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Currituck County Photographs

Creekmore Family Photo Album

Left to right:
 Photo taken in 1954 on the day of their retirement.
 William Hilary Creekmore, Sr.
b: May 21, 1877   d: Jan. 5, 1957
Married: Alpine Virginia Flora in 1912
Hilary loved Moyock Creek and outdoor recreation.  In his younger days, he went fishing and swimming in the creek.  He liked to take the train to the amusement park in Norfolk and ride the roller coaster.  His wife, Alpine, lived on part of her grandfather's (Richard Bell Flora Jr.) large farm about two miles south of Moyock.


Wm. Hilary Creekmore - 1903
Photo from Ted Creekmore, Jr.

William Theodore Creekmore
b: Aug. 20, 1887  d: Jan. 22, 1974
Married: Pauline Flora
Wm. Theodore was named William Cleveland Creekmore in honor of President Cleveland, but his father got mad with the President and changed his son's name.  He married Pauline Flora (1882-1973), daughter of Richard and Chloe Morse Flora.

Thomas Edward Creekmore, Sr.
b: Mar 25 1890  d: May 29, 1963
Married Edna Powell
Thomas Edward Creekmore was my grandfather.  He married Edna Powell (1885-1978) daughter of Kenneth and Sarah Jordan Powell.  Both Tommy and Edna died in their home (Wilse Creekmore house).  Both are buried in Moyock Cemetery.

William Aydlett
b: ________
d: ________

UPDATE on William Aydlett received from Jack Dudley on March 19, 2009:
 William Thomas Aydlett was born Jan.7,1889 and died March 17,1963.  He was the son of Samuel Flora Aydlett and Mollie Fulford. He was married to Nina York (Oct. 8,1890 - June 4,1967).  Mollie was the daughter of Thomas H. Fulford (July 27,1842 - March 19,1923) and Mary D. (May 12,1840 - Feb.9,1928).  They were married about 1865.  All of them or buried at Moyock Memorial Park in Moyock, NC.

     This is Creekmore Brothers General store in Moyock. The Creekmore brothers started the store in 1921 and closed it in 1954.  You can see the post office attached to it, and the filling station next door that Coopersmith operated.  The filling station burned down one night when someone bought a mason jar of gasoline into the store where the men were smoking and playing checkers. Creekmore Brothers was a gathering place at night for the local men.  My grandfather had a standing rule in the house that no one was to go there at night.  If they needed anything he would go back and get it.  Locals in the village would hear my grandfather Thomas and his brothers, Hilary and Will, say good night to one another every night before they parted and headed to their homes in the Village.
      "I wouldn't take a million dollars for that corner, if my health would let me keep it up”,  Hilary Creekmore said in 1954 as he was forced to retire and sellout.  The seed for Creekmore Brothers was planted in the late 1890's when Hillary began working with Van de Carr's and R. O. Bagley.  Van de Carr was a big operation for Moyock.  It had a cotton gin and grist mill, and bought and sold about everything.  By 1920, Hilary was a seasoned retailer at Van de Carr.  He had experience in buying and selling, and was liked by almost everyone.  Just down the road sat an empty store owned by the Wilse Creekmore heirs.  Things were changing in Moyock also.  The once robust Van de Carr was in decline.  The founder had died and R. O Bagley wanted to retire.  Hilary decided to start his own business.  His two brothers, Tom and Will were farming the Walcott farm up Pudding Ridge and the Creekmore homeplace near Panthers Landing.  They loved farming life, but agreed to support "Buddy" as partners.  In 1921, they bought out the Wilse heirs.  Tom and Will continued to farm, but gradually became fulltime storekeepers.
     The early years saw many changes.  The store was moved 3 times.  It once sat in the middle of where highway 168 is today.  The property was gradually expanded.  Pieces of land were purchased from William Aydlett’s father, and from Claude Bright.  The store grounds included two warehouses.  One of the buildings was moved over from Van de Carr--it had housed the old mattress factory.  The upstairs of this building held a meeting place for the Masonic Lodge.  Hilary and Will Creekmore, J. P. Murray, Dr. Mann, Edward Fiske, Fletcher Gray and Fred Foults were some of the members.
     There was a cook shop behind the store which sold food.  Mamie Felton and Rosa Mullins were some of those who cooked that good country food.  The pies are particularly remembered.
     The Post office was attached to the store and served as a social center and business draw.  Flo Slayball, Maude Murray, Margaret Poyner (Dunstan) Eunice Aydlett, and Mabel Murry worked in the post office for years pushing a cart to the train station to get the mail.
     The store was large with two counters, one on each side.  No self service--the brothers waited on you.  Creekmore Brothers ran on credit and had many loyal customers. The brothers usually hired extra help on Friday and Saturday.  Joe Flora, William Aydlett, Vernon Creekmore, and Harry Sears were some of those who helped on these days.  A typical Saturday would find the 5 clerks struggling to wait on the crowd.  Many people brought in live animals and produce to trade for goods and food.  Chickens were kept in pens on the left side of the store to be sold to hucksters.
     Hanging around the store was a great pastime.  Popular snacks were cheese, crackers, milk, cookies, soft drinks, and pig’s feet.  The men hung around the old coal stove during the winter chewing tobacco.  They would spit into the nail kegs.  The brothers remembered many times trying to grab nails, but getting a handful of slop--they eventually put covers on the kegs.
     The children of the brothers loved the store.  They would hang around whenever possible.  One could usually sweep up for drinks.  They would help bag and weigh such items as pepper and sugar.  On Saturdays they would help with the candy case as hordes of children lined up for that great treat.   Eventually, the young Creekmore’s graduated to selling overalls.
     About 1930, the store built a little service station next door.  Allie, Hilary's son, felt they could make some money selling gas at a $.03 per gallon profit.
     In 1954, the brothers reluctantly sold the store to a new generation of Creekmore’s,--Hilary's sons, William and Andrew.


