1906 Industrial Issue - Kinston Township  

This Industrial Issue of the Kinston Free Press was published in 1906 although there was an earlier Industrial Issue published in 1899. The issue is composed of both text and numerous pictures of places and people. This will be a slow project so please be patient.

We are grateful to the Free Press for permission to post anything of historical or genealogical in nature published prior to 1939.

KINSTON TOWNSHIP

Townships of Lenoir County

Lenoir County is, for purposes of local government, divided into twelve townships. Each township has it own school committeemen who direct the schools of the townships, a township constable and justices of the peace. The townships are all favorably situated as being in easy reach of a market, and possessing land capable of a great variety of farming. The land is level with a clay sub-soil, in a large part, more or less sandy and rich to a remarkable degree.

Following in order are given some facts concerning each township, and pictures of leading homes and families in each township.

KINSTON TOWNSHIP is one of the smallest in area of all the townships of the county; still it is the most populous and the richest, paying the greater part of the county's taxes. The township comprises 15,810 acres of land, which, outside of the city is excellent for farming purposes. The land is productive of a great variety of crops. At present they are principally used to produce cotton, tobacco, corn, and truck, such as cabbage, beans, lettuce, asparagus, strawberries, potatoes, etc. The local consumption of such products is considerable and the shipping facilities which Kinston offers makes trucking on these lands very inviting. The township is well settled, but there still remains ample room for many more prosperous homes and farmers.

Outside of the city of Kinston the township contains three churches and two schools-one white and one colored. Miss MELTHE BROWN teaches the white school and there are about 25 pupils. The school is situated about two and a half miles from Kinston. The committeemen are K.R. TURNSTALL, V.R. JACKSON and W.A. JONES.

Some of the representative homes of Kinston are given below.

THE CEDARS

One of the prettiest residences of Kinston township is "The Cedars," owned by Mr. P.A. HOOKER. It is a mile from Kinston, and was in former days the site of the JOHN TULL residence. The surrounding farm consists of 300 acres of good land upon which are raised some cotton, but especially hay, oats, and general home supplies. On his farm Mr. HOOKER also produces an abundant supply of fruit as plums, pears, peaches, apples and grapes.

In addition to his farm, Mr. HOOKER has a steam cotton gin, with a capacity of 12 bays a day, and a sawmill with per diem capacity of 8,000 feet.

In 1896, Mr. HOOKER married Miss ANNIE RUE BARWICK, of Tampa, Fla. They have one child to make their home brighter-little Miss DORIS, only two years of age. They live just a short distance from the corporate limits of Kinston, where they attend the Methodist Church, and are prominent in social and business circles.

FRANK ROUSE

Mr. J.F. ROUSE lives in a neat house in Kinston township, near the Vance township line. He was born in 1851 in Moseley Hall township. His parents were JESSE H. and JANE ROUSE (nee KENNEDY). His father was a planter and took considerable interest in the Churches and schools.

Mr. ROUSE has wandered about considerably in his time, but has always stuck to this section. At the age of 18 he went to Vance township, from there he came to Kinston township, than to Bucklesbury section, than to Wayne Co., next to Green Co., and finally back to Kinston township where he married and now lives with his wife, son and daughter-in-law. He married Miss ELIZA WHITE, daughter of WILLIAM and ELIZABETH WHITE. The children were EFFIE (deceased), TROY J., and GUY WILLARD, who married MAUDE, daughter of county commissioner A.T. DAWSON, of Institute.

The home tract consists of about 340 acres, of which 125 acres are under cultivation. The land is good, being best adapted probably to corn and cotton. On his uncleared land is some valuable timber, although it has been cut several times.

TOWER HILL: ISAAC M. TULL

One of the younger men of the county, who with his young wife occupies an historic old homestead in Kinston township, is Mr. ISAAC M. TULL The place of his residence is Tower Hill Farm, where he was born, in 1877. Here he has spent most of his life, except when attending school.

The old Tower Hill farm was at one time selected to be the capital of the colony of North Carolina, but for some reason the site was abandoned and Newbern made a final choice.

There are several interesting legends about the old place. In later years it became the home of the TULLS, which family owned a great many acres of land in this section.

At present Tower Hill farm is frequently headquarters for hunting parties from beyond the States, who take advantage of the supply of game in this section. Mr. I.M. TULL, the proprietor, is himself an enthusiastic sportsman, and reckoned a good shot.

In 1905 Mr. TULL married Miss OLLIE GILBERTA HILL of Lenoir county. He belongs to the Christian Church, is a member of the Elks, Odd Fellows, and Lenoir Commercials Club.

