[Click on Photo to Enlarge]
PUTTING IN TOBACCO, NASH COUNTY, IN THE 1930s
[NEXT TIME YOU EAT AT PARKER’S BARBECUE in WILSON, CHECK THE LARGER VERSION OF THIS PHOTO ON THEIR WEST WALL. I REMEMBER THAT WATER BUCKET, HOW ABOUT YOU?]
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THE MOST THOUGHTFUL TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTION IN NASH COUNTY?
SMITH, ETHEL C., [July 12, 1908 – October 6, 1923] Daughter of W.W. and Bell Smith (Located near wrought iron fence at Battle Park Lane. Fence has spear-like top posts. Monument has fallen to the ground, but the base is still in good condition). TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTION:
“REMEMBER FRIENDS AS YOU PASS BY, AS YOU ARE NOW, SO ONCE WAS I; AS I AM NOW, SO YOU MUST BE; PREPARE YOUR SOUL TO FOLLOW ME”
from the GRAVEYARD SURVEY BY: LINDA MOORE, of the Battle Park Cemetery, located, at the time of this burial, next to Rocky Mount Mills.
PLEASE SUBMIT INTERESTING TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS LOCATED IN NASH COUNTY.
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NASH COUNTY, NCGenWeb
Free Genealogy and Information on Related Subjects
INTRODUCTION
“. . . once, on this familiar spot of ground, walked other men and women, as actual as we are today, thinking their own thoughts, swayed by their own passions, but now all gone, one generation vanishing after another, gone as utterly as we ourselves shall shortly be gone.”
George Macaulay Trevelyan, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
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Welcome to the Nash County site. My name is Earl Bell, the county coordinator, and my email address for all of your submissions, comments or questions is: earl.bell3@gmail.com.
The goals of this site are: [1] to provide a place for all people, who have origins in the county, to find and submit good family information; [2] to participate in useful dialogues on the origin and evolution of their families; [3] to share photos especially ones of historical importance and ones of whole families, for example, at reunions; [4] to provide a list of useful online research sources plus identify the libraries, local, state and national, as well as archives that provide information for family researchers; [5] to increase information, on this site, on the lives of families in Nash County from the earliest days; and [6] to provide advice about finding new information when a family researcher faces one of the unavoidable dead ends inherent in looking for an ancestor. Highly valued will be family stories about your ancestors living in Nash County. My commitment is to make your problem, finding information on your family, my problem as well and we will work on it together.
A 1919 map of Nash County, that can be enlarged, is found at:
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ncmaps&CISOPTR=418&CISOBOX=1&REC=13
Thanks to Lucinda Glover of Raleigh, NC for this reference.
As a county coordinator, whose Nash County ancestors have lived in present-day Nashville, Oak Level, Coopers and Stony Creek Townships since the first settlers, I am hoping that we can cooperatively breathe some life into their lives. I know first hand that the county possesses some wonderful story tellers as my frequent visits to the Oak Level Cafe and the homes of my kin confirm. Please send me the stories about the lives of your parents, grandparents and other ancestors in Nash County as far back as the collective memory in your family reaches. For example, I have posted a description of my grandfather’s country store at Westry’s Siding, now Westrys, in 1915 and my cousin has posted a detailed description of his grandfather’s farm in Oak Level Township during the first decades of the twentieth century. My wish is that we expand on this modest start by building a collection of stories that helps to reveal life in every town and township throughout the county at the various moments in our shared history.
Also, on the Nash County webpage, I invite everyone to send me, for posting, a photo of a family reunion in the county, the older the better. Let’s initiate this practice by first posting the oldest photos that are submitted of family reunions by descendants. Finally, I welcome your advice and good counsel. Again, please send all your submissions, comments and questions to: earl.bell3@gmail.com. I promise you a speedy response!
