Women of North Carolina
From !hc Colonial poriotl to modern time**,
the women of this state have* played im¬
portant roles in many lines of work, and
have assisted materially in its progress and
development.
«1/
MRS. ALY LS M. FOUNTAIN
Til
К Могу
of | he development and
widening of women’s interests and
activities is one of the most in-
t crest i lift phenomena of history. Her
part in world-changing events is im¬
portant hut quite often overlooked,
even h.V women, because they are prone
to take certain things in their stride
and not to see the importance of their
own actions. Today, they may do any¬
thing men may do and are subject
to many of the same regulations and
duties. In Knglund. women up to 30
are subject to draft just as are men
and, when drafted, live in barracks
under discipline. The Russian army
is developing a battalion of women
parachutists which is admittedly be¬
coming very efficient. And even in
our own country, the recently author¬
ized Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps
attests to l ho same broadness of
ability here.
In North Carolina
This paper confines itself to North
Carolina women only, ami cannot
help but be amazed at women’s ac¬
tivities in this quiet rural state. For
instance, of the one hundred counties
in North Carolina, all sources agree
that three were named for women and
one source adds a fourth. Roing a
Halifax inn myself, I put no faith in
this fourth (Jones County), for all
other authorities agree that it was
named for Willie Jones of Halifax.
Rut Swain in his book says it was
named for the wife of Governor Nash,
who was governor in I7S0. I have
trie*! to find the name of his wife, but
have been completely unsuccessful.
So, desiring that Willie have the
honor, anyway, I abandoned the
search.
Mecklenburg County was named
for the Princess Charlotte of Meck¬
lenburg, wife of George 111. When
she first came to the throne, this
Prussian Indy was very popular both
in Knglund and the colonies for both
her beauty and her diplomacy and
tact.
In 1771, Wake County was set up
and named fur Esther Wake, si»ter
of Governor Tryon's wife. Many
sources disagree on this, pointing out
that it was his wife, Margaret, for
whom it was named. The historian
Swain doubled that Tryon would per¬
mit his wife to he passed over for
Esther, but Connor, in a very interest¬
ing article in the N. (J. Booklet (Vol.
И,
p. 220), says that the historians
of the 1830's quote from letters and
other documents which are either no
longer in existence or have been lost
to sight in some attic. And they al¬
most all say that it was Esther for
whom it was named.
And, in 1S70, the first English-born
child in the to-be-United .States, was
honored by giving the name of Dare
to a new county. So much for names
of women preserved in place-names.
Many cities and localities were mimed
for women hut we will pass over them
for |--rsonai accomplishments rather
than titles.
Many authors are descendants of
North Carolina by ancestry or by
story-settings. Rack in the 1770'i,
Jam- Schaw gave us a description of
our Mate at that time. In the 1830's,
came Harriet Marlinonu. Roth these
women were foreigners who visited for
several months in North Carolina.
Excerpts from tlmir records tuny be
found in Idlers Rook, North Caro¬
lina History Told by Contempora¬
ries. Other prominent women writers
in North Carolina have been Mrs.
Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Mrs. Hope
Summerill Chamberlain, Mrs. Julia
Cherry Spruill (from whom comes
much of the material for this paper),
Mrs. Sallie Southall Cotton, and our
own Mary Hilliard Hinton. Most
of their work is so well known that
I shall just mention them and pass
on to women in other activities.
Working for Underprivileged
Women have always taken the lead
in work with the underprivileged and
this has been true in North Carolina,
too. Dorothea Linde Dix, of Massa¬
chusetts, came to Raleigh at the in¬
vitation of the Legislature (early
1850’s) and aided in the making of our
first laws and regulations for the in-
>ane. She chose the most beautiful
hill near Raleigh for the location of
the institution — Dix Hill it was
fittingly named.
Mrs. Laura Annie Ballinger Wins¬
ton, n Quaker from Guilford County,
spent her life, after the loss of her
husband and daughter, working for
the deaf. She met her hit -band in
Rab-igh where she was teaching in
the Blind Institute. He lived just a
year, after which she went to Mexico
to work at Hussey Institute with her
Meter, Julia. Shortly after her re¬
turn to North Carolina, she lost her
daughter. She then went to M organ-
ton where she spent the rest of her
life, teaching in the School for the
I leaf.
Mrs. Lucy H. Owen RoWrtson was
another who spent her life working
for education. She was born in
Warrenton. spent part of her married
life in Hillsboro, then went to Greens¬
boro. Upon her husband's death in
1883. she continued teaching at
Mrs. Cornelia Spencer.
