The School House

On May 6, 1859, my 3rd Great Grandfather, Henry Davis gave half an acres of land to the County School Committee for a school that was already built upon his property. I remember seeing this deed years ago, and at the time, I didn't give it much creedence, and thought it to be the Old Davis Schoolhouse, but it wasn't. What was known as the Old Davis School House was located near Aquadale, Stanly County, North Carolina. 

Stanly News and Press Albemarle, North Carolina • Thu, Feb 11, 1915Page 3

The schoolhouse building was actually a multipurpose building, as seen in the above 1915 newspaper clipping from the Stanly News and Press. It was more of a community building, and in February of 1915, the community of Davis was having a box supper, or a community gathering, much like what we would call a 'potluck'. The school was located around the intersecton of Old Davis Road and Aldridge Road. It was called Davis because it had been decades earlier, the Old Davis Plantation and many descendants of Job Davis had lived there. Other families had moved in, primarily Keplys and Kimmers. Aldridges, Carpenters, Browns and Smiths had long been neighbors of the Davis family. A Deese family had settled just south of Aquadale before the turn of the Century and an Efird family had moved in from the Big Lick area about the same time.

Stanly News and Press Albemarle, North Carolina • Sun, Apr 6, 1997Page 4

The odd thing about the old Davis School was that although the school was located on my mother's family's ancestral lands, it was my Dad who had shown me the location. Well, he had explained that he had played there as a child, and it was over the hill from his Aunt Dorothy's house, who we were visiting. Aunt Dorothy was a that time a Luther, having married one, and she was the sister of my paternal grandmother. Half-sister, to be exact, as Grandma had been born a Lemmons and Aunt Dorothy, a Burris. Both Grandma and Aunt Dorothy had attended Davis School as children. The above picture is of Davis School students in 1920. Grandma would not be in this photo, as she was born in 1915, and would not have been old enough to attend school yet. Dorothy had not been born. The two girls that were idenfied in the above photos were Keply's. One had married a Floyd. Anyone familiar with the Davis family history knows the association with the Floyd family. The roots run deep.

Stanly News and Press Albemarle, North Carolina • Tue, Jun 9, 1992Page 7

The above photo of Davis School graduates is from about the time my Grandmother was born.They are holding popscicles they recieved as a prize for the achievement of graduating. There was one boy, Lawson Hill, probably because sons were expected more, to help run the family farm than girls. As my Grandmothers mother was a Hill, and although they lived in Cabarrus County, they had Rocky Rivers roots, I pondered on if there was a relation. There may have been a few generations back, very likely, in fact. However, I found Lawson briefly in my family tree, but not due to the Hill connection. He was the younger brother of a Fred Hill, owner of the 'Fred Hill House' which is still occupied by that family. Fred Hill has a significance in two manners. First, he married Ouisa Stewart. Ouisa was the daughter of Hortense Davis, the oldest child and only daughter of Edward Winfield Davis, a son of Job and second sheriff of Stanly County. Hortense died young, of pneumonia, and had actully divorced Ouisa's father, William R. Stewart, of  Union County. The reason for the divorce was an affair with Kitty Davis, Ouisa's cousin, a tragic figure. I have several posts in the early years of this blog concerning Hortense and Kitty, and Ouisa. Ouisa was raised by her grandmother, Rebecca Hathcock Davis, widow of Edward Winfield Davis, and her legal guardian, as during that era, a man was preferred, was Rebecca's second husbanc, John T. Crump. As Ouisa was the sole heiress of her mother's share of E. W. Davis's substantial holdings, there were some shady issues involving Crumps usage and disposal of Ouisa's assetts. Eventually, she regained control of real estate, which was firmly protected due to the diligence of her grandfather, and she inherited the Davis Hill or Rocky River Hill part of the property, which is near the end of the Gaddy's Ford Road. 

Fred Hill's homestead is located off of Aldridge Road and my third Great Grandmother, Priscilla Murray Aldridge is buried behind it. Her daughter, Julina Aldridge married E. W. Davis's nephew, Horton H. Davis, and I will come back to that in a moment.

Stanly News and Press Albemarle, North Carolina • Fri, Oct 27, 1922Page 8

In the October 27, 1922 edition of The Stanly News and Press, it was revealed that the Davis School was also used as a church, or meeting house, as services were held there. Rev. Will Hopkins, evidentally, an itenerant minister, was set to preach there. Also reported that Miss Ophie Efird was going to be employed by the school as a primary teacher.

Stanly News and Press Albemarle, North Carolina • Thu, Apr 5, 1917Page 6

In 1917, the Davis School was closed for the Easter Holiday. It was announced that a picnic was to be held at the Carpenter Ford. The mention of this Ford is exciting. The Carpenter Ford was up river and around the bend from the Davis Ford. My ancestors Job Davis and Ludwell Carpenter, (James Ludwell), had been neighbors from the late 1790's. Their descendants have been neighbors for over two centuries.

This clipping seems to refer to the whole neighborhood under the title of the school. It names some of the people who lived there, Aldridges, of course, as they lived on Aldridge road, which connected to the Davis Road, but also Allen and Baucom.