All researchers interested in finding information on their Nash County families should check the posted files on USGenWeb Nash Co. Archives at http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/nash.htm. Also, family researchers are encouraged to view the posted files on this website and those on the Nash archives site as complimentary and, when explored in combination, provide the most comprehensive way in which to benefit from posted information.
“This past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past.”
William Faulkner
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WHAT’S IMPORTANT IN THE POSTED CATEGORIES AND FILES (in a rough order of importance)?
1. NASH SURNAMES, 1777 – 1820 includes the signers of the 1777 petition for creating the county; the 1782 Tax List (the only online source of the complete tax list); and the U.S. Censuses from 1790 to 1820. It is massive coverage of Nash surnames from the first settlers to 1820 (this is the only online list of Nash surnames in the first forty years). WE NEED SOME RESEARCHER or RESEARCHERS TO WORK ON SURNAMES BEFORE THE COUNTY WAS FOUNDED IN 1777 IN EDGECOMBE COUNTY for those families found at physical locations in Nash, after the creation of the county.
2. CEMETERY LISTINGS. The cemeteries have been reorganized in the major categories of Family, Church and Community with each cemetery survey indicating, at the beginning, the surnames found in each graveyard, the earliest and latest burials plus the date of the most recent survey (this is the only online source for such information). Also, whether or not a cemetery is still taking burials is indicated. Further, for modern surnames (since 1900) in Nash County this is the best single online source.
3. FAMILY OUTLINES AND RESEARCH. If all the family researchers, whose grandparents lived their lives in Nash County would outline the families of their parents what a treasure it would be for coming generations of kin. It is a deceptively difficult task of research to find and post complete information on the families of just your grandparents and all the people who married into the family. The county coordinator will help anyone who wishes to do this and provide suggestions on the best approach. If you wish to use it, there is a form included as a model for it, however, if you prefer another organizational approach that is fine and acceptable.
4. MILITARY INFORMATION ON MEN AND THEIR FAMILIES FROM NASH COUNTY. The site contains extensive information on all our the wars in which Nash men have served. The Civil War has received special attention with a posting of all the published military records for the major Nash regiments including: the 30th North Carolina Infantry, Company I; the 47th North Carolina Infantry, Company A; and the 47th North Carolina Infantry, Company D. Three major regiments remain for abstracting.
5. THE HISTORY OF THE TOWNS AND TOWNSHIPS, CHURCHES and RURAL SECTIONS IN NASH COUNTY INCLUDING MAPS. When family researchers work beyond the collective memory of their kin it is too often reduced to date and place for births, marriages, deaths and burials plus family connections revealed by various sources. Only through an appreciation of local county and related state/colony history, in other words, what happened at various times in the sweep of North Carolina’s evolution, is there any context for their lives. This site is very sensitive to that problem and assumes that everyone wishes to know more about the times in which their kin lived their lives in the county.
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WHAT’S IMPORTANT FOR RESEARCHING ON YOUR FAMILY AND ON THE HISTORY OF NASH COUNTY, AT THIS WEBSITE, TO PROVIDE CONTEXT FOR THE LIVES OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS AT VARIOUS TIMES SINCE 1777?
A primary purpose of the Nash County NCGenWeb site is to provide family and county history researchers, especially those living in Nash County, a FREE online place to undertake comprehensive research on all of their interrelated families and their neighbors.
Second, this site identifies the libraries, in close proximity to folks living in Nash County, where most of the books abstracting Nash County records, since 1777, may be found and researched without cost.
Third, this site has been constructed to maximize the number of online search engines that family and county researchers can access at a single online place. If you know of other sites that should be added to achieve this purpose please make recommendations and I will post them.
ONLINE SEARCH ENGINES FOR YOUR FAMILY AND NASH COUNTY HISTORY RESEARCH:
THE OMNIBUS FamilySearch WEBSITE: Free Family History, Family Tree, and Genealogy Records and Resources from Around the World [right column link titled “Latter Day Saints Family Search.”]. North Carolina Search Engines include:
Also found at: http://www.familysearch.org
At this FamilySearch site researchers will find an internal search engine to locate the nearest LDS Regional Research Library.
