Before Thomasville-Part III
Near the bridge where the present U. S. Highway 29-70 crosses Abbotts Creek there once stood a flour and gristmill owned by Alexander Caldcleugh for many years. On the walls were tacked notices of various kinds of interest to the public. Here in 1823 could be found such a notice about voting for the location of the county seat. Here Alexander Caldcleugh would come from his home in Lexington, exchange news with his customers, help them with their wills and other legal documents and look after the milling business. After his death his heirs sold the mill and large real estate holdings to Jacob Barrier (or Berrier) and his wife, Chrissie Grimes Berrier. Chrissie was a daughter of Henry Grimes and sister of George Grimes who had mills on Reedy Creek and on the Yadkin River. It is a fact known by the family that Jacob Berrier in the late 1840′s built the house that is still standing on the east bank of Abbotts Creek and regarded by some authorities as a remarkably true specimen of the architecture of the day. The daughter of the Jacob Berriers, Eliza, married Lemuel Lindsay Conrad. They continued to live in this house after death of the Berriers and to operate the mill. The house is now occupied by the Family Planning Center and Multiphasic Clinic. The mill was torn down years ago to make way for changes in the highway. Since the early settlement of the county the Berriers, Conrads and their descendants have been known for their leadership in church and community affairs as well as their expertise in farming and in operating a mill.
Northeast of the mill where the Old Greensboro Road leaves Highway 29-70 was the plantation of Charles Long and wife, Mary Ann Ledford Long. Their large holdings of some twelve hundred acres consisted of virgin forests as well as cultivated fields. For more than a hundred years through the ownership of Charles Long and his descendants these forests remained untouched by axe or saw. In them could be found pawpaws, shag-bark hickory nuts, walnuts, persimmons as well as rare wildflowers and wild animals. After the death of Andrew Long and his sisters, Catherine and Susan, this land was divided up and sold by their kinsmen living in another state.
North along the Old Greensboro Road in the first part of the 19th century stood the home of Michael Sink and nearby his blacksmith shop. He willed this to two sons George and Andrew but how long it was operated cannot be ascertained. Michael had a large plantation which he divided by deed a short time before his death among his three sons, George, Michael Jr., and Andrew; some of his personal property he bequeathed by will to his daughters-in-law and granddaughters. A log building now a part of a large barn is said to have been a part of the residence of Andrew Sink. The residence and land once belonging to Eli Sink (grandson of Andrew) eventually was purchased by Herman Long Davis who sold some of the land to Davidson County Community College when it was about to be located. Also, a son of Mr. Davis, John Herman Davis, bought the property once owned by Matthias Sink (a son of Andrew) and later sold some of his acreage to the College where handsome buildings have been erected. Roscoe Sink (a great grand-son of Andrew) still owns the property inherited from his father.
Four of Andrew Sink’s sons, Samuel, John, Solomon and Matthias, fought in the Civil War, with only Matthias living to return home. Samuel was engaged to Catherine Long (mentioned above). When he left for the war, he gave her a watch and asked her to wait for him. But he was killed in battle at Richmond and was buried in a Confederate Cemetery there. Catherine, loyal to his memory, never married.
Proceeding northeast along the Old Greensboro Road, a traveler can espy an old school house, almost concealed by trees. This was once Fairview School, thought to have been built soon after the first county participation in the common school law. Here the residents along the Old Road, and on connecting roads, sent their children for a three or four month term and sometimes a subscription school after that. In the later years water was brought to the school in a wooden bucket from the Adam Hedrick well across the road. Here, also, were held camp meetings with baptisms in nearby Rich Fork Creek. This school district (or the part in Thomasville Township) was consolidated with Pilot School in 1922.
Still farther north on the Old Greensboro Road and on the north side of it, stands an impressive two-story building, with more depth than the typical farm house of the day, with front porch supported by four large columns and with three chimneys of brick laid in an unusual design. In 1816 William Dobson came with his family from Guilford County and bought 252 acres on Hamby’s Creek. His son William, Jr., became a physician. In May 1829 he bought 380 acres on both sides of Abbotts Creek, adjoining the lands of Daniel Myers, Joseph Waggoner, Hugh Yokley and Thomas Livengood. It is assumed that he started building the aforementioned house immediately. However, he died three months later and his property was inherited by his mother Martha, his brothers John S. and Joseph B. and his sisters, Pricilla and her husband Dan Clodfelter, and Martha and her husband, Col. John Smith. Dr. Dobson was pro-eminent in the government of the county and in the early days of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lexington as well as popular in his practice of medicine. He was buried in the Fair Grove cemetery. His father’s will, probated in 1833, left his property to the same beneficiaries plus two granddaughters. The Clodfelters were the only descendants of William Dobson, Sr., who remained in this section.
