Herewith a letter from our old friend Monty (for Montgomery which was his mother’s name before marriage) Payne, who poses several questions which might be answered, at least in part, by means of some publicity, we quote:–
“Are there any old fashioned bench whittlers left around Washington County, one that can whittle out a butter paddle from red cedar, a woolen dipper or a wooden noggin cup? If there are any left to your knowledge, give me their names and addresses. I want to get in touch with them.
I would also like to find out from you some Washington County history.
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When is the earliest recorded history of the first permanent white settlement in what is now Washington County? And who were the first settlers?
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Can you name the five or ten oldest homes in Washington County?
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What is the oldest farm still in the same family ownership?
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The date of the first settlement of what was ‘Old Greenville’ and the date of its destruction and cause?
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The date of the first settlement in what is now Greenville?
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Are there any recorded instances of Audubon having stopped over in Washington County to tutor anyone?
Maybe if you don’t have the answers, you might find them through your column, and record them for posterity.
Sometime, off the record, when you have nothing better to do, I want you to drive out and spend the afternoon with me. If your fair lady is not in Washington, D.C., New York or Los Angeles or Paris, bring her out with you.
Happy New Year to both of you.
Sincerely,
Monty” end quote.
Thanks Monty, and here’s back at you and Ivy with our best wishes for 1966. May the cotton, corn, oats, cattle and pecans all prosper on Loughborough Plantation, and anything else you lay your hand to.
Squire Herbert Eustis is an excellent wood carver, having fashioned everything from model animals to model sailingships in his day. Dave Dickaway is good too, but he just may have employed power tools when he made our butter-paddle.
As for the history questions, reach for the Ireys Stone bound volume of the Papers of the Washington County Historical Association, and you will find some of the answers in same.
We have been told that Junius Ward, an ancestor of the Erwin family, was the first settler in what is now Washington County. He acquired his holdings on Lake Washington via a so-called “tomahawk deed” from a highwayman named Bunch. The date may have been in the late eighteen twenties.
It is also our understanding that the oldest house in what is now Greenville was the Wynn home, just back of the old Elks Club building at the corner of Washington & Hinds, a house built originally by the Blanton-Theobald family, and added to during the years that followed by this, that and the other occupant.
As for “Old Greenville,” some several miles south of Greenville today, it was said to have been shelled by Yankee boats, set afire by Yankee raiding parties, and finally caved into the river as the latter made adjustments in its bed.
We can think of three oldtimers at Bessie J. Taylor Home who might help you with information handed down to them by older timers in the days of their youth, Mrs. Lena Caffal Ring, Miss Ellen Currell and Mrs. Mary Bailey Ireys Stone.
As for the oldest farm under continuous family ownership, we should say this would be a toss-up between Loughborough (which your letterhead says was established in 1837), and Newstead (the Metcalfe family), and the aforementioned Witty Erwin property on Lake Washington. This, however, is just a guess and not stated as a fact. As for records of plantation operations in the old days, Abie Worthington can probably help you there, and his farm might date back to the land office times too.
Okay, historians, front and center, march