[In all four of these FamilySearch search engines, the spelling of names, including the first name and surname, are arbitrary in finding all names you enter, it can be frustrating, just be patient and try alternative spellings]
* North Carolina Births and Christenings, 1866-1964 – 156,156 individuals
* North Carolina Deaths and Burials, 1898-1994 – 2,742,609 individuals
[as 1 November 2010]
* North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930 – 615,568 individuals
* North Carolina Marriages, 1759-1979
[all four search engines also found in the right column under links as “NC Births,”]
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CENSUS RESEARCH ONLINE AT THE NASH COUNTY NCGenWeb Site:
The United States Censuses from 1850 to 1930. FamilySearch search engines for the censuses of 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920s are provided under “Census” (left column of the main page). Also, researchers will find the Internet Archive site to search for kin in the Census of 1930. It is a little more complicated, however, it is organized by township to facilitate your success.
Most local public libraries provide family researchers, who research in census records, with either an online edition of HeritageQuest or Ancestry. Usually, in public libraries, HeritageQuest is more widely available than Ancestry. Where it is available it can be used in the library or at home, after entering your library card number.
Microfilmed census records can be ordered for your use at your regional LDS library or, if convenient, by visiting your Federal Regional Archives. The expanded availability of online research at HeritageQuest and Ancestry has decreased the number of people using other methods for researching census records.
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DEATH RECORDS RESEARCH ONLINE AT THE NASH COUNTY NCGenWeb site:
THE SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX. The Social Security Death Index is provide in the “Links of Interest” column on the right. [“Links” – right hand column at Nash County NCGenWeb site]
LDS FamilySearch SEARCH ENGINES AT:
Check the list of FamilySearch Research URLs on North Carolina Subjects in the Left Column at “NC Research URLs at FamilySearch” [posted on 15 October 2011]
Older FamilySearch North Carolina URLs:
* North Carolina Deaths and Burials, 1898-1994 – 2,742,609 individuals [see [“Links” – right hand column at Nash County NCGenWeb]
* North Carolina Deaths, 1906-1930 – 615,568 individuals
[see “Links” – right hand column at Nash County NCGenWeb]
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BIRTH AND CHRISTENING RECORDS FOUND ONLINE AT THIS NASH COUNTY NCGenWeb site:
LDS Birth and Christening Record Search Engine at:
* North Carolina Births and Christenings, 1866-1964 – 156,156 individuals
[see “Links” – right hand column at Nash County NCGenWeb]
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NORTH CAROLINA MARRIAGES ONLINE RESEARCH AT THIS NASH COUNTY NCGenWeb site:
LDS North Carolina Marriages Search Engine
* North Carolina Marriages, 1759-1979
[all four search engines also found in the right column under links as “NC Marriages,”]
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NORTH CAROLINA ROADS PRIOR TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1815 to 1860
“Everywhere the roads, which were little more than paths marked out across fields and through forests, were virtually impassable in wet weather. Everywhere and at all times land transportation was slow, difficult and expensive. In 1842, Governor Morehead said that it cost half the value of a farmer’s crop ‘to transport the other [half] to market.’ One Wake County farmer declared that , “there is no money in raising corn; it costs too much to get it to market.”
from Lefler and Newsome, NORTH CAROLINA: THE HISTORY OF A SOUTHERN STATE [Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1954]: 300.
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“WE SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO FORGET THE HORROWS OF WAR” Eighty Six Year Old World War II Marine Vet and Iwo Jima Survivor DWIGHT CARTER, 12 March 2010.
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Nashville – December 1958
[click on photo to enlarge]
from: THE NASHVILLE GRAPHIC, 22 December 2010
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Welcome to the Town of Nashville, County Seat of Nash County, NC; [Click on the Photo to Enlarge]
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New Nashville Town Hall, Friday, 4 December 2009
[Click on Photo to Enlarge]