In 1833 Sheriff William Kennedy bought the home and part of the real estate and lived there for some years. As he was a popular sheriff for twelve years, no doubt his home was a center of political and social life in the county. In 1844 the old house changed owners again, this time to Eli Harris of Montgomery County about whom very little is known. It is thought that the place was rented by William E. Roberson (or Robeson as sometimes written) who ran a stagecoach inn there. Certainly the house was large enough for this purpose -four rooms on the first floor and five on the second, and a kitchen in the rear of the house. A large, long building to the south and rear of the house was long thought to have stabled the horses for the stage coaches and travelers. At the death of Eli Harris, Mr. Roberson bought the property but be- fore many years ran into financial difficulty, probably caused by the advent of the railroad.
Finally, in 1868 George and Jerome Kinney bought the place, moved the Kinney family from the house on Hamby’s Creek and lived there until the death of George. Jerome and his family moved to Thomasville around 1890. He and seven of his close relatives held positions with the Southern Railway and some of them lost their lives in this service. The old house passed to the ownership of Mrs. H. P. Clinard, the daughter of George Kinney, and to her descendants. At one time a post office was kept there.
Adjoining this farm in the early days was another on which was located a house somewhat similar to the Dobson house. It was a large two-story frame house said by some to have been built by one of the Dobsons. Later it was bought by Solomon Darr and remained his residence and later that of his descendants until torn down a few years ago.
A short distance from the Old Greensboro Road on Old Highway 109 stands the Lewis Livengood home. He was the grandson of Hardtmann and Anna Margretha Hornberger Leibengut who came from Pennsylvania in the 1780′s and bought 400 acres of land between Rich Fork and Abbotts Creeks. After his marriage to Phebe Long, Lewis did not continue to live near his grandfather’s home but moved to the south of Thomasville area. He and Phebe were active in the Emanuel Church around 1845, he having been an elder. Some years later they moved to the above-mentioned house, transferred their membership and activity to Bethany Church and are there buried. The sturdy old house, typical of its period, is now the home of Paul Livengood, a grandson of Lewis and Phebe.
In the extreme northwestern corner of the Thomasville Township area, about a mile off the Old Greensboro Road and near the banks of Abbotts Creek, Charles Hoover (son of aforementioned George Hoover) had a large plantation, grist and saw mill, black- smith shop, and store. The mill was a popular meeting place for farmers, a place where they could exchange news and discuss politics. As he often made trips to Fayetteville to take wagon loads of wheat and bring back supplies for his store, Charles Hoover passed through the length of the county and met many of its citizens. It was natural, therefore, for him early to become a leader in public affairs. In 1823 he had joined with his neighbors in opposing the location of the county seat in Lexington. In 183l he served in the General Assembly as a Senator and in 1846 as a Representative. During these years he was also very much interested in the education of the children of his community and served the school at Bethany in various responsible positions. In 1847-48 he was a member of the County Board of Superintendents of Common Schools.
Charles was the only son of George Hoover who had grandsons. His son, Capt. P. A. Hoover, married Margaret Holmes and they continued to live at the Hoover plantation. They had three sons – Early, Charles M. and G. Marshall -and five daughters. Nearly all of these moved to Thomasville as soon as they married. Early was a railroad engineer. Charles M. and Marshall had a chair factory there and later in Lexington. All-both sons and daughters-took an active part in the life of the town.
North of the Old Greensboro Road lived Robert Green and his growing family, having come from southeast Guilford in the late 1790′s, and bought land from William Ledford. Some of their many descendants have remained in the same area to this time. The new Ledford High School is built on Green land a little west of N. C. Highway 109. Mary Green, daughter of Robert Green, married Joseph L. Murphy, both of whom are buried at Bethany Church. Among their descendants are ministers, teachers and others of cultural interests. Benjamin Green, oldest son of Robert and Abagil, married Sally Kennedy, sister of William Kennedy, an early sheriff of Davidson County. John, fifth child of Robert and Abagil, married Betsy Kennedy, Sally’s sister. John and Betsy Green’s grandson, Joseph Green, was a large landholder west of present N. C. Highway 109 in the township. His sons, J. A. and J. C. Green came to Thomasville in their youth and lived out long years of community service. J. A. Green was a spoke manufacturer and J. C. Green gave full mortuary service which continues today as a leading funeral home. These and many other Green descendants have added much to Thomasville progress.
In 1838 Benjamin Green bought land just east of Abbotts Creek and extending from the confluence of Rich Fork with Abbotts a little south up Rich Fork meanderings to the south edge of land owned by Caldcleugh. This adjoined the widow Lopp land and in the course of time his son Jesse Green married her granddaughter Susan Lopp.
Not far south of the Greensboro road was Whitehart’s School in whose one room children of the district area were taught. Whiteharts, Stones, Hiltons, Morrises, Regans, and Mendenhalls were families living roundabout.
