Fifth Generation

431. Candace Mary Almetta HERMAN was born on 21 November 1848 in Catawba County, North Carolina. She died on 16 September 1947 at the age of 98 in Catawba County, North Carolina. She was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Hickory, Catawba County, North Carolina.

Candace Mary Almetta HERMAN and Rev. Marcus Lafayette LITTLE were married on 4 May 1871 in Catawba County, North Carolina. Marriage record is missing. Rev. Marcus Lafayette LITTLE^1013,1014, son of Peter Franklin LITTLE and Harriet Louisa HUNSUCKER, was born on 17 October 1848 in Catawba County, North Carolina. He died on 17 February 1891 at the age of 42 in Catawba County, North Carolina. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Hickory, Catawba County, North Carolina. Marcus Lafayette Little was a grandson of former St. John's elder John Smith, and great-grandson of former St. John's elder Peter Little, Sr., Catawba College. He was instrumental in the arguments made for the selection of a Lutheran college in Catawba County.

On January 13, 1891, the [St. John's] Board of Trustees voted to allow the congregations to vote on the location of the College. Trustees preferring both Conover and Hickory agreed, and assigned a committee to write the advantages of each location and to present them to the January 27th meeting. At that meeting, Smith and Bernheim changed their opinion as to the advisability of congregational vote.

By February 3, the Hickory group organized the "Augsburg School Association," and approached Mr. Hall about obtaining the Lenoir property. Hall rejected these advances, as he preferred to work with the Tennessee Synod, and not a group of "dissenters."

Two weeks later, another Augsburg meeting was unexpectedly disrupted. At about 5:00 P. M., on Monday, February 16, 1891, a train wreck occurred on the C. & L. N. G. railroad connecting Hickory with Gaston County. The disaster occurred approximately two and one-half miles from Newton, on a 35 foot-high trestle near Smyre's mill. Many were wounded, and seven were killed, including Rev. Marcus Lafayette Little.

After the accident, Pastor Little, who was baptized and had previously preached an occasional sermon at St. John's, was unconscious and never spoke a word for about eighteen hours, when he succumbed to head injuries about 10:00 A. M., on February 17, 1891.

His funeral served to be a brief moment of solemnity in the Conover and Hickory College rivalry. Little's pall-bearer's included A. L. Crouse, J. C. Moser, R. A. Yoder, J. P. Miller, and others, and consoling remarks were made by these Pastors. The actual funeral address was delivered by Little's cousin, theological teacher, and one of the deceased's staunchest, college-location opponents, Rev. J. M. Smith. [Raising High the Cross..."]

"Rev. M. L. Little, a prominent minister of the Lutheran church, pastor of Daniels Church, 1882-83, President of Gaston College, which he founded in 1883, was killed in a railway accident three miles south of Newton on Chester and Lenoir Railway, February 16, 1891." [Lincoln Courier, Feb 20, 1891]

Mr. Little went to Dallas in 1882 as principal of the Dallas Academy. Soon thereafter he enlisted the interest of prominent Lutherans, Jonas Hoffman, Henry Setzer, John L. Rhyne, Miles A. Rhyne, J. S. Mauney, W. A. Mauney, John M. Rhodes, Moses H. Rhyne, A. P. Rhyne, Ambrose Costner, David Mauney, L. L. Suggs, and others, who contributed $10,000 for the establishment of Gaston College in Dallas. He secured Rev. Dr. L. A. Bikle, Dr. L. L. Lohr and J. M. Roberts (later editor of Lincoln Courier) as teachers, and the school prospered until its buildings were destroyed by fire about 1915.

Rev. Mr. Little was an able minister, who undertook, at a time when money was hard to raise, to launch and carry to a successful finish a campaign for higher education in Gaston County. A useful man he was, and North Carolina lost a fine citizen when he met with a tragic death.
[Annals of Lincoln County, pg. 259]

Candace Mary Almetta HERMAN and Rev. Marcus Lafayette LITTLE had the following children: