North Carolina Gazetteer: Acknowledgments

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by William S. Powell
March 30, 1968.

For assistance in many phases of the compilation of this gazetteer, my greatest indebtedness is to George Stevenson Jr. and to my wife, Virginia Waldrop Powell. With tireless devotion to the project, they have compiled long lists of entries from assorted sources. My special thanks go to George Stevenson for his careful work in comparing numerous historic maps with contemporary maps and preparing notes on early locations of geographic features and the changes in name that can best be discovered by this process. From published lists of altitudes, post offices, streams, and many shorter lists of various kinds, my wife prepared and interfiled hundreds of cards.

Two grants from the University Research Council made it possible for me to have the services at various times of four student assistants: George M. Beasley III, James A. Chesnutt III, William H. Salling Jr., and George Stevenson Jr. I am grateful to the University Research Council for its generosity and to these young men for the personal interest they took in their work. Without them, the Gazetteer would have been delayed many years.

Individuals throughout the state willingly answered my questions about specific places; others, hearing of the Gazetteer, voluntarily contributed information. My indebtedness to them is great and my regret is sincere that I cannot acknowledge their contributions by name simply because they were so numerous.

Those on whom I called frequently for specific help include: C. Ritchie Bell, for botanical information; Sanford Boswell; Richard Bryson, especially for the preparation of the county maps; Myra Champion; Fred Coker; D. L. Corbitt; Christopher Crittenden; L. Polk Denmark; Louise McG. Hall; U. T. Holmes, for translations of foreign words, particularly Gaelic; Thomas Hyatt; Roy Johnson; J. O. Kilmartin, for information from the files of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names; Mrs. Pattie B. McIntyre; Elizabeth McPherson; Mrs. Elizabeth Merritt; Thomas C. Parramore; Mrs. Mary J. Rogers; Bill Sharpe; Frederick Symmes: Gary Trawick; Mae Tucker; and Mrs. Elizabeth Wilborn. They responded with enthusiasm to all of my pleas for assistance.

Hardly a state or municipal agency escaped my persistent search for facts, and many private business concerns fared little better. County agricultural agents, registrars of deeds, mayors, city and town clerks, as well as postmasters displayed admirable civic spirit in their attempts to furnish me with the information I sought. The office of the secretary of state, the State Highway Commission, the Department of Conservation and Development, and especially the staffs of the State Department of Archives and History and of the State Library were generous with the time they devoted in replying to my letters and telephone calls. Chambers of commerce throughout the state and the North Carolina League of Municipalities in Raleigh willingly supplied data and showed not the least sign of annoyance at my repeated requests for their services. To many members of the staff of the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill I am deeply indebted for information and advice, but especially to the director, John Sanders, and to Marion Benfield, a former staff member. At my request, they asked a team of researchers working through all of the Session Laws of North Carolina for another purpose to record also the date of incorporation of municipalities. This information, I feel, is a valuable part of the Gazetteer. Officials of the Carolina Power & Light Company, Duke Power Company, and the Virginia Electric and Power Company proved to be generous sources for geographical facts, as did officials of the railroads operating in the state. Attorneys and surveyors in many counties came forward with information they had gleaned from years of experience in working with local records. Editors of every newspaper in the state came to my aid. They published many “letters to the editor” in my desperate attempts to find persons with specific information.

At a critical stage in the preparation of The North Carolina Gazetteer, I sent the file of county entries to one or more knowledgeable persons in each county. To these people my debt is great. They added much new information and saved me from many errors. Those errors that remain, however, should in no wise be considered the fault of anyone but me. In all fairness, it must be pointed out that for various reasons based on editorial policy I could not always accept the advice offered me.

Without the help of the following North Carolinians, this work would be less complete and less accurate:

Alamance County	Howard White
Alexander County	Charles E. Echerd, Homer M. Keever, J. P. Lentz
Alleghany County	J. K. Doughton
Anson County	Mary Louise Medley
Ashe County	Colonel A. L. Fletcher, Mrs. Jesse A. Reeves
Avery County	Horton Cooper
Beaufort County	Mrs. Pauline Worthy
Bertie County	Dr. W. P. Jacock
Bladen County	Mrs. Carl C. Campbell
Brunswick County	Cornelius Thomas
Buncombe County	D. Hiden Ramsey, Colonel Paul A. Rockwell
Burke County	Dr. Edward W. Phifer
Cabarrus County	Eugenia Lore, Harold Nash
Caldwell County	James B. Dula, Allan L. Poe
Camden County	Jesse F. Pug
Carteret County	Tucker Littleton, F. C. Salisbury
Caswell County	H. G. Jones
Catawba County	Mrs. J. M. Ballard, Dr. J. E. Hodges
Chatham County	Wade Barber, John H. London, Lawrence F. London
Cherokee County	John C. Christie
Chowan County	Elizabeth Vann Moore
Clay County	Mrs. J. Walter Moore
Cleveland County	Mrs. O. Max Gardner
Columbus County	Jim High
Craven County	Rose B. Carraway, Elizabeth Moore
Cumberland County	Frank H. Jeter
Currituck County	Dudley W. Bagley
Dare County	David Stick
Davidson County	Wade H. Phillips, M. Jewell Sink
Davie County	Flossie Martin
Duplin County	Mrs. Fred D. Hamrick Jr., Mrs. Christine W. Williams
Durham County	A. B. Markham
Edgecombe County	Mabrey Bass Jr.
Forsyth County	Mary C. Wiley
Franklin County	Hamilton H. Hobgood, Phil R. Inscoe
Gaston County	Brice T. Dickson
Gates County	William T. Cross, Mrs. O. C. Turner
Graham County	W. M. Sherrill
Granville County	Claude A. Renn
Greene County	Charles R. Holloman
Guilford County	James G. W. MacLamroc
Halifax County	Mrs. Quentin Gregory
Harnett County	Malcolm Fowler
Haywood County	Hiram C. Wilburn
Henderson County	Mrs. Sadie S. Patton
Hertford County	Mrs. W. D. Boone
Hoke County	Mrs. Kate B. Covington, Admiral A. M. Patterson
Hyde County	Tommie Gaylord
Iredell County	Homer M. Keever, Mrs. W. B. Knox
Jackson County	J. R. Buchanan
Johnston County	Mrs. W. B. Beasley, T. J. Lassiter
Jones County	John D. Larkins Jr., Tucker Littleton
Lee County	Paul J. Barringer
Lenoir County	Charles R. Holloman
Lincoln County	Mrs. Joseph Graham
Macon County	Thomas A. Henson, Weimar Jones, Lake V. Shope
Madison County	Mrs. J. B. Tweed
Martin County	R. H. Goodmon
McDowell County	Ruth M. Greenlee
Mecklenburg County	Charles R. Brockmann
Mitchell County	Jason B. Deyton
Montgomery County	Colonel Jeffery F. Stanback
Moore County	R. E. Wicker
Nash County	L. S. Inscoe
New Hanover County	Louis T. Moore
Northampton County	Mrs. Nancy Froelich
Onslow County	Parsons Brown, Tucker Littleton
Orange County	L. J. Phipps
Pamlico County	Dallas Mallison
Pasquotank County	L. S. Blades Jr.
Pender County	Clifton L. Moore
Perquimans County	Mrs. J. Emmett Winslow
Person County	R. B. Griffin
Pitt County	D. L. Corbitt
Polk County	Alan T. Calhoun, Mrs. Sadie S. Patton
Randolph County	Cleveland Thayer
Richmond County	Isaac S. London
Robeson County	Penn Gray
Rockingham County	Mrs. Bettie Sue Gardner, Mrs. S. R. Prince
Rowan County	William D. Kizzah
Rutherford County	Mrs. Fred D. Hamrick Jr.
Sampson County	Mrs. Taft Bass
Scotland County	A. B. Gibson
Stanly County	Fred T. Morgan
Stokes County	Mrs. Grace T. Rodenbough, L. H. van Noppen
Surry County	J. S. Gentry
Swain County	Kelly E. Bennett
Transylvania County	O. H. Orr
Tyrrell County	Sara L. Taft
Union County	S. Glen Hawfield, W. S. Tarlton
Vance County	S. T. Peace
Wake County	Christopher Crittenden, Mrs. Mary J. Rogers, Mrs. Louis Woodward
Warren County	J. Edward Allen
Washington County	Mrs. Tom Grier, Mrs. L. E. Hassell
Watauga County	D. J. Whitener
Wayne County	Mrs. E. Charles Powell, Mrs. S. R. Prince
Wilkes County	Johnson J. Hayes, Allan L. Poe, T. E. Story
Wilson County	Hugh B. Johnston Jr.
Yadkin County	William Rutledge
Yancey County	H. Grady Bailey

For help with the tremendous task of alphabetizing some 20,000 cards, I am grateful to Mrs. Elizabeth Merritt; George Stevenson Jr.; Mrs. Pattie B. McIntyre; Mrs. Archibald Henderson; Miss Florence Blakely; Miss Mary L. Thornton; Mrs. Jane C. Bahnsen; my mother-in-law, Mrs. John B. Hill; my sons, John and Charles; and my wife, Virginia.

It is with a real sense of loss that I must say that a number of people with whom I have worked on The North Carolina Gazetteer have died. I miss their friendship, and their knowledge of local history is also a loss to the state and to their home communities.

Finally, it remains my pleasure to acknowledge sincere appreciation to the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation of Winston-Salem and to the University Research Council for generous grants to the University of North Carolina Press, which made possible the publication of this book.