Thomas E. Creekmore, Sr. teaching his nephew, William Creekmore, how to cut meat.

Made at Campbell's Photography Studio on Main St. in Norfolk, Va.  probably between 1897-1900.

Left to right:
Thomas Edward Creekmore, Sr.
 b: Mar 25 1890  d: May 29, 1963

William Theodore Creekmore b: Apr. 10, 1855   d: Oct. 13, 1901
Father: William Hilary Creekmore (1814-1869)
Mother: Amanda (Mercer) Cox Hathaway (b: circa 1815  d: circa 1867)
1st wife:
Nebraska Lee (born 1853 and daughter of Oliver & Angelica Lee).  Nebraska died in childbirth and she and the baby were buried in the same casket.
2nd wife:
Mary Fulford  (shown in above photo)  b: Oct. 15, 1857  d: Nov. 27, 1930
Father: Samuel Fulford
Mother: Sariah Robinson

William Theodore Creekmore, son of William Hillary and Amanda Mercer Cox Hathaway Creekmore, was born 10 April 1855 at Moyock NC.  His mother died when he was about 12 years old, and he was only 15 when his father, William Hillary Creekmore, died.  Most likely his uncle, Bill Mercer, was his guardian.  Theodore had to be self sufficient in maintain a livelihood.  He depended on fish as a food staple, and the use of the "weir" or fish trap was an excellent way to catch fish in the Northwest River.  Theodore was fairly tall and had blue eyes.  He was very young when he married Nebraska Lee "Braskie", born 1853, daughter of Oliver and Angelica Lee.  "Braskie" died in childbirth, and she and the baby were buried in the same casket. (knowledge of Amanda Creekmore Lee, William Theodore's daughter).  On 6 August 1873 William Theodore and Mary Fulford, daughter of Samuel and Sariah Robinson Fulford, were married by Jos. Mercer, Justice of the Peace.  Theodore was married twice before he was 21.  The new couple lived in a little house at the foot of Panther Landing Road.  Amanda Virginia was born here on 18 August 1874 (she married Jeff Lee).  Later they moved to "Camden Run" Gregory, NC to the house where Mary was reared.  The two-story frame house stood on the right side of the main road and was the last house in Currituck County before the Camden County Line.  William Hillary was born here on 21 May 1877.  On 9 August 1879, William Theodore Creekmore and Mary bought 150 acres of land at Moyock NC from William C. Mercer.  He paid one thousand dollars for this property which was bounded on the east by the land of Hillary Creekmore, dec'd.,  south by the estate of Henry Spence, dec'd., north and west by Shingle Landing Creek and was known as the Davis tract.  (Deed Book 35, p. 283 Currituck Courthouse.  W. Theodore built the house in which he lived until his death.  It was a one-story, three room wood structure with a kitchen which stood away from the main part of the house to lessen the danger of fire.  The first chimney to the kitchen was made of sticks and clay. The house was reached by a long lane which began at Dam Bridge and the main road.  Six children were born here:  Annie Lena 24 May 1880; William Hillary 20 August 1887; Thomas Edward Sr. 25 March 1890; Mamie, Maud, and Vernon Fulford Creekmore 27 October 1898.  Theodore and Mary knew the grief one bears at the loss of a child because Mamie and Maud both died young, and Annie Lena died 12 August 1898 at the age of 18.  They were all buried at Puddin Ridge.  In addition to farming, Theodore  raised hogs, cows, geese and chickens to "huckster".  He and daughter Amanda would load the horse drawn cart or wagon with meat, poultry and vegetables of the season.  They would leave home at eight or nine o'clock at night in order to arrive at the Market Place in Norfolk, Va. by the next morning.  (This is now MacArthur Mall).  The dirt road was dusty in summer and muddy in winter, and travel was slow in a horse drawn cart.  They met other "hucksters" at a place called "Hills Well" (now Hills Well Rd. in Chesapeake) where they watered their horses and all went along together.  They were ready to sell as soon as they arrived at the Market Place because they sold right from the wagon.  By 5 am the dark night shadows had faded into gray and a few people began to stir.  Activity at the Market seemed to rise and set with the sun.  By 11 a.m. the sun was burning the open Market, and as soon as they could sell out, Theodore and Mandy would start their long journey home.  One day  in October Theodore loaded his haul seine into his boat and rowed down the Northwest river.  Seeing what he thought was a school of fish, he put out the net and caught 60 sugar barrels of mullets.  It took him several days to get them out of the net.  Most likely, he carried them to the train station at Moyock and shipped them to Norfolk.  It was thought that his getting wet and the over exertion possibly contributed to his death. He died 14 October 1901 at the age of 46 years and 6 months of congested chill (probably pneumonia) and as requested was buried in the yard near the road gate.  This property is now in the possession of Mrs. Mack Jones (knowledge of Vernon F. Creekmore).  To the knowledge of Vernon F. Creekmore only three people are buried in the small Creekmore Cemetery.  William Theodore, whose marked grave lies in the shadow of a huge oak tree; a child of Jeff and Lydia Fulford Lee, who is buried at the foot of William Theodore in an unmarked grave and Mrs. Charles Perkins, who is buried above and to the left of William T.  Mrs. Perkins lived in the house across from Jim Poles.  She died in childbirth and since her family did not have a burying ground the Creekmore's allowed them use of their cemetery.  The grave is unmarked.

