of land and premises whereon I (that is, David Mock) now reside.” It bears the same description as deeds before 1821 to David Mock. The house was remodeled in the mid nineteenth century when the roof was changed and a fancy porch added. The interior retains the original Federal mantels, doors, chair rails and wide boards in the walls and ceiling (visible in the upstairs rooms) popular in the first quarter of the 19th century.
Charles Mock, son of David and Elizabeth, was also for some- time Clerk of the Court. He acquired land from Joseph Spurgeon in 1831 and his mother’s part in her father’s estate in 1833, and built a large brick house thereon. His wife early in January 1849 opened in their home Sylva Grove Academy, the county’s first boarding school for girls, and later built a dormitory in the rear of their residence. Mr. Mock was also a nurseryman. In 1852 the Mocks sold their land and school to Dr. Charles F. Deems of Greensboro College (who named it Glen Anna Female Seminary) and departed for California to join Isaac Kinney who was already operating a nursery there. This Charles Mock residence is now the impressive home of Mrs. G. E. Crowell and son John.
Soon after the George Hoovers came to Fair Grove, another Revolutionary War veteran, Moses Lambeth of Craven County, moved there. It is said that Moses Lambeth had admired the area while on the way home from service in the army and later applied for a State grant. Through other State grants and purchases, in a few years he amassed over a thousand acres of land and several slaves. His friend, Lewis Tyer, came with him and purchased land adjoining that of Moses. Later the son of Lewis Tyer married Elizabeth, the daughter of Moses and Tabitha Loftin Lambeth, and lived nearby until about 1835 when they moved to Tennessee and later Mississippi. Two years after the death of his wife, Moses, Levi Coggin and wife, Frances (another daughter of Moses and Tabitha), followed the Tyers West.
Just when the house since 1902 called “Cedar Lodge” was built is not known. The land originally belonged to Moses but it is thought that John W. Thomas who early in 1818 married Polly (Mary), daughter of Moses and Tabitha Lambeth, may have built it. The deed given in 1822 to John W. Thomas and Levi Coggin by Moses Lambeth stated that the tract consisting of 384 acres included the home place whereon Moses and Tabitha lived and reserved their lifetime right to it. At any rate, in the large house still standing, John W. and Polly Thomas lived for many years and there their twelve children were born and reared. Tradition has it that John W. Thomas came there from Caswell County to prospect for gold. It is known that from time to time he owned interest in several mines in the county~ one located on or near his plantation. For fifty years he was a dominant figure in the Thomasville Township area. As State Representative for one term and as State Senator for five terms, he made his voice heard on legislation relating to the County and State.
In 1843-44 he was the first chairman of the County Board of Superintendents of Common Schools. Later he was a leader in the financing and building of the North Carolina Railroad, and he was the founder of Thomasville in 1852. Shortly thereafter he built a large residence in the center of the town where he and his family lived as leaders in the business, social, educational and religious life of the community. One of his sons, Dr. Robert W., was a physician there for over fifty years. Another son, P. C. Thomas, was a Representative to the State General Assembly for one term and to the State Senate for two terms.
In July 1828 John W. Thomas was one of nine trustees of Fair Grove Methodist Church to whom John Myres (sic) deeded a tract of four acres. The other trustees were John Welborn, James Needham, Alson Gray, Isham Nance, William Carroll, John Loftin, Amos Lambeth and David Mock. The name of Fair Grove was presumably given be- cause the tract was beautifully wooded with oaks and virgin pine and sufficiently elevated to give the church a commanding position in the community. The name of the preacher who organized the church is not known but there were two trustees who were also preachers-John Welborn (1779-1830) and Alson Gray (1799-1881) – who might have started the movement. The deed states that the house of worship to be erected on this land shall be “for the use of the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. …” In the division of the Methodists into Methodist Episcopals and Methodist Protestants in 1830, both Welborn and Gray went the Methodist Protestant way. John Welborn lived nearby in Randolph County and is buried in the Prospect Church cemetery. Alson Gray had a circuit of churches nearby in Randolph County, among which were Gray’s Chapel, which he founded and which was named for him, and Fairfield Church, near which he lived and where he is buried. He participated in the founding of Yadkin College, at one time served as its Dean, and endorsed the note for Jamestown Female College, from which he suffered financial loss. An item in the Sept. 26, 1829, issue of the Greensborough Patriot stated that the Rev. William N. Abbington, an itinerant preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, formerly of Henry County, Virginia, died at the residence of David Mock. It may be that this man who was buried in the Fair Grove cemetery was one of the early preachers. At any rate, this is the oldest known Methodist Church still in existence in the county and the center around which all the religious life of the community revolved for many years. Its growth was steady during the period from 1828 to 1868.
