1. County Government
Brunswick County originated as a separate political subdivision on March 9, 1764, when Arthur Dobbs, the royal governor of North Carolina, appeared before the General Assembly of the province and gave his approval to “An Act for erecting Part of St. Phillip’s Parish, in New Hanover County, and the Lower Part of Bladen County, into a separate County, by the name of Brunswick County….”
In the beginning the bounds of the county extended along the Cape Fear River from its mouth to a point on its Northwest branch at or near the present dividing line between Columbus and Bladen counties. From there it ran southwestwardly to and around the south side of Lake Waccamaw and on westward to approximately the point where Lumber River (formerly Drowning Creek) crosses the South Carolina line. It followed that line to the coast, just above Little River Inlet and continued eastward to the point of beginning. With minor exceptions, these bounds encompassed all of present Brunswick County and a major portion of Columbus.
Among the people of Brunswick County, there were those who persisted in the hope that the county seat would be moved to the mouth of the Cape Fear, and they finally won. On a most historic day, November 28, 1808, the General Assembly approved the removal of the county seat from Lockwood Folly to Smithville, “as soon as a court house, jail and stocks at least equal to those now standing at Lockwood Folly shall be erected in one of the angular lots reserved in the plan of the town for public purposes.” This move, however, was based on the condition that funds for the building would be raised by voluntary subscriptions and that no tax would be levied for the purpose. Upon completion of the buildings, the business of the county was to be carried on at Smithville, and the old structures at Lockwood Folly, along with the land, were to be sold at public auction.
Benjamin Smith, who had returned to public life in 1804 as state senator from Brunswick County, introduced the courthouse bill in the legislature, and it was based on the claim that a majority of the county’s inhabitants had requested the move. Whatever the actual number who favored it, there were others who opposed it, and not all remained passive. Within a few days of the passage of the removal act the residents west of the Waccamaw River succeeded in having the General Assembly erect that area into a separate county by the name of Columbus. All of Bolton Township’s territory except for a small strip at the northwest corner was allocated to Brunswick. In 1811 the southern tip of Bolton Township was transferred from Brunswick to Columbus County. In 1877 the remainder of what is now Bolton Township was reassigned from Brunswick County to Columbus County as a part of Ransom Township. By laws of 1877, 1879, and 1915, revisions have been made in settling the boundary between Brunswick and Columbus. The net effect was to transfer to Columbus County a section of the northwest corner of Brunswick.
2. Pine Trees
The Cape Fear naval stores activity fell off drastically during the Revolution but the 1785 exports of 56,000 barrels were almost equal to the pre-war level.
By 1860 turpentine had become more important than ever to North Carolina, the total production being valued at more than $5,000,000. Columbus County, with $900,000, and New Hanover with almost that much, led all counties in terms of value of output. Brunswick ranked sixth with $320,000. Daniel L. Russell, Sr. was the largest producer of turpentine in the county. At the time his land holdings in Brunswick County were in excess of 25,000 acres, exceeded in size only by the Green Swamp Land and Lumber Company, headquartered in Bolton.
In the nineteenth century there was a boom in naval stores and industry began to play an important role in the growth and development of the counties of Brunswick and Columbus. The workers who came into the area were called turpentiners. Once the trees had been tapped, this group of settlers moved south to woodlands which were richer. Following the turpentiners were the lumbermen who produced lumber for specialized construction. Between 1869 and 1879 two shingle businesses were begun.
My grandmother, Leslie Berlyn Sellers Lancaster, wrote the following story: William Thomas Stallings lived in Suffolk, Virginia and came to Brunswick County when he was a young man with a group of shingle makers led by a Mr. Nichols. They worked and camped in the Green Swamp. One Sunday afternoon he felt lonely, went to walk, heard a rooster crow, went that way, came to a house not far away, saw a young girl at a spring near her house getting water from the spring. She was dressed in white, was real pretty. He said to himself, “I’m going to marry that girl.” He married her—my grandmother. She was Peninah Simmons, daughter of James Simmons and Rebecca Holden.
3. Waccamaw Lumber Company
In 1907 one of the largest mill operations in the state was started at Bolton. To visualize the sawmill business in the early 1900’s one should realize that labor was considered the most economical source of power: a machine was never used to do anything a man or man and mule could do. The logging crews in the Green Swamp used ox-drawn carts. The logs were hauled from the woods on flatcars pulled by wood-burning steam locomotives.
The woods operation was unique. The company built a main, standard gauge railroad from Bolton to Makatoka. Spur roads extended on either side into the various tracts as they were cut. The company built camps at Makatoka, and many of the woods crew stayed there.
Dr. Thurston FormyDuval came to Bolton at the time of Dr. Slade A. Smith’s departure. When it was necessary for Dr. FormyDuval to go to Makatoka to treat members of the lumbering crews, he either took a work train or had to travel by way of Whiteville. The old country road through the Green Swamp could not handle automobile traffic. To alleviate the problem, the Waccamaw Lumber Company equipped a Chevrolet touring car with railroad car wheels for Dr. FormyDuval.