Mary “Polly” (Fulford) Creekmore was the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Robinson Fulford, was born 15 October 1857 at Camden Run Gregory NC.  Samuel and Sarah R. Fulford had three other children to live to adulthood:  Martha, Billy and Lydia Fulford.
     When Mary’s husband died on 13 October 1901, she was left with five children ranging in the age from 27 to 3 years old.  The older boys took over the farming and the wood cutting.  Amanda was in charge of the cow.  A lack of refrigeration limited the time the milk produced would keep, so when the cow slowed up giving milk in the fall, Mary stored cakes of the yellow sweet butter in crocks and poured in a brine solution.  The butter would keep for months, and Mary always had plenty of butter for the Christmas cooking.  She rinsed the butter several times in cold water and worked it with her hands to get the salt out, then remade it into cakes.  Mary set aside New Years Day for making soap.  She got the fire going under the big iron pot in the yard and dumped in a can or two of Red Devil lye and some water.  When the lye water was boiling, she added the years supply of lard "drippings" and other traditional ingredients to the bubbling concoction, stirring with a long, wooden paddle until it was thick and light colored, about 3 hrs.  Quickly, she ladled the steaming liquid into pans.  After the soap had set she cut it into bars.  When it had hardened, she broke the soap apart and piled it to dry out well.  Besides the everyday chores like drawing water from a sweep well by hand, washing clothes on a washboard outside, and ironing with flat irons heated on a wooden stove, there was hog killing time.  After the slaughter, the family meat supply was placed in the smokehouse and exposed to smoke in order to flavor and cure it.  In April the herrings came up the little creek beside the yard to spawn.  Several hundred of the fish were corned and used as part of the family's food supply.  With the coming of spring, the sheep had to be sheared, the geese had to be picked.  Mary and Amanda tended to the goose picking.  They laid each goose flat on its back on their laps tucked its neck under their arm and its feet between their legs, held one wing with one hand and picked the feathers from its breast with the other hand. The goose would squawk, but the picking went on.  Then the feathers were put in a bag and placed in the sun to dry.
     After Hillary, Willie and Tommy married and moved away, Mary seem miserable at the home place, so she, Amanda and Vernon moved to the Village (Moyock) in the house owned by Jeff Lee and later bought by W. T. Creekmore.  The house was next to her son Hillary’s house.  Here, Mary took in boarders.  The section foreman of the Norfolk and Southern railroad was a regular boarder, and the drummers (traveling salesmen) that came through taking orders from the stores would spend the night there.  Some people just dined there.
     About a year later the family moved back home, but Mary still was not satisfied, so they moved again to the Village.  This time they rented the Poyner house.  Mr. Martin Grey stayed with Mary and Amanda a while after Vernon.  Vernon married Blanch Lee.  Then the ladies went to live with Willie and Pauline in the Wolcott house at Pudding Ridge.
     After Amanda married Jeff Lee in 1921, Mary lived mostly in Norfolk (Berkley)  Mr. Lee died 18 March 1927 and Mary and Amanda moved back to Moyock.
     On Thanksgiving Eve (27 Nov 1930) Mary and Mandy cooked pies and all kinds of good things to eat because Addie Sawyer and Carrie Gilbert of Norfolk were going to spend Thanksgiving Day with them.  That night Mary was struck with a cerebral hemorrhage and died in her home.  As requested, she is buried in Memorial Cemetery, Moyock.
 Above photo taken in early 1920's: Man standing in background is David Jefferson Lee who married Lydia Fulford.  They were the parents of Mamie and Margaret Lee (the two little girls in the picture).  Lydia died on March 9, 1920.  The woman on the left is Amanda "Mandy" (Creekmore) Lee who was born on August 18, 1874 in a little house at the foot of Panther Landing Road in Moyock.  She was the daughter of William Theodore Creekmore and Mary Fulford.  After Lydia's death in 1920, David Jefferson Lee started courting Amanda.  They were married in Norfolk, Va. at the home of Carrie Gilbert, Amanda's cousin, on April 27, 1921 by Rev. J.T. Riddick, pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church in Norfolk.  David Jefferson Lee died March 18, 1927 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk.  Amanda died of heart failure in Norfolk on January 15, 1965 and is buried in Moyock Memorial Cemetery.  The woman on the left is Amanda's mother, Mary (Fulford) Creekmore.

