POLLY WRIGHT STEWART SAW FIVE GENERATIONS

POLLY WRIGHT STEWART SAW FIVE GENERATIONS

Mary Wright was born about 1836 according to her death certificate, but most census records show her as being a few years younger, born perhaps about 1839.  Her parents, Solomon and Hannah Hughes Wright, were living in the Red Hill community of what was then Yancey...
Mitchell County’s Mica Mine Murders

Mitchell County’s Mica Mine Murders

Waightstill Avery Anderson was a Mitchell County revenue officer. Anderson married Nora Bowman, the daughter of J.W. Bowman and Mary Garland. Anderson had the reputation as a man who “possessed many enemies because he was active in running down the moonshiners who...
J.J. Britt: Defender of Freedom

J.J. Britt: Defender of Freedom

On 19 October 1899, J.J. Britt, presiding over the North Carolina Republican Party meeting in Statesville opposing the suffrage amendment, the Campaign for Freedom In North Carolina, said: “We have entered upon a period of unparalleled prosperity in every line of...
Roxanna Bowman Putman ~ Herb Doctor

Roxanna Bowman Putman ~ Herb Doctor

In Appalachia, a Herb Doctor is a therapist who heals with herbs.  Other labels for such practitioners, often but not always female, are “granny women,” “wise women,” or “conjurers.” One of these herb doctors from Buladean was Roxanna “Roxaner” Bowman Putman. Roxanne...