Family Life in Goldston, NC, 1900
Rabbits in Chatham County
Railroad records from Siler City which is just a few
miles down the road, indicate over 25,000 rabbits being shipped to market
each year in the early 1900's.
The Goldston brothers ran "rabbit gum" routes before
school each morning, carrying a guano sack. When they found a rabbit
gum door shut, they emptied the rabbit into their sack and re-set the trap.
A "rabbit gum" is a shoe-box like wooden trap with one
end open and shaped to accommodate a trap door suspended by a tiny notch in
the wood and attached to little stick which in turn attached to a vertical
stick in center of rabbit gum. The drawing above is how my father
taught me to make a gum. Bait was any kind of leafy vegetable or plant
placed in the rear of the gum. The trap door was carefully connected
to the center stick... when the rabbit entered the gum, the slightest touch
agaonst the center stick caused the trapdoor to release and trap the rabbit
inside. Rabbit gums were carefully placed, but high winds frequently
caused traps to close, so the boys always hoped for a mild or windless day.
Rabbit was a major food product for the family, more so
than chicken, and also a source of income as the family made periodic trips
to Siler City where the rabbits were sold through vendors and shipped out of
state.
In 1895 W. S. Durham in Siler City was the area's
largest dealer in poultry, eggs and rabbits for many years. In a
letter published in the Siler City Leader, it said:
Dear Boys: The rabbit season is here again
and I am ready to buy. I want your rabbits and will pay you every cent
for them I can afford to pay.
I have a nice present for every boy who sells me his
rabbits. Bring them along and I will treat you right.
Yours Truly,
W. S. Durham
Chatham Rabbits
Rabbit was a major food product for the family, more so than chicken, and
also a source of income as the family made periodic trips to Siler City
where the rabbits were sold through vendors and shipped out of state.
Chatham Rabbits
They were packed in barrels and shipped out of the county and out of the
state. The largest wholesale dealer in rabbits was in Siler City. Boys were
paid from 8 cents to 15 cents for each rabbit. In 1908-1909 about 25,000
rabbits were shipped out of town.
To understand this one must look back to Chatham County in the early 1900s.
At the turn of the century indigenous cottontail rabbits were abundant in
Chatham County and Siler City became one of the largest shipping points in
North Carolina. According to records there were over 154,000 rabbits taken
from Chatham County between 1908 and 1916.
These rabbits were sold out of state and appeared as "CHATHAM RABBITS" on
menus in cities such as New York, Baltimore and Norfolk. The several
different recipes for "Chatham Rabbit" can still be found in recipe books
and even online today.
This history of the rabbit provoked Fire Department members to place a
Rabbit on the door of our Segrave pumper in the early forties and the
tradition is still being carried on today.
In the coldest months, barrels packed with rabbits were shuttled in
un-refrigerated trains to New York hotels where they were billed on the menu
as "Chatham Rabbit."
Since rabbits were so abundant on Chatham County dinner tables, a Methodist
minister traveling in Chatham closed a visit with the ditty "Oh, Lord, we
have had rabbits warm and we have had rabbits cold. We have had rabbits
young and we have had rabbits old. We have had rabbits tender and we have
had rabbits tough. We thank Thee, Lord; we have had rabbits enough."
PITTSBORO, Nov. 1st, 1792.
Sundry commissioners appointed by the board of trustees of the University of
North Carolina to view the country within fifteen miles of Cypret's bridge,
and to fix on the seat of the University, met according to the order of the
board, to-wit: Frederick Harget, Alexander Mebane, James Hogg, William Hill,
David Stone, and Willie Jones.
November 2nd.
Appointed Frederick Harget Chairman; proceeded to view the Gum Spring
belonging to Philip Meroney; also Matthew Jones's, John Mentoe's, and
Matthew Ramsey's lands (near Pittsboro), and received their proposals.
Sundry gentlemen of the county of Chatham offered further donations to the
amount of four hundred and odd pounds, (exclusive of £1302 offered as a
donation to the board at Hillsboro), provided the University was fixed at
the fork of Haw and Deep rivers; and Ambrose Ramsey, Patrick St. Lawrence,
George Lucas, John Mebane, Panthareup Harman and Thomas Stokes, guaranteed
to the amount of £1,500; they having all the subscriptions to themselves,
provided the University was established in the aforesaid fork.
The committee reported, through John Haywood, at their meeting in
Fayetteville in December, 1793. They had met in Hillsboro in April of that
year and contracted with George Daniel, of Orange County, for making 350,000
bricks for 40 shillings ($4) per thousand. On the 10th of August following
they met at Chapel Hill, marked off sites for the buildings, "together with
the necessary quantity of land for offices, avenues and ornamental grounds."
They then laid off the village into lots. In addition to the beauty and
natural advantages of the place, they reported that it is "happily
accommodated to the introduction and direction of several important public
roads, which it is highly probable will in the future lead through it." They
found that a tract of eighty acres, belonging to Hardy Morgan ran
inconveniently near the buildings, and therefore bought it for $200. On the
19th of July they contracted with James Patterson, of Chatham County, for
erecting a two-storied brick building, 96 feet 7 inches long and 40 feet 1
1-2 inches wide, for $5,000, the University to furnish the brick, sash
weights, locks, hooks, fastenings and painting. The building was to contain
16 rooms with four passages, and to be finished by the 1st of November,
1794. The cornerstone was laid on the 12th of October, 1793, and on the same
day the lots in the village, reserving a four-acre lot for a residence for
the President, were sold for £1.534 ($3,168), payable in one and two years,
good security being given.
