Etowah NC Heritage
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  • SPECIAL
    • Etowah Heritage Day 1889 - 2019
    • Etowah Treasures Exhibit, Sept/Oct 2019
    • Virtual Tour of Selected Historic Places
    • History Displays in Etowah & Library Notebooks
  • TIMELINE/MAPS
    • Timeline 1700 to present
    • Maps
    • Maps - 1838 Formation of Henderson County
  • PHOTOS
    • Memorabilia
    • Places, Early Homes, Other
    • French Broad River & Valley Views
    • People - early times
    • People - post 1950
    • People - Gash Family descendants
    • Veterans
  • HIST. I
    • Etowah History Notes - Research To Date
    • 1889 Money, then Etowah
    • How Etowah Got Its Name
    • Postmasters 1889 - 1968
    • Etowah Train Depot - 1895 >
      • Trains of Etowah
    • The Railroad - Hendersonville to Toxaway
  • HIST. II
    • 1900 U.S. Census
    • Farms of Early Etowah
    • Historic Schools 1800s - 1928 >
      • Historic Etowah High School 1928 - 1960
      • Little Chief - Gleanings from
      • Etowah High School - Memorial Plaque 2014 - HCEHI
      • Etowah Institute 1911
      • Schools of Nearby Communities
    • Historic Churches
    • Historic Cemeteries
    • Adopt-A-Cemetery: Thomas-Fletcher
  • HIST. III
    • Sheriff Robert Thomas
    • Civil War Union Monument
    • Orr Cabin Homeplace - early 1800s
    • Mountain Lily - 1881
    • Welsh Colony 1880s
    • Grist Mills
    • Shape Note Traditions
  • HIST. IV
    • Businesses - Early to mid-1900's
    • "Etowah Brick" Moland-Drysdale Corp. - 1923
    • Camp Peep-Out - 1935
    • Etowah Grange #984 - 1937 >
      • Grange - 25th Anniversary 1937-1962
      • Grange Quilt - 1953
  • 1950 +
    • 1952 - Hatheway Floral Company
    • 1954 - Etowah Lions Club
    • 1960s - Growing & Changing
    • 1964 - Etowah / Horse Shoe Volunteer Fire
    • 1966 - Water System Tower
    • 1966 - Etowah Riding Club
    • 1982 - A Library Comes to Etowah
  • Stories
    • Eade Anderson, Reverend
    • Lois Adcock Bayne
    • Emma Louise Curtis Bradley
    • Richard Brown
    • Patricia Bell Cantrell
    • Jerri Whiteside Lambeth
    • Wanda Sumner Love
    • David S. Mallett
    • Opal Dalton Parkinson
    • Jeannie Huggins Revis
    • Glenda Maxwell Simpson
    • Marylin Annette Jones Thomas
    • "The Follies" & "Matilda's Folly"
  • About
PEOPLE - early times

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​Men with sawmill machinery.  Far right holding pole, Thomas Dawson Jackson.
"My great-grandfather [Jackson] ran a sawmill with Mr. Wit Nicholson there in Etowah."
Far left, James Leander Gash.  [Information provided by family desendants.]
Who are the other men in this photo? 

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Family of Eli Jerome Dalton & Harriet Allison Dalton. front tow L to R: children Dorothy, Ada, Opal, Frank

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African-American Families and Individuals
of the Etowah Valley
​

In time, the website will include families and more, as research time permits.  Your patience is appreciated.  Thank You.
Material may submitted to help in this effort.

Known Family Names:  Ledbetter, Logan, Lynch, others


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Travel by oxen and wagon, by the railroad freight car.
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Who? When?


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​George Washington Weese & Sally Jane Orr Weese, with daughter Addie and son Gerald.  George and Sally were married December 30, 1897 and raised their family in the Orr Cabin Home.  Addie Weese Morgan became Etowah's postmaster in 1949, following Pearl Gash's retirement.  Photo courtesy of Janice Greer Sumner.

