State

Volume XIV T H Е ST А. Т Е January 18 Number 34 д Weekly Survey of North Carolina 1947 Entered » »e«ond-clao matter. June J. 1933. at the Poet office at Raleijh. North Carolina, under the Act Ы March 3. 1879. The Facts A] i:m t Youpon Tea Affler you read lliis. you may feel inclined lo svt out a feu уонроп hushes yourself and I lius be assured off hedng able lo €knjoy the many valuable «|iialilies I lie lea is said lo possess. THERE will be found in Ihis trea¬ tise. information that should be of particular interest to Earl V. Welch of Suffolk, Va., and readers of The State in general. This is the story of youpon and the tea made from its leaves and twigs. It was surprising to learn that two native-born Dare Countians, now residents of Raleigh, were to¬ tally ignorant of a product that has grown so close, not only to their own back door, but to that of their ancestors for generations. “Necessity is the mother of in¬ vention," and therefore no attempt will be made to state definitely who discovered the qualities of youpon tea as a beverage. It is generally known among natives of Ocracoke and Hatteras islands that youpon. the botanical name of which is Ilex vomitoria, was a necessity dur¬ ing the days of the Civil War and prior thereto ns far back as the early days of the 18th Century. John Lawson, in his History of North Carolina, published in Lon¬ don in the year 1714 made a refer¬ ence to the dwarfish youpon that that "grows chiefly on the Sand- Banks and Islands, bordering on the Sea of Carolina." “This Plant is the Indian Tea, used and approved by all the Sav¬ ages on the Coast of Carolina, and from them sent to the Westward Indians and sold at a considerable Price," wrote Lawson. Youpon today, grows prolifically at Ocracoke. Hatteras. Buxton, Avon. Rodanthe and north to Roan¬ oke Island. In days gone by there were many long periods when tea or coffee was unobtainable. The only beverage that would quench the thirst of a great majority of the THE STATE January 18. 1947 By It. S. IV All All WHAT PROMPTED THIS On the Tar Heel Informa¬ tion page. December 14. we published a query from Earl V. Welch, of Suffolk. Va.. in which he asked how to make youpon tea. We asked Bruce Etheridge and Roy Davis, two natives of the outer hanks, hut neither of them knew the first thing about the subject. Now comes Stanley Wnhnb with a most interesting article about the beverage. inhabitants was youpon. In some dictionaries the word appears as yaupon. but it is the opinion of the writer that Webster verifies the na¬ tive outer banks method of spell¬ ing as youpon. It is recalled by many now living that only a very small per¬ centage of the families residing on Ocracoke a half century ago could afford the luxury of tea or coffee. It was important in those days for the families to have chopping troughs, ballast stones and pork barrels (which constituted the im¬ plements for processing youpon). not only for the purpose of pro¬ ducing a palatable beverage, but for supplying probable vitamins and medicinal properties which the old-timers considered essential for their health. Here again John Lawson is quot¬ ed: “They (the Indians) prefer it (youpon tea) above all Liquids to drink with Physic, to carry the same safely and speedily through the Passages for which it is ad¬ mirable, as I myself have experi¬ mented." An ancestor of the Wahab fam- Йоп Ocracoke Island was Mrs. ttie Tom O’Neal. For many, many years prior to her death in February. 1896, she was the com¬ munity's midwife. An interesting heirloom now in the possession of a surviving grandchild was Mrs. Hcttie Tom's obstetrical statistics. For every infant she brought into the world, she would place a mark in a book: for every fifth child she would tally. There arc more than 550 births recorded in this book. Two of the marks in the book are crossed, representing the only two deaths from childbirth in her long and useful career. As this story is written at the Beachcombers Club on Ocracoke i December 21, 194(5), there are three persons present who were brought into the world by Mrs. Hettie Tom. They are. Jacob Williams. 59; Grover Cleveland Gaskins. 63. and the writer. It is recalled that this famous island midwife was a great believ¬ er in the medicinal qualities of you- Еэп tea for her obstetrical patients. he often remarked that if more mothers would drink youpon tea. there would be fewer bottle babies, and as a result the babies would grow healthy and large and reach a ripe old age. It is the opinion of many persons now living, who were born prior to Mrs. Hettie Tom's death, that they owe her. and her youpon tea a debt of gratitude. Men¬ tioned here specifically are. Tom (Continued on page 18) э