Stanly News and Press Albemarle, North Carolina • Sun, Apr 27, 1997Page 4

Above is another picture of students at the school in 1923. The names of the female students are given with their maiden names and the surname of who they married. The maiden names would reflect who lived in the neighborhood, the married names, not necessarily. Lots of Aldridges, of course, Deese, afore mentioned, Floyds, of course, Turners, from just across the river, originally, another family name. Simpson, another family that lived closer to Aquadale, and Davis was between Aquadale and Cottonville, but a little west of them both. There are also Honeycutt and Burris's, immigrants from the western part of the county, and mixture of these names in the marriages, but not one Davis. Aunt Dorothy was born a Burris, and Grandma would marry a Lambert. Dorothy was born about this time, and grandma should have been old enough to attend by then, but she's not listed, but she definately stated that she went there. Oh, and there are the Keply's.

It's time to voice my grievance with the Keply's. One household of them moved into what was the home of my 2nd Great Grandmother, Julina Aldridge Davis, before she married Horton H. Davis. It is known that Julina was a Civil War orphan, who had been bound to the Benjamin Lindsey Whitley family after his death, despite having a living mother. Some of her older sisters were pushed into marriage at this time,  one to one of Whitley's sons at age 15. Julina was too young, as was her twin sister, Julia, who died as a child. Her oldest brother was also called to War, but had lived. A younger brother was sent to live with an Uncle. Julina was bound to the Whitley's who had lots of sons. Julia had several older children by one or more of these sons before her marriage. We know Molly (Aldrdige Davis Boone), and Jesse Filmore Aldridge, where children of his son, Ephraim. George's father is unknown, as he went by Davis and had no children and didn't name him in the Permanent voting record like Filmore. The first of Julina's children with H. H. Davis was Titus, born in 1887.

But there were two more, born before H. H. was involved, both girls, confirmed by Filmore, and were buried behind the house. The house at the fork of Aldridge and Davis Roads. 

The house was purchased by Keppys after Juliana joined the Davis household. A beautiful modern brick ranch house stands there now.  But, at some point, as reported by my Dad, who grew up in the neighborhood and attended Aquadale School, one of the Keplys, past the time of the children in this photo, decided the small area occupied by two tiny graves, took up too much room along the edge of his tilled property, pulled up the modest markers, and plowed over my Great Great Aunts, my Great Grandfather's half-sisters. Sally and Lizzie are now covered in Corn and Cotton. The girls were born roughly around 1883 and 1885 and died between 1887 and 1889, respectively.  He could not spare the small amount of turf taken up by two small little girls. I don't know the first name this of Mr. Kepley, and of course he is long gone by now, but when I hear of a Kepley from the Aquadale or Cottonville area, I cringe in anger. 

Stanly News and Press Albemarle, North Carolina • Tue, Oct 19, 1971Page 5

Above is an actual newspaper photo taken of the Old Davis Schoolhouse around 1920. It was probably built about 1890 or so, and was in use until the 1940's. It stood abandoned until at least the early part of my lifetime but has now totally collapsed into the earth.  The odd thing about my grandmother attending, is that her people were from Mecklenburg and Union Counties, with a little flow into Cabarrus. She was born near Concord, in Cabarrus County. Her mother would marry a Burris, after her father's death, just before her birth, who happened to be a Stanly County boy who had moved to Concord to work for Cannon Mills. They would end up near Cottonville by her teens and the children would attend the Davis School. There, she met and married her step-fathers nephew, Burley Lambert, who had been raised in Cottonville by his mother's sister, who married a Smith from the area, his mother having died when he was an infant. 

But the school that Henry Davis was donating the land to predated the Davis School by at least 3 or 4 decades. If I'm not mistaken, it also seemed to be located in another part of the County, closer to his father-in-law's house, than to his fathers.  Check out the deed below.

This small piece of property of Henrys was located near the Concord Road. As there doesn't appear to have been any direct route from the old Davis property to Concord in such a way that the road would attain the name of the town, this road was not near there at all. Other signatures on the deed give a hint to where it was most likely located. Four signatures were shown on the document besides Henrys that were not the Clerk or Registrar. Those names were James Palmer, his father-in-law, Bailey Smith, his brother-in-law, James Sanders and Albert Smith. At this juncture, I can't verify who James Sanders or Albert Smith may have been. 

If the schoolhouse was near the homes of James Palmer and Bailey Smith, however, the location to a Concord Road might be discernable. 

This above late 1800's era map of Stanly and Cabarrus Counties shows no direct path between Albemarle and Concord, but we know from other records, that one existed. This map is also a little whacky-jawed my Mom would say, as Norwood was not that close to Albemarle and was actually located much further down the river, almost to the county 'toe''.  And Narrows was a bit further up and closer to the river. Copal Grove was also a little bit further north, while the location of Leo hasn't been exactly pinpointed, but around the Stanfield area, which puts it pretty close. 

The hunt for what schoolhouse this may have been is on. I'm guessing it may have roughly been in the area of where Old Parker Road reaches the current Concord Road. I take comfort in the fact that education seemed to be of great importance in my family that even in the wild years of the 1800's, they donated schools, at least two and possibly three, to the community.