It is thought that John Loftin, another trustee mentioned above, was a son-in-law of Moses Lambeth. John Loftin had married Sally Lambeth in 1822 with James Tyer as witness. She may have been the Sally, daughter of Moses and Tabitha Lambeth, listed in Rowan County Court Minutes, 1804, but this has not been confirmed. However, records show that John Loftin was very closely associated with the Lambeth family in many activities.
A family long prominent in the community was that of Dr. Shadrach Lambeth who in 1835 or 1836 bought a plantation about a mile east of Fair Grove Church and built a large brick house, with walls 18 inches thick, which is still standing and now the home of the Mrs. Roxanna Shoaf family. Shadrach was a nephew of Moses Lambeth; his wife Jane, a sister of John W. Thomas. Their sister, Mary Thomas, who first married Thomas Loftin and after his death Silas Lambeth, had already moved to this community. (Her son, David Loftin, was prominent in county affairs from the 1850′s on; and served as Sheriff of Davidson County a total of fourteen years; the longest tenure of any man to date.) Their sister Margaret Thomas had married Amos Lambeth (also mentioned as trustee of Fair Grove) and lived the remainder of her life near Fair Grove.
Dr. Shadrach Lambeth was an old-time herb doctor and achieved local prominence as a “nerve curator.” He pledged the building one mile of the North Carolina Railroad, a pledge he did not live to carry out but that (and it is said more mileage) was built by his son, David Thomas Lambeth, and perhaps other sons. Dr. Shadrack and Jane Thomas Lambeth were the parents of ten children. Of the only three remained in this area long after marriage: Sarah Frances, who married George Lines, Joseph Harrison, who inherited the home place but moved to Thomasville after he returned from participation in} Civil War. He enlisted in the army April 23, 1861, at Thomasville as 3rd Lieutenant Co. B., 14th Reg. N. C. Infantry, and became a Major in December, 1862. Wounded in 1864 at Winchester and taken: prisoner of war, he was paroled May 2, 1865. One of his sons, Dr. William Alexander Lambeth, was a distinguished professor at the University of Virginia for more than 35 years, teaching physical education, hygiene and materia medica, and was author of books and articles on a wide range of subjects.
The third child of Dr. Shadrach Lambeth who remained nearby was David Thomas Lambeth who married Caroline Eliza Simmons. The family had moved to the Thomasville Township area so that their daughter might attend Glen Anna Female Seminary. The David T. J. Lambeths had their first home about one mile east of Fair Grove Church. Here their eleven children were born and reared. In l886 the family moved to Thomasville where David T. operated a general store. The sons, Franklin S., John W., and Robert L., and son-in-law John R. Myers, were pioneer furniture manufacturers. A grandson, Dr. William Arnold Lambeth (son of Franklin S.) was for forty four years a prominent Methodist minister, then presiding elder, and later district superintendent; another grandson, John Walter Lambeth, Jr. was Eight District Representative to the United States Congress, Davidson County’s only native son to hold this office; other grandsons and granddaughters served in important positions in the business, civic, educational and religious life of the town.
Nathan Kendall, heretofore mentioned, was a large landholder and also owned a saw and gristmill west of his home place. He leased the mining rights on 46 acres of land to the Fair Grove Gold and Copper Mining Company. Whether or not this operation was successful is not known. Kendall’s son-in-law, Professor I. L. Wright, husband of Cynthia, taught a school for boys in the upstairs rooms of the Kendall-Wright home in the 1870′s and 1880′s .It was considered a good preparatory school for Old Trinity College, then located some seven miles away. Some of the students became such pioneer industrialists as Stuart Cramer, grandson of John W. Thomas, who founded Cramerton; John W. Lambeth, son of David Thomas Lambeth, mayor of Thomasville for seven years, postmaster, leader in public school and good roads movements in the county; Charles M. Hoover, son of Captain P. A. Hoover and great grandson of George Hoover, mayor of Thomasville, postmaster, and sometime chairman of Davidson County Board of Commissioners.