 

 

Photo taken in the early 1920s of the grandchildren of Wm. Theodore & Mary Fulford Creekmore - Edna, Sarah, Thomas Jr. and Mary.  [see adult photos of Sarah & Mary at the Nags Head Beach Club below]

 

 

 


Photo taken at the Creekmore farm at Panthers Landing.  Left to right: Thomas Edward Creekmore, Will Creekmore and their younger brother, Vernon Fulford Creekmore.


                                     Edna Powell Creekmore                                     Edna Creekmore & Mary White washing clothes in the 1960's

Thomas Edward Creekmore, Sr. was born 25 March 1890.  He married Edna Powell (born 2 October 1885 - died 21 December 1978) daughter of Kenneth and Sarah Jordan Powell.  Tommy and Edna resided at the Creekmore home place for a while, and he continued to farm.  Later they moved to the Hoziere place at Puddin Ridge and he farmed there.  Then they bought the "Wilse" Creekmore house in Moyock Village.  After a few years they moved back to Puddin Ridge in the Wolcott house and Tommy farmed for Wolcott.  Tommy was a member of Moyock Methodist Church and part owner of the Creekmore Bros. Store in Moyock Village.  He died in his home on 29 may 1963.  He is buried in Memorial Cemetery, Moyock.  Thomas and Edna had 6 children: Edna Amanda Creekmore married Copeland D. Newbern; Sarah Creekmore married Julian “Don” Bell (son of J.M. and Adelaide Flora Bell);  Mary Creekmore married Millard Elliott; Thomas Edward Creekmore, Jr. married Jean Wood Creekmore; Dorothy Creekmore married William H. West; and Christine Creekmore married Robert J. Breiner.
This is the Wilson Creekmore house.  Wilson fought during the Civil War.  He probably owned most of Moyock.  Land was purchased from him to build Moyock Elementary and the Teacherage.  When my grandfather, Thomas Edward Creekmore, Sr., purchased the house from him, he also bought the store located on the main road across from Moyock Village.  It was known as Creekmore Brothers General Merchandise (see top picture).
This photograph was  taken in 1946 in the back yard of the Wilse Creekmore house.  The Rupert West house can be seen in the background.
 Left to right:
Barbara Creekmore born in 1944; d/o Thomas Edward Creekmore, Jr.
Billy Creekmore born in 1946; nephew of Thomas Edward Creekmore, Jr.
Thomas Edward Creekmore, Jr. born Feb. 5, 1919; died Sept. 30, 1994
Mary Elizabeth (VanNostrand) Cox - c. Oct. 14, 1853 - Feb. 21, 1954