The Wilmington Dispatch on March 2, 1916 had a story about a school located in the depths of the Green Swamp. It follows:
Brunswick County is a county of immense distances and vast unexplored areas. To prove this County Superintendent of Schools M.C. Guthrie states that there is one school house in the county the superintendent has never visited, and this despite the fact that the law says that the superintendent must visit the schools. Mr. Guthrie doesn’t think that a superintendent has been to this particular schoolhouse since the days of Superintendent Swain, who was a noted woodsman and able to go unguided into exploring regions. The institution of learning in mind is located some 40 miles from Southport in the middle of Green Swamp in Waccamaw Township. A number of times Mr. Guthrie has made an effort to reach the schoolhouse, but each time he has gotten lost. The Waccamaw Lumber Company has made innumerable roads in that region and while numbers of people have given the superintendent directions as to how he might reach the school building so far he has been unsuccessful in his quest. He states now that he means to go over into Columbus County by rail and then get a guide from the lumber people at Bolton, and with his aid locate the building.
The school district has some 25 or 30 pupils in it. All though the Green Swamp there are high fertile lands and on these live some of the best people in the county. A number of ambitious boys have come from the Green Swamp school. This year the school is being taught by a young man who was reared in the Green Swamp region. For a number of years he has been out in the big world and Superintendent Guthrie feels that he is indeed fortunate in getting him to take charge of the school this year.
4. Churches
Many of the churches in the extreme southeast coastal region of North Carolina which were affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention belonged to the Brunswick I Association, which was in existence from 1886-1894. In 1894 they accepted a proposal to unite with the Cape Fear Association. One of these churches was Poley’s Bridge. In the early months of 1899 the Cape Fear Association and the Columbus Association united to form the Cape Fear-Columbus Association. At the first annual session of this newly created association Poley’s Bridge along with Beulah, Soldier Bay, Jennies Branch, Mill Creek, Shallotte, Prospect, Shiloh, Oak Grove and Mt. Pisgah were granted letters of dismissal to form a separate association. This became the current Brunswick Baptist Association. During the past century Seven Creeks and Happy Home have been members of the Association. Several churches in Brunswick County have, at different times, been members of the Dock Association: New Life, New Britton, Soldier Bay, Camp Branch, Zion, and Old Shallotte.
Camp Branch, established prior to 1888, is located off Highway 211 near the Brunswick/Columbus county lines.
Cheerful Hope, established 1839, was a branch of Livingston Creek Baptist Church. Both churches were located near the county lines.
Green Swamp Union, established 1869, was admitted to the Cape Fear Association in 1869 with 24 members. First pastor was Nathan Milliken. Later name changed to Camp Branch.
Happy Home, established 1910, joined the Brunswick Association in the same year and the first pastor was Christenberry Milligan. The church was dismissed to the Dock Association in 1922.
Livingston Creek, established 1756, and Lockwood Folly Meeting House (1756) were the two earliest churches in Brunswick County. It is the parent church of many other Baptist churches in southeastern North Carolina. Last listed as Livingston Creek in 1816 minutes. Later know as Livingston Chapel.
Poley Bridge, established 1885, began in an old schoolhouse on the Whiteville/Reaves Ferry Road. It was an original member of the Brunswick Association.
Seven Creeks, established 1803, was a branch of the Lockwood Folly Meeting House. It was a member of the association from 1903-1916.
Zion, established 1919, was a member of the Brunswick Association from 1919 to 1923, then dismissed to the Dock Association and now is currently back in the Brunswick Association.
5 The Civil War and the Green Swamp
During the Civil War the Green Swamp served as a haven for draft evaders and deserters from the Confederate Army. Regarded as enemies to the Southern cause, they were called buffaloes. Moving silently, often by night, stealing from neighboring farms, they were a terror to women and children whose husbands and fathers were away at war. How many of these men there were cannot be accurately determined. During the four-year conflict they slipped silently within the vast sanctuary, to the south of Acme and Bolton in Columbus County and west of Supply in Brunswick County.
Some of the buffaloes were quite crafty in eluding the military detachments sent out to hunt them down. Joseph Hufham tells the story of one of these men who hid out in the vicinity of Delco. He would let himself be seen and then disappear, almost miraculously. This man had several hiding places and one of them was the loft of Cheerful Hope Baptist Church seven miles west of Delco.
One day the man walked boldly down the public road. A body of men quickly gathered at the church to make plans to catch him. The elusive fellow, hiding in the church loft, listened to the full particulars of their plans, and he had no difficulty in making his escape.
One of the most notorious buffaloes was a rugged and desperate man who frequented the swamps near the community of Makatoka. From whence he came no one ever learned; but his presence began to be felt and feared early in the war as he began to help himself to the corn, peas, and other staples grown by the local farmers. Soon the agitation mounted as a mulatto girl working in a pea patch in the Livingston Community disappeared in the wilds with him. Kidnapped? Or went with him willingly? The latter eventually proved correct.
The manner of living of this man and woman was the common talk in the Makatoka Community. They foraged for food, trapped for meat, stole provisions from the farmers, and sometimes took clothing from clothes lines. For a long time their stealing was tolerated, for it seemed they took only the barest necessities. They were very careful to avoid being caught breaking the law.