In 1845 Absolom Bowers, Sol Secrest and Shadrach Lambeth were the school committee for District Number Four which had 108 children of school age. While the name and location of the school were not given in the county records of the day, this building was probably located on or near the church grounds. The deed of 1828 to the church trustees mentions a schoolhouse. It is known that for a number of years there was a public school on the church land, which in addition to the Mock and Deems school for girls and the Wright school for boys furnished a good educational opportunity for the children of Fair Grove.
Although Joshua Lee lived in Conrad Hill Township near Light across the boundary line of present Thomasville Township, he was prominent in the community affairs around Fair Grove. His name is mentioned as trustee on mortgages of his neighbors there, as administrator of estates, as security for persons in positions of trust and as tax lister. Most important, he was a Justice of the county’s first Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. He is buried in the Fair Grove Church cemetery.
The following article about Thomasville, NC was sent to me by another Lambeth researcher. It is quite lengthy so I will be posting it in three parts. It is taken from:
-M. Jewell Sink and Mary G. Matthews, assisted by James Hoover originally published in Historical gleanings of Davidson County, North Carolina. By Davidson County Bicentennial Committee in 1976.
Transcribed by Ruth Ann Copley
Thomasville Library
Davidson County Public Library System
BEFORE THOMASVILLE, WHAT?
PART I
What was happening in the area that is now Thomasville Township from the time the County was formed (1822) until Thomasville was founded (1852) and Thomasville Township of Davidson County was set up (1868)? Was it a wooded area or a farming area? Did the inhabitants participate in county government? What about schools, churches and industries?
Old maps show that there were two main roads leading through the area -the Old Greensboro Road roughly paralleling the present northern and western boundary of the present township and the Old Raleigh Road near the southern and eastern boundary. From deeds and hearsay it is found that there were crossroads, some no more than “pig paths, ” joining these two main roads, and one road, at least in the latter part of the period, from Lexington to the Thomasville area. The MacRae-Brazier North Carolina Map of 1833 shows only four post offices in Davidson County, of which Fair Grove was the only one in this township area.
When the map was made, Fair Grove had long been a thriving settlement. In 1796 George Hoover, a Revolutionary War veteran, and his wife, Margaret Hoover, bought from the estate of John Lewis Beard a plantation, which they called “Deer’s Lick,” and built a home near the present location of the Southgate Shopping Center. Margaret was the daughter of John Lewis Beard, a wealthy landholder of Salisbury, and sister of Michael Beard who in 1789 had bought some 80 acres of land and laid out lots for the present city of Lexington. The children of George and Margaret Hoover were: Christina, Elizabeth, George Jr., Charles, Felix and Valentine. Christina married, first, Philip Mock of Abbotts Creek area and after his death, Joseph Spurgeon, who as State Senator had introduced the bill to form Davidson County. Charles Hoover after marriage lived on his plantation near Abbotts Creek. (A more detailed account of his life will be given later in this article.) George Hoover, Jr., moved to Asheboro and became a general in the militia there. Felix Hoover, who married a daughter of Col. Frederick Goss, moved with his family to Tennessee a few years after their marriage. Valentine Hoover inherited part of his father’s estate, including the home place, and was a leader in religious and community affairs. He had two sons who were killed in the Civil War, leaving no issue.
Elizabeth Hoover married David Mock who began buying tracts of land in 1810 and continued until he had several hundred acres. It is believed that he built and lived in the house that is now the residence of Mrs. Robert Rothrock. He became a Justice of Davidson County’s Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, was elected the County’s first clerk of the Court and was one of the officials who implemented the act erecting the county. In 1835 and 1836 they sold their property to Nathan Kendall and moved to Missouri.
The deed for the 293 acres of land stated “all that tract or, parcel of land and premises whereon I (that is, David Mock) now reside.” It bears the same description as deeds before 1821 to David Mock. The house was remodeled in the mid nineteenth century when the roof was changed and a fancy porch added. The interior retains the original Federal mantels, doors, chair rails and wide boards in the walls and ceiling (visible in the upstairs rooms) popular in the first quarter of the 19th century.
Charles Mock, son of David and Elizabeth, was also for some- time Clerk of the Court. He acquired land from Joseph Spurgeon in 1831 and his mother’s part in her father’s estate in 1833, and built a large brick house thereon. His wife early in January 1849 opened in their home Sylva Grove Academy, the county’s first boarding school for girls, and later built a dormitory in the rear of their residence. Mr. Mock was also a nurseryman. In 1852 the Mocks sold their land and school to Dr. Charles F. Deems of Greensboro College (who named it Glen Anna Female Seminary) and departed for California to join Isaac Kinney who was already operating a nursery there. This Charles Mock residence is now the impressive home of Mrs. G. E. Crowell and son John.
