The GOLDSTON Family

of Chatham County, Goldston, N. C.

The Goldston's in Chatham History

Politics was never a major objective in the life of the Goldston family while the neighboring Ramsey family represented Chatham in Raleigh for a number of years.  However, U. S. presidents played an active roll:  George Washington Goldston (who served one term in Raleigh legislature), Andrew Jackson Goldston, Thomas Jefferson Goldston.

1852 to 1868 there was a post office called Goldston (also called Emerson's Tan Yard) located a mile east of Ore Hill with George Washington Goldston as post master.

Originally known as Corinth (a local church), the town of Goldston developed soon after the railroad started operating through the area in 1884.  Early businesses included Bynum & Paschal, general merchandise; A. J. Goldston, general store;  W. E. Goldston & Co., general merchandise, produce, drugs, etc.  Goldston soon became a trading center for the surrounding region and had a substantial lumber business.  About 1930 my grandfather, Robert Lee "Bob" Goldston, son of A. J., moved his family from the old home place in Goldston to Wake County where he started R. L. Goldston & Sons Lumber Company.  I don't remember if he bought an existing mill or started from scratch.  Will find out.

A. J. Goldston and Loton F. Paschal organized the first Sunday School at Goldston.  Joseph John Goldston, A. J.'s brother, gave lots for the church and school building and by 1892 both buildings were open for use.

G. W. Goldston was named a trustee of the Tick Creek Academy, name later changed to Caldwell Academy because there was so much objection to a name which referred to the parasitic pest.

Hugh Peoples Goldston, son of A. J., probably was named after a Chatham resident, Hugh W. Peoples, who served some time on the Board of Common Schools during the period 1841 to 1864.

The founder of Winston-Salem State University, Simon Green Atkins, was a native of Chatham County.

The "hill method" of preserving sweet potatoes was attributed to a Chatham County farmer.  When my father was managing a peach orchid in Ashley Heights, near Aberdeen, in the 30's, we made a mound of dirt higher than the surrounding ground, layered it with pine needles, then sweet potatoes, then another layer of pine needles covered with about six inches of dirt.  When my mother wanted sweet potatoes during the winter, I was sent out to dig down, get 3 or 4, cover the hole back up and take them to the house.

Since there was no fencing for livestock, early Chatham residents marked the ears of their stock so that when rounded up later they could be identified.  From Chatham County Court minutes of Aug. 8, 1774, William Goldston recorded his mark:  2 small crops and a nick on the left ear.

There were several iron mines Ore Hill, near the town of Gulf, with another mine at nearby  Cumnock early as 1770.  From 1861 to 1865, the Sapona Iron Company operated a furnace at Ore Hill.  The ruins of the rock furnace are located near Ephraim's Creek.

Coal was another commodity of Chatham County.  Probably the most important mine was the Egypt (Cumnock) shaft which reached a depth of 460 feet.  This mine supplied coal for the Confederacy during the Civil War, with production going by rail to Fayetteville then by water to Wilmington and used by blockade runners.

The Deep River Valley had iron and coal deposits on both sides of the river and attracted national attention in 1865 when the Congress of the Confederate States passed a bill to establish an arsenal and foundry in the Chatham County.  Many thought the future looked so good that Chatham would be the "Pittsburgh of the South."  But the mines were never very productive although people tried their hand, as late as 1953.