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Who is this?
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Samuel & Evaline ( maiden ) Allison

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On the railroad tracks and dressed for church, a trip to town, or perhaps a special occasion.
​ Who are these ladies and the two children?

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Charles Overton English (1864 - 1951)  & Annie Hood English (1871 - 1937), holding baby Arthur.  Right, adult children - Arthur Hood English ( 1894 - 1967 ) and Mary Loee English Turner (1896 - 1992).  A third child, Charles Raymond English (b. 1903) is not pictured.  

Charles' father, Rev. A. F. English (Alexander Fletcher English, 1830 - 1896), is remembered as the founder of the English Chapel located in present day Pisgah Forest, Transylvania County.  Charles is pictured below (on left) in September 1940 at the time when the 1860 chapel was rebuilt using stone gathered from the Davidson River and neighboring states.
Note the stones piled up in the background. 
Standing next to Charles English is Joseph McCune Orr (1853 - 1948).

According to the caption, the newspaper photo below was taken three weeks prior to a "home coming day to be held Sunday, Oct. 13."  By reverse calendar, Sunday, October 13 occurred in 1940.  The Chapel was dedicated a year later in 1941.  ​Newspaper clipping (name of newspaper?) is from a 1997 scrapbook compiled by Ophelia Mull Dickson, courtesy of the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.    
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Newspaper (unknown) clipping. Photo taken September 1940 - see notes above.

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A playful pose in the creek. Second from the right looks like Pink Gash. Others?

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Annie Belle Bird Orr (first row) and her six children.   (year unknown)
  1st row:   Samuel Harrison.   2nd row,  left to right:   Mary Miriam Orr, Jennie Ruth Orr
3rd row, left to right:    Oliver Sample, Bessie Belle, Thomas Franklin

More about  Annie who served as  Etowah's Postmaster  1909 - 1913.

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James Wilson Morgan (1849 - 1939) and Orrie Osgood Greer Morgan (1854 - 1935). Married 1877 and moved to Etowah from Buncombe County. The couple is buried at Shaws Creek Methodist Campground Cemetery. Photo courtesy of Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society.
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Morgan taught at Oak Forest School and is the father of George O. Morgan, 1st Etowah Grange Master, and Wilson Avery Morgan, the railroad engineer.

​"James Wilson Morgan was the oldest son of Elijah Morgan.  He was born 9 March 1849.  He married Orrie Osgood Greer, daughter of Reverend and Mrs. Manson Greer in 1877, and moved to Etowah in Henderson County, North Carolina where he became one of the leading educators in that area.  For forty-five years he was an active teacher, teaching at some time in practically every community of the county.  Two of his earliest schools were ​Hopewell and Oak Forest, which were one room buildings.  Following the end of his teaching career, he served two terms as superintendent of county schools.  Later he served on the county Board of Education until his death in 1939.  His wife, Orrie, died in 1935."   "The Morgan family is of Celtic origin, being descended from the Celts who migrated to Wales." Henderson County Heritage, Vol. #, p. 303-304, HCGHS.

Thomas Tuff Whiteside (1874 - 1962)
 Above, at a house in Big Willow

Right, in front of Whiteside's Service Station, circa 1935 - 1940's.  The station building, remodeled for private residential use today, still stands on McKinney Rd.
Photos courtesy of Jerry Murphy, Tuff's great grandson.