Mary Elizabeth VanNostrand, better known in Moyock as "Miss Molly", was born in New York to Thaddeus VanNostrand, a man reported to be a blockade runner during the Civil War.  In 1860 Thaddeus and his family were living in the town of Jamaica in Queens Co., NY where Mary was listed as age 7 and Thaddeus' occupation was a "bay man".  By 1870 Thaddeus had moved his family to the town of Portsmouth, Va. where he was "Captain of a sloop" and Mary was then 17 years of age.  Miss Molly married Jerome B. Cox, a man somewhat older than her, in Moyock on June 18, 1874 and they set up housekeeping in a nice, comfortable home next door to the Wilse Creekmore house.  In 1880 Jerome was listed as a grocer and Mary was age 28.  Miss Molly always refused to tell anyone her age but from the information on the census records from 1860-1880 we can be fairly assured that she was born circa 1852-53 which means she lived to be at least 100 and probably longer.  Although Miss Molly lived in the South most of her life, she never lapsed into a "Southern drawl".  No one knew how unhappy her marriage had been until Jerome died in 1911.  Neighbors had been called in to stay with Molly and to watch over the body laid out in the parlor.  One of the neighbors went upstairs to check on her and to their surprise found her with perfectly coiffed hair and looking in the armoire to find a suitable kimono and slippers. At last death had set her free and her one consuming thought was romance at last!  Days passed into weeks and weeks into months but no romance ever came.  Needless to say, Miss Molly was one of the most colorful characters that Moyock had seen in years!

 

 

 

House on the left is the Rupert West House, house on the right is the Wilse Creekmore house.  This picture was taken in the mid 1930's before my grandmother renovated the house.  She enclosed the upstairs porch added a winding stairway and indoor plumbing.  Granddaddy used the outhouse behind the garage for many years after that.  Both houses face Shingle Landing Road, which was a dirt path at that time.  My mother, who lived in Great Bridge, Va. loved to tell stories of visiting her aunt Barbara Humphries (Mrs. E.F. Humphries) on Tulls Creek Rd.  They would come down Shingle Landing in their Model T.  The area was so desolate that her mother would carry a gun in the glove compartment.  They had to journey all the way across the Tulls Creek Bridge to about 1/4 of a mile on the left hand side to see Aunt Bob.

Thomas Edward Creekmore Jr. and his friend Bim Poole.  Picture was taken in the early 1940's in the side yard of the Wilse Creekmore House in Moyock Village. Thomas Edward Creekmore, Sr., son of William Theodore & Mary Fulford. Thomas was born March 25 1890.  His wife Edna was born October 2 1885. She was the daughter of Kenneth and Sarah Jordan Powell of Snowden. Picture was taken circa early 1940's in the side yard of their home (the Wilse Creekmore house in Moyock Village on Tulls Creek Rd.). Sarah (Creekmore) Bell and her younger sister, Mary (Creekmore) Elliott.  Mary married Millard Elliott of Fort Worth Texas.  Mary is buried in Moyock Cemetery.  Her husband was a descendent of Sam Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas. Dorothy Creekmore West (left), daughter of  Thomas E. Creekmore. Sr. and Edna Powell Creekmore.  Dorothy was the wife of William H. "Billy" West. Lady on right is Jean Wood Creekmore, daughter of Booker Dwight Wood and Ida Williamson Wood. She married Thomas Edward Creekmore, Jr. It was taken around 1940 on the front of Creekmore Brothers store in Moyock Village.
Thomas Edward Creekmore, Jr., son of Edna Powell Creekmore and Thomas Edward Creekmore, Sr. Thomas was born at the Wilcox Farm on Pudding Ridge Rd on February 5, 1919.  He is wearing his Moyock High School baseball uniform.  He excelled in basketball and baseball during the mid 1930's when he attended Moyock High School.  Moyock High School burned down mysteriously after a basketball game with a rival high school.  It was always thought that the school's fire was no accident as Moyock had defeated the rival school. Photo taken in back of the Creekmore House in Moyock Village in 1940.  Thomas Edward Creekmore, Sr. is on the left and his fishing buddy, Willie Lee Barnes (1912-1988) is on the right.  Looks like a good mess of fish!
Picture was taken approximately 1925 at the Wilcott Farm on Pudding Ridge Road.  The young boy with the goat is Thomas Edward Creekmore, Jr.  His father, Thomas Sr., farmed for the Wilcott's. The young girl in the picture is his sister, Mary Creekmore Elliott, who was born  around 1917.  The older woman in the cart and the man standing beside the gate are unidentified.

Photos and information kindly provided by Barbara Creekmore.  No part of this document may be used for any commercial purposes. However, please feel free to copy any of this material for your own personal use and family research.