Near the bridge where the present U. S. Highway 29-70 crosses Abbotts Creek there once stood a flour and gristmill owned by Alexander Caldcleugh for many years. On the walls were tacked notices of various kinds of interest to the public. Here in 1823 could be found such a notice about voting for the location of the county seat. Here Alexander Caldcleugh would come from his home in Lexington, exchange news with his customers, help them with their wills and other legal documents and look after the milling business. After his death his heirs sold the mill and large real estate holdings to Jacob Barrier (or Berrier) and his wife, Chrissie Grimes Berrier. Chrissie was a daughter of Henry Grimes and sister of George Grimes who had mills on Reedy Creek and on the Yadkin River. It is a fact known by the family that Jacob Berrier in the late 1840′s built the house that is still standing on the east bank of Abbotts Creek and regarded by some authorities as a remarkably true specimen of the architecture of the day. The daughter of the Jacob Berriers, Eliza, married Lemuel Lindsay Conrad. They continued to live in this house after death of the Berriers and to operate the mill. The house is now occupied by the Family Planning Center and Multiphasic Clinic. The mill was torn down years ago to make way for changes in the highway. Since the early settlement of the county the Berriers, Conrads and their descendants have been known for their leadership in church and community affairs as well as their expertise in farming and in operating a mill.
Northeast of the mill where the Old Greensboro Road leaves Highway 29-70 was the plantation of Charles Long and wife, Mary Ann Ledford Long. Their large holdings of some twelve hundred acres consisted of virgin forests as well as cultivated fields. For more than a hundred years through the ownership of Charles Long and his descendants these forests remained untouched by axe or saw. In them could be found pawpaws, shag-bark hickory nuts, walnuts, persimmons as well as rare wildflowers and wild animals. After the death of Andrew Long and his sisters, Catherine and Susan, this land was divided up and sold by their kinsmen living in another state.
North along the Old Greensboro Road in the first part of the 19th century stood the home of Michael Sink and nearby his blacksmith shop. He willed this to two sons George and Andrew but how long it was operated cannot be ascertained. Michael had a large plantation which he divided by deed a short time before his death among his three sons, George, Michael Jr., and Andrew; some of his personal property he bequeathed by will to his daughters-in-law and granddaughters. A log building now a part of a large barn is said to have been a part of the residence of Andrew Sink. The residence and land once belonging to Eli Sink (grandson of Andrew) eventually was purchased by Herman Long Davis who sold some of the land to Davidson County Community College when it was about to be located. Also, a son of Mr. Davis, John Herman Davis, bought the property once owned by Matthias Sink (a son of Andrew) and later sold some of his acreage to the College where handsome buildings have been erected. Roscoe Sink (a great grand-son of Andrew) still owns the property inherited from his father.
Four of Andrew Sink’s sons, Samuel, John, Solomon and Matthias, fought in the Civil War, with only Matthias living to return home. Samuel was engaged to Catherine Long (mentioned above). When he left for the war, he gave her a watch and asked her to wait for him. But he was killed in battle at Richmond and was buried in a Confederate Cemetery there. Catherine, loyal to his memory, never married.
Proceeding northeast along the Old Greensboro Road, a traveler can espy an old school house, almost concealed by trees. This was once Fairview School, thought to have been built soon after the first county participation in the common school law. Here the residents along the Old Road, and on connecting roads, sent their children for a three or four month term and sometimes a subscription school after that. In the later years water was brought to the school in a wooden bucket from the Adam Hedrick well across the road. Here, also, were held camp meetings with baptisms in nearby Rich Fork Creek. This school district (or the part in Thomasville Township) was consolidated with Pilot School in 1922.
Still farther north on the Old Greensboro Road and on the north side of it, stands an impressive two-story building, with more depth than the typical farm house of the day, with front porch supported by four large columns and with three chimneys of brick laid in an unusual design. In 1816 William Dobson came with his family from Guilford County and bought 252 acres on Hamby’s Creek. His son William, Jr., became a physician. In May 1829 he bought 380 acres on both sides of Abbotts Creek, adjoining the lands of Daniel Myers, Joseph Waggoner, Hugh Yokley and Thomas Livengood. It is assumed that he started building the aforementioned house immediately. However, he died three months later and his property was inherited by his mother Martha, his brothers John S. and Joseph B. and his sisters, Pricilla and her husband Dan Clodfelter, and Martha and her husband, Col. John Smith. Dr. Dobson was pro-eminent in the government of the county and in the early days of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lexington as well as popular in his practice of medicine. He was buried in the Fair Grove cemetery. His father’s will, probated in 1833, left his property to the same beneficiaries plus two granddaughters. The Clodfelters were the only descendants of William Dobson, Sr., who remained in this section.