Joseph Ramsey served in the General Assembly and was a strong
advocate for the University.
The building, since called the East, having been sufficiently prepared, Mr.
Hinton James, of Wilmington, the first student, arrived on the Hill the 12th
day of February, 1795.
The first graduating class was 1798.
Chatham County graduates in early years of the University of N. C.
In 1807 John Lewis Taylor was the first Chatham County student to graduate.
In 1809 John Briggs Mebane graduated.
In 1810 James Fauntleroy Taylor graduated.
In 1811 James Ambrose Ramsey graduated.
1822 Abraham Rencher graduated.
In 1823 Samuel Stewart graduated.
In 1824 Matthias Evans Manly graduated.
In 1825 Thomas Riddle graduated.
In 1838 Joseph John Jackson graduated.
Black's names got confused with this graduate.
In 1839 James Hunter Headen graduated.
In 1846 James Riddle Ward graduated.
In 1853 S. Augustus O'Daniel graduated.
In 1854 Leonidas J. Merritt graduated.
In 1856 A. Haywood Merritt graduated.
In 1858 Robert H. Marsh graduated.
In 1859 Thomas W. Harris graduated.
In 1860 William M. Brooks graduated.
In 1860 William Joseph Headen graduated.
In 1861 John W. Harris graduated.
In 1866 Wm. C. Rencher graduated. There were only 3 graduates that year.
CHATHAM RAILROAD COMPANY.
The Chatham Railroad, not yet completed, extends from Raleigh to Gulph in
Chatham county, 45 miles, and connects with the North Carolina Central
Railroad at Carey, near Raleigh, and at Gulph with the Western Railroad from
Fayetteville, and is designed to connect also with the Coalfields and
Cheraw, S. C., Railroad, when completed. Capital stock, $1250,000.
In 1879 Joseph John Goldston was a member of the State House of
Representatives.
PLEASANT HILL ACADEMY, 1838.
The Exercises of the Pleasant Hill Academy closed on the 18th inst. to be
resumed on the 8th of January next.
From the success attendant upon the Exercises of the past Session, conducted
by BAXTER CLEGG, A. B., we cheerfully recommend the School to the patronage
of our fellow citizens, and urge its claims especially on such as desire for
their sons and wards a healthy location, at a distance from all scenes of
dissipation. The Academy is located six miles south of Pittsboro. The high
moral character of the neighborhood and the healthiness of the situation,
commend it to the favorable regard of those preparing their sons for
College, or training them for honor or usefulness. The following are the
terms of the School per Session of five months, in advance:
For English Grammar, Geography and Arithmetic
$10 00
Algebra, Geometry, Surveying, &c.
12 50
Latin and Greek
15 00
Board, including bedding, washing and firewood, can be obtained in private
families, convenient to the Academy, at $6 per month, in advance.
Railroad The rivers provide only meager facilities
for navigation, but this defect is supplied by the Raleigh and Augusta
Air-Line railroad, which passes through the southern part of the county, and
which connects Pittsboro, the county seat, by a branch road of twelve miles,
with Moncure. The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley road runs through the whole
western end of the county, and its construction has stimulated the growth of
numerous villages, such as Egypt, Gulf, Goldston, Richmond, Ore Hill, Siler
City and others, all of which have become centers of industrial pursuits,
and locations of good schools. At Egypt, is a coal mine, the most extensive
in the State, opened before the war, and now again operated with success.
The coal is semi-bituminous. At Ore Hill, is a very valuable iron mine,
worked during the Revolutionary war, and again during the late Civil war,
and is now to be largely utilized in connection with the steel works in
process of erection at Greensboro.
Andrew Jackson Goldston was born 1/4/1835, died 9/5/1893. His
children:
Edward Moreau Goldston, born 2/11/1867, died 11/20/1934
Lou Kate Goldston, born 12/20/1874, died 5/29/1953
Robert Lee “Bob” Goldston, Sr., son of Andrew Jackson Goldston, born 1876,
died 1942
Hugh Peoples Goldston, born 1878, died 6/13/1953
Mary Austin Goldston, born 5/11/1869, died 8/19/1937
Sallie “Sank” Goldston born 1863
Hugh born 1878
A. J. enlisted in
Company G, 48th Infantry Regiment North Carolina
on 17 April 1862. Enlisted as a Private on 24 April 1862 in Chatham
County, NC at the age of 25 discharged, furnished substitute on 15 May 1862.
North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster.
(NCRosterC) Published in 1993.
On December 4, 1861, Andrew Jackson Goldston was age 26, single but getting
ready to pop the question to Kate Rives, counting on her visit from
Mississippi to see her relative, Catherine Rives, A. J. ‘s mother. He had
read about the seven southern states seceding from the Union and he was for
the Confederacy
