THE FIRST BICYCLE Mr. H. McMillan writes Interestingly of His School-Day Acquaintances in the St. Paul's Community (Actually Robeson, very near Hoke County) (Surnames in this text include Campbell, McKinnon, McNair, Crawford, Davis & McMillan) Myrtle Bridges
While a student in old Robeson Institute in 1853, I became acquainted with many people in and around Saint Pauls, and for high-toned morality and unbounded hospitality, the citizens were not surpassed by any community in the South. A conspicuous character in those days was John Campbell, who was a regular attendant at church and was, perhaps, the best blacksmith in the county. He invented a bibycle, and boasted that he could ride to Fayetteville upon it. His neighbors ridiculed his invention, and called it "Campbell's Folly." Indignant at the treatment he broke the thing in pieces with a sledge hammer. While his invention was clumsy in comparison with the modern article, still he deserved credit for his invention. John Campbell was a strong Democrat, was well posted in politics, and was something of a poet. He had a law suit with one of the Fayetteville banks, and wrote a history thereof in verse. It was entitled "The Lawsuit," and copies of it may yet be preserved in Robeson. Judge Strange represented the bank and incurred the undying enmity of Campbell, who, in a concluding verse, said "That all would be pleased if Strange was in his grave." John Campbell rode horseback to Greensboro to notify Judge Dick, who was presiding judge at the trial, that he intended to have him impeached for conduct unbecoming a judicial officer. Duncan Campbell lived a few miles west of Saint Pauls. He was a native of Scotland, and came to America in 1804. His brother Dugald was born on the ocean while the family was on the voyage to America. These brothers lived to great ages and were highly esteemed. The widow of Dugald died recently at the age of 96 years. This writer was better acquainted with Duncan Campbell and his excellent wife Christian, whose maiden name was McKinnon.This excellent couple dispensed hospitality to all comers, and were the best of earth. Dignified, just, and honorable in all his dealings, benevolent to a remarkable degree, a sincere Christian, it is no wonder that the memory of Duncan Campbell is as bright to-day as half a century ao in the community where he lived. One of the most prosperous schools in the county was the Robeson Institute back in the fifties, of the last century. In 1853 the principals of the school were Revs. John Calvin and Malcom McNair, who thrashed the boys morning and evening when they needed it. The rules were strict and the urchin who did not toe the mark was surely punished. Over 100 boys were in attendance from far and ner, and it is a melancholy reflection that so few of them survive to this day. Both the teachers are long since dead. Rev. John C. McNair died in Edinborough, Scotland, in 1857. Rev. Malcom McNair died near Red Springs, in Robeson county, some twenty-five years ago. Both were graduates of our State University, and devoted the best years of their lives to education. They were of Highland Scotch ancestors who emigrated from Kentyre. It is remarkable what changes occur in half a century. Of all those I knew as schoolmates at Saint Pauls in 1853, I can recall not more than a dozen people who are alive. "Tempora mutantur et cum illis mutamur." Fifty years ago the old "flint and steel" was giving place to the "Locofoco" matches. Flint-lock muskets were in the hands of our soldiers, and the newly discovered percussion caps were first being used. Now all of these things are passed away, and something "new under the sun" is of constant occurance. Emigrants departed for the South and West in carts and wagons and on horseback, and were for weeks on the road. The parting of neighbors was sad, as it was not thought that they would ever meet again, so distant then was Georgia and Alabama. This writer has recently taken dinner in Robeson, supper in Georgia on the same day, and returned before anyone had noted his absence. Had one predicted fifty years ago the great changes that have occurred, he would have been treated as a lunatic, but we have digressed from our subject, and have unconsciously been led into these reflections on viewing places familiar to us in the long ago. Dropping a tear to the memory of those whom we knew in "auld Lang syne", we resume our story. A mile south of Saint Pauls lived Neill Crawford, who came from Kentyre in Scotland towards the close of the 18th century. He left a numerous family, all of whom, save one, are now dead. Not one of the name is found in the county, so far as we know, though some of the descentants are found in the Southwest. Of the McKinnons there is not one left in this section, though some of the same family are prominent men of wealth in Georgia. The family of Davis was numerous, and but one is left, though members of the family of Absolom Davis are living in Alabama and Arkansas. Absolom Davis and William Davis were sons of Frederick Davis, who married a Miss Stuart, a daughter of John Stuart, who was a cousin of Charles Edward, the rightful heir to the British throne. Absolom Davis was for many years the Clerk of the Superior Court of Robeson. He was a man of unusual intelligence, a historian and a poet. He emigrated to Alabama in 1860 and died near Trinity in that State at an advanced age. Two of his sons are methodist ministers in Alabama, and one is a prominent Baptist. The McMillans on the Little Marsh are descended from Lowland Scotch ancestors who emigrated to the Cape Fear during the administration of Gov. Gabriel Johnston, and who first settled around the Governor's palace in Bladen county, and eventually settled in what is now St. Pauls township. Duncan and John McMillan served in the US Army during the war of 1812. Among our curiosities is a lot of colonial money which belonged to Daniel McMillan and wife, and was hidden during the Revolutionary war. Some of the bills are endorsed by John Ashe, Roger Moore and Wm. Hill, who were prominent Cape Fear patriots. These bills were enclosed in a fragment of a newspaper called the "Gazette." We have previously alluded to the law-abiding character of the people of this and adjoining towhship of Lumber Bridge, and it is doubtful if a criminal writ against a Scotchman in this section has been issued in a hundred years. Au revoir. H. McM. Red Springs, December 21, 1903 Source: The Lumberton Argus (Lumberton, North Carolina) Thu Dec 31, 1903 Page 1
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