In 1833 Sheriff William Kennedy bought the home and part of the real estate and lived there for some years. As he was a popular sheriff for twelve years, no doubt his home was a center of political and social life in the county. In 1844 the old house changed owners again, this time to Eli Harris of Montgomery County about whom very little is known. It is thought that the place was rented by William E. Roberson (or Robeson as sometimes written) who ran a stagecoach inn there. Certainly the house was large enough for this purpose -four rooms on the first floor and five on the second, and a kitchen in the rear of the house. A large, long building to the south and rear of the house was long thought to have stabled the horses for the stage coaches and travelers. At the death of Eli Harris, Mr. Roberson bought the property but be- fore many years ran into financial difficulty, probably caused by the advent of the railroad.
Finally, in 1868 George and Jerome Kinney bought the place, moved the Kinney family from the house on Hamby’s Creek and lived there until the death of George. Jerome and his family moved to Thomasville around 1890. He and seven of his close relatives held positions with the Southern Railway and some of them lost their lives in this service. The old house passed to the ownership of Mrs. H. P. Clinard, the daughter of George Kinney, and to her descendants. At one time a post office was kept there.
Adjoining this farm in the early days was another on which was located a house somewhat similar to the Dobson house. It was a large two-story frame house said by some to have been built by one of the Dobsons. Later it was bought by Solomon Darr and remained his residence and later that of his descendants until torn down a few years ago.
A short distance from the Old Greensboro Road on Old Highway 109 stands the Lewis Livengood home. He was the grandson of Hardtmann and Anna Margretha Hornberger Leibengut who came from Pennsylvania in the 1780′s and bought 400 acres of land between Rich Fork and Abbotts Creeks. After his marriage to Phebe Long, Lewis did not continue to live near his grandfather’s home but moved to the south of Thomasville area. He and Phebe were active in the Emanuel Church around 1845, he having been an elder. Some years later they moved to the above-mentioned house, transferred their membership and activity to Bethany Church and are there buried. The sturdy old house, typical of its period, is now the home of Paul Livengood, a grandson of Lewis and Phebe.
In the extreme northwestern corner of the Thomasville Township area, about a mile off the Old Greensboro Road and near the banks of Abbotts Creek, Charles Hoover (son of aforementioned George Hoover) had a large plantation, grist and saw mill, black- smith shop, and store. The mill was a popular meeting place for farmers, a place where they could exchange news and discuss politics. As he often made trips to Fayetteville to take wagon loads of wheat and bring back supplies for his store, Charles Hoover passed through the length of the county and met many of its citizens. It was natural, therefore, for him early to become a leader in public affairs. In 1823 he had joined with his neighbors in opposing the location of the county seat in Lexington. In 183l he served in the General Assembly as a Senator and in 1846 as a Representative. During these years he was also very much interested in the education of the children of his community and served the school at Bethany in various responsible positions. In 1847-48 he was a member of the County Board of Superintendents of Common Schools.
Charles was the only son of George Hoover who had grandsons. His son, Capt. P. A. Hoover, married Margaret Holmes and they continued to live at the Hoover plantation. They had three sons – Early, Charles M. and G. Marshall -and five daughters. Nearly all of these moved to Thomasville as soon as they married. Early was a railroad engineer. Charles M. and Marshall had a chair factory there and later in Lexington. All-both sons and daughters-took an active part in the life of the town.
North of the Old Greensboro Road lived Robert Green and his growing family, having come from southeast Guilford in the late 1790′s, and bought land from William Ledford. Some of their many descendants have remained in the same area to this time. The new Ledford High School is built on Green land a little west of N. C. Highway 109. Mary Green, daughter of Robert Green, married Joseph L. Murphy, both of whom are buried at Bethany Church. Among their descendants are ministers, teachers and others of cultural interests. Benjamin Green, oldest son of Robert and Abagil, married Sally Kennedy, sister of William Kennedy, an early sheriff of Davidson County. John, fifth child of Robert and Abagil, married Betsy Kennedy, Sally’s sister. John and Betsy Green’s grandson, Joseph Green, was a large landholder west of present N. C. Highway 109 in the township. His sons, J. A. and J. C. Green came to Thomasville in their youth and lived out long years of community service. J. A. Green was a spoke manufacturer and J. C. Green gave full mortuary service which continues today as a leading funeral home. These and many other Green descendants have added much to Thomasville progress.
In 1838 Benjamin Green bought land just east of Abbotts Creek and extending from the confluence of Rich Fork with Abbotts a little south up Rich Fork meanderings to the south edge of land owned by Caldcleugh. This adjoined the widow Lopp land and in the course of time his son Jesse Green married her granddaughter Susan Lopp.
Not far south of the Greensboro road was Whitehart’s School in whose one room children of the district area were taught. Whiteharts, Stones, Hiltons, Morrises, Regans, and Mendenhalls were families living roundabout.