Soon after the George Hoovers came to Fair Grove, another Revolutionary War veteran, Moses Lambeth of Craven County, moved there. It is said that Moses Lambeth had admired the area while on the way home from service in the army and later applied for a State grant. Through other State grants and purchases, in a few years he amassed over a thousand acres of land and several slaves. His friend, Lewis Tyer, came with him and purchased land adjoining that of Moses. Later the son of Lewis Tyer married Elizabeth, the daughter of Moses and Tabitha Loftin Lambeth, and lived nearby until about 1835 when they moved to Tennessee and later Mississippi. Two years after the death of his wife, Moses, Levi Coggin and wife, Frances (another daughter of Moses and Tabitha), followed the Tyers West.
Just when the house since 1902 called “Cedar Lodge” was built is not known. The land originally belonged to Moses but it is thought that John W. Thomas who early in 1818 married Polly (Mary), daughter of Moses and Tabitha Lambeth, may have built it. The deed given in 1822 to John W. Thomas and Levi Coggin by Moses Lambeth stated that the tract consisting of 384 acres included the home place whereon Moses and Tabitha lived and reserved their lifetime right to it. At any rate, in the large house still standing, John W. and Polly Thomas lived for many years and there their twelve children were born and reared. Tradition has it that John W. Thomas came there from Caswell County to prospect for gold. It is known that from time to time he owned interest in several mines in the county~ one located on or near his plantation. For fifty years he was a dominant figure in the Thomasville Township area. As State Representative for one term and as State Senator for five terms, he made his voice heard on legislation relating to the County and State.
In 1843-44 he was the first chairman of the County Board of Superintendents of Common Schools. Later he was a leader in the financing and building of the North Carolina Railroad, and he was the founder of Thomasville in 1852. Shortly thereafter he built a large residence in the center of the town where he and his family lived as leaders in the business, social, educational and religious life of the community. One of his sons, Dr. Robert W., was a physician there for over fifty years. Another son, P. C. Thomas, was a Representative to the State General Assembly for one term and to the State Senate for two terms.
In July 1828 John W. Thomas was one of nine trustees of Fair Grove Methodist Church to whom John Myres (sic) deeded a tract of four acres. The other trustees were John Welborn, James Needham, Alson Gray, Isham Nance, William Carroll, John Loftin, Amos Lambeth and David Mock. The name of Fair Grove was presumably given be- cause the tract was beautifully wooded with oaks and virgin pine and sufficiently elevated to give the church a commanding position in the community. The name of the preacher who organized the church is not known but there were two trustees who were also preachers-John Welborn (1779-1830) and Alson Gray (1799-1881) – who might have started the movement. The deed states that the house of worship to be erected on this land shall be “for the use of the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. …” In the division of the Methodists into Methodist Episcopals and Methodist Protestants in 1830, both Welborn and Gray went the Methodist Protestant way. John Welborn lived nearby in Randolph County and is buried in the Prospect Church cemetery. Alson Gray had a circuit of churches nearby in Randolph County, among which were Gray’s Chapel, which he founded and which was named for him, and Fairfield Church, near which he lived and where he is buried. He participated in the founding of Yadkin College, at one time served as its Dean, and endorsed the note for Jamestown Female College, from which he suffered financial loss. An item in the Sept. 26, 1829, issue of the Greensborough Patriot stated that the Rev. William N. Abbington, an itinerant preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, formerly of Henry County, Virginia, died at the residence of David Mock. It may be that this man who was buried in the Fair Grove cemetery was one of the early preachers. At any rate, this is the oldest known Methodist Church still in existence in the county and the center around which all the religious life of the community revolved for many years. Its growth was steady during the period from 1828 to 1868.
It is thought that John Loftin, another trustee mentioned above, was a son-in-law of Moses Lambeth. John Loftin had married Sally Lambeth in 1822 with James Tyer as witness. She may have been the Sally, daughter of Moses and Tabitha Lambeth, listed in Rowan County Court Minutes, 1804, but this has not been confirmed. However, records show that John Loftin was very closely associated with the Lambeth family in many activities.
