Sifting the Past
4'ounfy histories increase in uuni-
Iwrs and quality: a review of
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Mil
Patton had fin a long time been gather¬
ing material on Polk lor the local new»
paper preu These sketches were pat
into her volume, where she
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H \IAI It
It was, I believe, Manly Wade Well-
nun who several yeur* ago pro-
claimed. "There is no such thing as a
bad county history " II he was talking
North C
the truth
Yet it is sale to say that
he was certainly telling
Ы
the
Similar projects are becoming popu¬
lar. Among the individual historians
who are no» "researching” and writ¬
ing are Horton Cooper of Avery,
Jason U. Deyton
«I
Mitchell. Mrs
l-ouis Froclkh of Northamptoo. and
Mrs Tall M Hass of Sampson. Many
other counties haw plans ar
to
county histones published in the last
hall -dozen years is a work of genius
Well, not a one of them was intcn.lcd
to be.
All any county histoiy can do is
put down as many facts as possible
make them readable, then supply
■odes lot them I hat
group, the North Carolina Society
Local and Count;
neser be happy till cadi of our
dred counties has a history of tu
— • full book-length history E
such a goal reached, it will be tune
go back and start rewriting. History
always in need of rewriting. Many
the more than three-score histories
North Carolina counties arc alien
out of date
A satisfactory county history cannot
be finished in a year. Time is of the
essence time to sift the records, to
check the data, to he sure that nothing
of significance has been omitted. Local
rictics know
they are in no
In IV5I R L. Stowe, Sr., issued hi.
Forly History
о/
Belmont and Gallon
Сайту;
here a prominent textile
manufacturer recalls early events and
familiar scenes, telling them like an
old friend who had taken part in all
as gone before. In the
Ituihan i and Her People, was
by W. c. Du la and A. C. Simpson,
who state in the Preface that the book
is "primarily to preserve the story of
Durham ... with special attention to
facts and details that would never he
recorded in an orthodox history.”
There is information on the varied
of the city — its social, religious
Me — but what is differ-
of tl
tun 500 sketches of
lakes the whole duty upon himself, or
constantly urges others to be at work.
A dedicated soul must also face the un¬
pleasant task of seeking ways to fi¬
nance the printing of the volume — no
<sk. I am told, though, that if
the
Rutherford County and live city of
1 homnsvillc both received attention in
I ‘>52. Clarence Griff m's llntory of
Rut her ford County, 1937-1952 takes
up where the author
f and. serving as
а
the Rutherford dead of World War II.
hsts the nearly 6.000 men and women
(One thinks immediately, of course, of
lire many excellent pieces by Hill
Sharpe appearing from time to time in
SlAlt and lately collected in Volume I
of his New Geography o\ North Caro-
Una.) Fortunately, there arc several
county hist or res under way Soon to be
published
в
the
хюо Ы
Moore
County's first hundred years <1745-
1145».
written by Blackwell RoNnson.
editor of the new North Carolina
Guide.
David Slick rs busy at work on Dare
County — and what a whopper that
will be! In Camden. Jc«c Pugh has
been gathering material for decades
and has recently issued preliminary
Now. let s make a speedy survey of
some cf the local histories of the last
six years. There is no better book to
begin with thun John A. Oates‘ The
Siory of Fayetteville and the Upper
Cape f ear, published in 1950. This
900-page book by "The Prince of the
Cape Fear" is a potpourri of all the
glamourous dona of the North Caro-
Ihc great Hung about this labor of lose
is that Mr. Oates omits nothing While
the book centers its attention on Cum¬
berland County, there are short sec¬
tions on all the areas of the river
country. In 1953 the book received
I he first Smithwick Award, given bien¬
nially for outstanding accomplishment
in Ural research and writing.
In 1950. too. came Sketches of Polk
Coma, H>nar, by SadK Smathets
of Hendersonville, one of the
known historians m the State
Though not a citizen of Polk, Mrs
armed forces in the I940’s. Marx
Green Matthews and M. Jewell Sink’s
Wheels
о/
Faith and Courage.
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llis-
lory ol Thomasville is the full story of
a town and its founder. John W
Thomas, who planned and designed his
city out of a forest because by nature
a builder and could not deny
Orange County History . 1732-1932
was issued in connection with a bicen¬
tennial celebration. Kdited by Univer¬
sity Professors Hugh T. Lcfler and
Paul W. Wager, it is written by 17
authors and is a model for those
counties working on the co-operative
The year 1953 was a
First came The
Коьол
Story, a nar-
history by James S. Br.wVy of
< Continued on page 23)
Ol