J.F. HORNER

One of the "up-country" farmers to be attracted by our superior agricultural resources is JASPER F. HORNER, of Orange County. He was born in that county, March 5, 1868. His parents were JOHN and BETTIE F. HORNER. His father was a farmer and was regarded as the best brick mason in Orange county. His grandparents were JAMES and BETTIE HORNER. His grandfather raised fine stock and owned from four to six wagons, with which, in those early days, he made regular trips between his home section and Petersburg, thus doing a general carrying business.

The subject of this sketch spent his early years on the farm. In 1889 he married Miss MAGGIE, daughter of W.R. and SALLIE WILKERSON, of his native county. The children were two, one of whom is now deceased.

In 1896, Mr. HORNER came to Lenoir county, owning-as he says-nothing. He came as a tenant and for one year worked the RICHARD HILL place on shares. After this he went to the CHADWICK place, where he staid for three years, having leased the farm from the late ALEX. LaROQUE. He than bought the HENDERSON LOFTIN place on Hull road, six miles from town. He still owns this place and also the DALLAS ALEXANDER place, four miles from Kinston. At the latter place he has built a nice cottage house and barn with other attractive out-houses and tenant houses.

The land which he cultivated will come near producing anything; although it seems best adapted to the culture of tobacco.

One year since he has been in this section, Mr. HORNER sold his tobacco crops for $6,000; and three or four years ago, when tobacco was so low, he averaged $100 an acre. This year he has raised over a thousand bushels of peanuts, some of which he has sold for 75 cents a bushel.

In addition to the farms he owns, Mr. HORNER has leased the Rountree and Temple farms. He owns three lots on west Blount street in Kinston. On two of these he has erected dwelling and will soon build on the third.

So much for a young energetic preserving farmer, who came to our community as a tenant, without other capital than his ability and determination.

W.T. WORTHINGTON

Living on his farm a mile and a half North of Kinston is Mr. W. T. WORTHINGTON, familiarly known as Uncle TOM, a jovial farmer, a strenuous soldier of by-gone days, a good talker and all-around good fellow. He was born in the good county of Greene the 11th of January, 1844.

In 1896 Mr. WORTHINGTON, came to Lenoir and lived on ADKINS Hill, near Kinston, then on the R.F. HILL place near Lousan Swamp, and than he came to his present place on Snow Hill road where he built a neat cottage home. The home tract consists of 78-1-2 acres of as fine land as there is in Lenoir county. All of this but about 10 acres is cleared and under cultivation, producing anything that is planted.

Uncle TOM has been married twice. His first wife was Miss HANNIE J. LYONS of Greene County. The children are Mrs. ANNIE FLORENCE HEATH, W.C. WORTHINGTIN, MATTIE WORTHINGTON, Mrs. EMILEE EDWARDS, HEBER, DAVID and TOM, twins, and GROVER CLEVELAND, DESSIE, (deceased), LESSIE, and HANNAH JANE. Mr. WORTHINGTON'S second wife was Miss PENELOPE KILPATRICK.

Mr. WORTHINGTON likes to read and talk about civil war times. At the early age of 18 he entered the confederate service, May 1862. He volunteered at Greenville and saw service all over eastern Carolina where he was detailed as courier. He next went to LEE'S army in Virginia and took part in the hard campaigns of that great command. Among Uncle TOM'S treasures of memory are two conversations which he had with the peerless LEE. The great commander approached him while on picket duty and a kinder, more polite, more considerate man, Mr. WORTHINGTON never knew.

One of the hardest battles that he was ever in was that of Cold Harbor when 13,000 Yankees were killed in twenty minutes. That was a "hot time," too on July 30,1864, before Petersburg when GRANT mined the fortifications protecting the city blew up. The Yankees got in, but Uncle TOM says they got out again.

In one of the Virginia campaigns Uncle TOM was on the skirmish line whose duty it was to run the Yankee pickets out of their "dugouts" and take possession. The attempt as a whole was a failure; but Uncle TOM ran his men out and entering, took possession of the dugout and its contents, for the fleeing Yankee did not take his knap sack with him. Uncle TOM at that time was very much in need of just such things as his departing friend had left behind ; so thinking an even swap no robbery he exchanged the contents of his knap-sack for those of the one he found. Meanwhile the Yankees were pouring shot over the dugout, but Uncle TOM got out and to the cover of the woods in safety.

His hardest fighting was at Wises' Fork, near Kinston, where he was severely wounded and taken to the Salisbury hospital. During the war he was wounded five times; but he suffers no inconvenience now from those wounds.