A family long prominent in the community was that of Dr. Shadrach Lambeth who in 1835 or 1836 bought a plantation about a mile east of Fair Grove Church and built a large brick house, with walls 18 inches thick, which is still standing and now the home of the Mrs. Roxanna Shoaf family. Shadrach was a nephew of Moses Lambeth; his wife Jane, a sister of John W. Thomas. Their sister, Mary Thomas, who first married Thomas Loftin and after his death Silas Lambeth, had already moved to this community. (Her son, David Loftin, was prominent in county affairs from the 1850′s on; and served as Sheriff of Davidson County a total of fourteen years; the longest tenure of any man to date.) Their sister Margaret Thomas had married Amos Lambeth (also mentioned as trustee of Fair Grove) and lived the remainder of her life near Fair Grove.
Dr. Shadrach Lambeth was an old-time herb doctor and achieved local prominence as a “nerve curator.” He pledged the building one mile of the North Carolina Railroad, a pledge he did not live to carry out but that (and it is said more mileage) was built by his son, David Thomas Lambeth, and perhaps other sons. Dr. Shadrack and Jane Thomas Lambeth were the parents of ten children. Of the only three remained in this area long after marriage: Sarah Frances, who married George Lines, Joseph Harrison, who inherited the home place but moved to Thomasville after he returned from participation in} Civil War. He enlisted in the army April 23, 1861, at Thomasville as 3rd Lieutenant Co. B., 14th Reg. N. C. Infantry, and became a Major in December, 1862. Wounded in 1864 at Winchester and taken: prisoner of war, he was paroled May 2, 1865. One of his sons, Dr. William Alexander Lambeth, was a distinguished professor at the University of Virginia for more than 35 years, teaching physical education, hygiene and materia medica, and was author of books and articles on a wide range of subjects.
The third child of Dr. Shadrach Lambeth who remained nearby was David Thomas Lambeth who married Caroline Eliza Simmons. The family had moved to the Thomasville Township area so that their daughter might attend Glen Anna Female Seminary. The David T. J. Lambeths had their first home about one mile east of Fair Grove Church. Here their eleven children were born and reared. In l886 the family moved to Thomasville where David T. operated a general store. The sons, Franklin S., John W., and Robert L., and son-in-law John R. Myers, were pioneer furniture manufacturers. A grandson, Dr. William Arnold Lambeth (son of Franklin S.) was for forty four years a prominent Methodist minister, then presiding elder, and later district superintendent; another grandson, John Walter Lambeth, Jr. was Eight District Representative to the United States Congress, Davidson County’s only native son to hold this office; other grandsons and granddaughters served in important positions in the business, civic, educational and religious life of the town.
Nathan Kendall, heretofore mentioned, was a large landholder and also owned a saw and gristmill west of his home place. He leased the mining rights on 46 acres of land to the Fair Grove Gold and Copper Mining Company. Whether or not this operation was successful is not known. Kendall’s son-in-law, Professor I. L. Wright, husband of Cynthia, taught a school for boys in the upstairs rooms of the Kendall-Wright home in the 1870′s and 1880′s .It was considered a good preparatory school for Old Trinity College, then located some seven miles away. Some of the students became such pioneer industrialists as Stuart Cramer, grandson of John W. Thomas, who founded Cramerton; John W. Lambeth, son of David Thomas Lambeth, mayor of Thomasville for seven years, postmaster, leader in public school and good roads movements in the county; Charles M. Hoover, son of Captain P. A. Hoover and great grandson of George Hoover, mayor of Thomasville, postmaster, and sometime chairman of Davidson County Board of Commissioners.
In 1845 Absolom Bowers, Sol Secrest and Shadrach Lambeth were the school committee for District Number Four which had 108 children of school age. While the name and location of the school were not given in the county records of the day, this building was probably located on or near the church grounds. The deed of 1828 to the church trustees mentions a schoolhouse. It is known that for a number of years there was a public school on the church land, which in addition to the Mock and Deems school for girls and the Wright school for boys furnished a good educational opportunity for the children of Fair Grove.
Although Joshua Lee lived in Conrad Hill Township near Light across the boundary line of present Thomasville Township, he was prominent in the community affairs around Fair Grove. His name is mentioned as trustee on mortgages of his neighbors there, as administrator of estates, as security for persons in positions of trust and as tax lister. Most important, he was a Justice of the county’s first Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions. He is buried in the Fair Grove Church cemetery.