​
Below, Tuff and dog on the steps of a home in Big Willow.
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1934 REUNION  -  CLASS OF 1931 ETOWAH HIGH SCHOOL
FRONT row, L to R: Anderson Banks, Dave Hawkins, Glen Allen, Leona Dalton Huggins, Ellen Fletcher Hawkins, Florence Blythe Couch, Goldie Banks Blythe, Marita Huggins, Beulah Allison Morgan, Johnnie Elmer Laughter, Ralph W. Jones - Principal.  SECOND row:  Beulah Cantrell, Lucille Laughter, Ada Laughter, Thelma Laughter, Olita Huggins "Cole," Frank Laughter, Gola McKinna.  THIRD row:  Willard Barnwell, Evelyn Huggins, Nannie Mae Laughter, Geneva Shipman Lyda, Josephine Long, Coy Greer, Thelma Drake.  FOURTH row:  Jewel Blythe, Alden Drake, Mary Banning, Archie Davis, Willie B. Laughter, Pete Byrd.  FIFTH row:  Herman Hawkins, Earl Gray, Harvey Laughter.  LEFT STEPS, front to back:  Bonnie Cantrell "Hazeltine," Alba Blythe, George Drake.  RIGHT STEPS, front to back:  Ola Gash, Katherine Kilpatrick, Gladys Blythe "Mace," Carl Cantrell.  Photo and information, courtesy of Ray Morgan.

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1947 or 1948 - Future Homemakers of America Club, ETOWAH HIGH SCHOOL
FRONT row, L to R: ​Evelyn Patterson (m. Bill Arrington), Ella Mae Galloway, ? , Eula Wells (m. Gaynard Morgan), Patsy Bates (m. Alvin Gilbert), Joann McClure (m. Harold Allison), Alma Baynard (m. Bruce Morgan), Jeannie Huggins (m. Ellis Revis), Beatrice Bell, Wilma Jean McCall, ?  , ? .  BACK row, L to R: Doris Blythe, Mollie Killian, ? , Betty Baynard, Myrtle Robinson, Eva Sentelle, ? , ? , Margie Edmondson, Sue Corpening, Sue Norris, Flossie Stepp, ? , ? , Aline Baynard, Ruth Garren.  [Photo provided by Jean Wells Huggins.  Names, best available information.  Help with identification is welcome.] 

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Ethel Maime Merrell Whiteside, 1904 - 1997
native and lifelong resident of Henderson County,
​wife of James Carl Whiteside (1900 - 1966).
​Photo courtesy of . . .
Notes from Ethel's obituary:
Daughter of Benjamin Lytle Merrell and Sara Jane Hill Merrell; oldest member of Etowah United Methodist Church and life member of the administrative council; arranged floral designs for services for over 30 years; assisted in church mission programs; accomplished seamstress and homemaker; freely shared flowers and vegetables from her garden with friends and neighbors; specialty was her famous apple pie, a regular at church bazaars and dinners; received Etowah Lions Club's Hollingsworth Memorial Service Award in 1992 and Second Wind Hall of Fame Award from Etowah Extension Homemaker Association; buried at Oakdale Cemetery in Hendersonville.
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This 1998 monument honoring Mrs. Ethel Whiteside stands at Pardee Family Medicine Associates, Hwy 64.
​PLAQUE text:  Admired by all who knew her, she was simply and affectionately referred to as "Miss Ethel."  From her strong hands, she toiled this soil, growing beautiful flowers and fresh vegetables to share with others.  From her heart, she rendered service and dedication to this community.  From her strong faith, she generated strength, love and compassion to all the people whose life she touched.  December 17, 1998
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Wilford  Seymour Conrow  (1880 - 1957)
 
Wilford Seymour Conrow was a well known North Carolina  portrait artist.  He was  born in  New Jersey and is buried in Big Willow at Bryn Avon in the Mallet Family Cemetery.

Conrow married Lyna Beach Mallett (2 Nov 1911) and many Conrow portraits of Mallet family members are displayed throughout Bryn Avon, the Mallet family estate.  Conrow is known for his portraits of many men and women distinguished in the fields of art, religion, education, and business.  He was a friend of Paul and Mildred Whitener, founders of the Hickory NC Art Museum where many of Conrow's works are in permanent collection.  
Sources:  National Register of  Historic Places, Bryn Avon application March 2, 1999.
Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory NC, and Allen Rizzi


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