The man, growing careless, ventured too far from the swamp, was caught and brought before Magistrate Christopher Little, found guilty and sentenced to a term in prison. Makatoka had little need for a lockup and none had been built; and no one wanted to take this desperate man to the county jail in Southport. Local tradition explains that Justice Little disposed of the problem in this manner: He reconvened his court, received testimony as to the man’s guilt and his notoriety and sentenced him to hang. The Hanging Pine from which the man was hanged stood as one of Makatoka’s historic landmarks until a few years ago.
It was some time before the wifewas seen again. She began to round up stray livestock for a large fee, a dollar a head. Then she disappeared altogether. Several years later she and her two sons, almost grown men, came out of the woods many miles to the west in the vicinity of Chadbourn.
6 Tobacco Market
I was born and raised on a tobacco farm near Supply, NC. My mother often told me about how she and Daddy worked on the farm. One of her favorite stories was about “their division of labor” when it came to raising a young family and preparing tobacco for the market. After curing, the tobacco was stored in the loft above the mule barn and stables. I remember that the loft had huge openings at each end and a ladder on the inside of the barn than went to a large opening in the floor. Imagine trying to keep 2 small children away from the openings and still take off, grade and tie the dried tobacco! When they had a load ready for market, Mother said Daddy would take me, along with a bottle in one pocket and a diaper in the other and, with the hired hand, go to Whiteville to sell tobacco. Mother then had the responsibility for my younger brother on that day. Nelson’s was his warehouse of choice. As we grew older and the children continued coming along, each child received one trip a year to the market with Daddy. Some of our favorite memories included boiled peanuts and stopping at the artesian pipe on the return trip by way of Crusoe.
7 Family Names
On my resume I refer to myself as an “original native of Brunswick County.” Both my maternal and paternal lines were here in 1764 when the county was formed. The first Edward Clemmons found in Brunswick County was on the Tax List in 1769 and 1772. (See Clarence Ratcliff’s “North Carolina Taxpayers 1701-1786, Vol 1, page 41.) He had two sons: Timothy and Edward and one daughter: Frances. (See Deed Book B, Pages 43 & 44.) These two sons and their families continued to appear in the census records and the men were active in the county courts and public affairs. Leafing through “The People of Columbus” you’ll find names likes: Rabon, Frink, Holmes. Formy-Duval, Gore, Grissett, Hickman, Milligan, Evans, Sellers, Summersett, Moore, Long, Butler, Wilson, Long and Stanley.
But no Clemmons! The U.S. Federal Censuses of Columbus County, NC list NO Clemmons names for 1840, 1850, 1860 or 1870.
However, in 1880 there are three: Marion, Benjamin and Riley. All live in the Lees Township. Marion is married to Holland Harper with two children and a stepson, George. Benjamin is 22 years old and living next door in the home of Edward Lewis as a boarder and works on the farm. It appears that Benjamin may be the son of Marion and Holland Harper Clemmons. Riley is married to Elva L. They have one child.
In 1900 Riley Clemmons and his growing family (at least 7 children) have moved to Bogue Township as well as Benjamin Timothy Clemmons and wife, Mary and their 8 children.
In 1910 Riley Clemmons has moved the family to Whiteville and George A. Clemmons and wife, Eliza are in Bogue Township.
The 1920 census has 4 Clemmons families: 2 in Bogue, 1 in Fair Bluff and 1 in Whiteville.
Finally, the 1930 census has 2 families: Frank and Zelvia Clemmons with 6 children live in Fair Bluff and the widow of Riley lives in Whiteville in the home of her son, Albert.
What were the reasons for the George Marion Clemmons family moving to Columbus County—first to Lees Township and then Bogue? Farming was one cause for the move and perhaps the other would be the timber and lumber industry. There were plenty of jobs available in the shingle industry.
8 My Own Family
I have a personal connection to Columbus County that has stymied me for years. My grandfather’s aunt, Henrietta Clemmons married Jesse Long, son of Joseph F. and Mary Elizabeth Soles Long on December 15, 1884. They had 3 children: Rebecca A., Daisy Lee and Wilson B. Long. Rebecca married Joseph S. Long; Daisy Lee married A. Webb Fowler and Wilson married Bessie Watts. Jesse Long died May 14, 1905 and is buried in Bethel Cemetery. Henrietta died October 9, 1920. Where is she buried?
Sources of Information
1. Recollections and Reflections, edited by Ann Courtney and Ward Little, Columbus County Bicentennial Commission, 1980.
2. The History of Brunswick County, NC by Lawrence Lee, Brunswick County Bicentennial, 1976.
3. Great Is Thy Faithfulness, edited and compiled by Gwen Causey, Brunswick Baptist Association Centennial, 1999.
4. Tales of Country Folks Down Carolina Way by F. Roy Johnson, Johnson Publishing Company, Murfreesboro, NC, 1978.
5. NC Taxpayers 1701-1786, Vol 1 by Clarence Ratcliff.
6. The Wilmington Dispatch Newspaper, Wilmington, NC
7. Ancestry.com census records