A Thumbnail Sketch of the Early History of the Town of Kernersville, North Carolina and its Environs
by Jerry L. Taylor and Michael L. Marshall
present-day Forsyth County. These nomadic hunters followed the herds of wild animals that wandered through the area. Some of the earliest evidence of human The
human history of the area where the town of Kernersville is located today begins with its aboriginal inhabitants. At that time, so called Paleo Indians roamed habitation
in the County can be found at a rock shelter on a bend of the Yadkin River, about thirteen miles northwest of present-day Winston-Salem. It was likely used as a
temporary camp for the bands of Indians who first appeared in the area. Radiocarbon analyses of charcoal specimens from the site suggest it was occupied as far
back as 6,600 B.C., and continued to be used for seasonal shelter over the next 5,000 years.
By about 1670, the Saponi and Tutelo tribes dominated the Forsyth area. They were members of the Siouan tribes of the east. However, this location put their
villages directly in the path of the Iroquois war trail toward the Catawba, and they came under frequent assault from these tribes. As a result, some time between 1670
and 1700, they abandoned their villages in present-day Forsyth and removed to the junction of the Staunton and Dan Rivers in Virginia. Consequently, by the time
the first white settlers came to Forsyth about 1750, few Indians remained in the area although roving bands of Cherokee from the western part of the state continued
to pass through until the time of the American Revolution.
About 1750, the first settlers began trickling into the area, putting down roots along the branches of Belew’s Creek, Abbott’s Creek, Muddy Creek, Deep River and
Haw River. Most were English Quakers, Scots-Irish, and Germans from the colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware. Most came down the Great
Wagon Road through the Valley of Virginia.
The area east of Kernersville was largely populated by Quakers who began to arrive in what is now Guilford County in the early 1750s. Their primary settlements
were at New Garden, now Guilford College, and Deep River. By 1771, they had established a meeting at Muddy Creek, which later became Union Monthly Meeting.
The site was located within the present city limits of Kernersville. The Beason/Beeson, Henley and Stockton families were among the early settlers. The area to the
north of town was also settled at a very early date. Thomas Linville from Pennsylvania was one of the earliest of those who established themselves on the branches
of Belew’s Creek. Other early settlers here included the Walker, Fulp, and Dobson families. Scots-Irish and Germans also settled south of Kernersville, along the
branches of Abbotts Creek. They included such families as Idol, Stafford, Hasten (Hastings), Teague, and Bodenhamer. The Wachovia Tract lay west of the town and
was largely populated by German Moravians from Pennsylvania. Its principal settlements were Bethabara, Bethania and Salem. Later Moravian settlements in Forsyth
included Friedberg, Hope, and Friedland.
The site where Kernersville is located today was already a strategic cross road by 1770 and is depicted on John Collet’s A Compleat Map of North Carolina from an
actual survey drawn in that year. Collet was a British artist and cartographer. Because of its important location, the Cross Roads provided a convenient assembly
point for those located in the area, and was used for this purpose several times during the Revolutionary War as evidenced by statements of several local men who
served in that conflict. For example, a John Fields stated in an affidavit taken in support of his application for a pension for service in that war that in August 1776 his
regiment of the Surry County militia rendezvoused at the Cross Roads.
While a growing number of settlers lived on the scattered farms and plantations around the Cross Roads, the first man to actually acquire land there was David
Morrow, a Scots-Irish Presbyterian who originally came to North Carolina from southeastern Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. Morrow and his wife Martha, whose
maiden name was Brashears, settled first in Guilford County along the branches of Buffalo Creek. However, in August 1778 he entered a claim for a 400 acre tract
that is now the heart of Kernersville, where present-day Main and Mountain Streets intersect. However, it was not until November 1784 that he received a state of
North Carolina grant for this land.
Land records show that Morrow and his wife were still residing on this tract when they sold it in February 1788 to William Dobson, a former Surry County militia
captain and well-known justice of the peace. By September 1788, only a few months after he purchased the Cross Roads from Morrow, Dobson was operating a
tavern at the Cross Roads suggesting the possibility he may have taken over the operation from Morrow. President George Washington breakfasted at Dobson’s on
the morning of June 2, 1791 while on his tour of the southern states. Another traveler passing through the area the same year described the country in the vicinity of
the future town of Kernersville as “woody, now and then with an opening, with a plantation of good-looking wheat, and sometimes from the summits of the hills, over
which the road passes, is seen a great extent of woody country rising in waves one above the other, with a little clearing here and there.”
Although the area was growing, living conditions for most of its inhabitants during the latter years of the 18th and early 19th century were still rudimentary as they
were across most of the Carolina Back Country. For lack of building materials and skilled craftsmen such as brick and stone masons and joiners, most of those who
resided on the farms and plantations in the Kernersville area lived in houses constructed of logs. Most were one story in height and often followed a two room plan
with the exterior door typically opening into the larger room which usually doubled as a living area and kitchen. Stone foundations, board and batten doors, and a
whitewashed interior finish were other features often found in such homes. While some of these simple structures were constructed of exposed logs, others sported a
log exterior sheathed in weatherboards which gave them a more refined appearance.
By 1803, William Dobson had acquired six tracts of land that comprise much of present-day Kernersville, in all over 1,000 acres. All six were originally State of North
Carolina land grants. They included two to David Morrow (both in 1784); three to William Dobson (two in 1794, one in 1803); and one to Caleb Story (1797). Story
sold his Cross Roads grant to Dobson in 1801. In 1806, William Dobson and his son William Polk Dobson sold all six tracts to Gottlieb Shober, a Moravian living in
Salem, who then transferred them to his son, Nathaniel Shober. Nathaniel continued to reside in Salem until 1811, when he and his wife Rebecca Hanes moved to the
Cross Roads to take over the operation of the store, tavern and post office that were there. In November 1817, because of declining health, Nathaniel Shober sold
the six tracts comprising some 1,032 acres to Joseph Kerner and moved back to Salem where he died in June of 1818.
Following his purchase from Shober, Joseph Kerner and his family moved from the Moravian settlement at Friedland, and took up residence at the Cross Roads
where he continued to reside until his death in June 1830. His will divided his property among his three children: John Frederick, Phillip and daughter Salome. Phillip
acquired the Cross Roads containing the tavern, store and post office which he operated until 1848 when he sold it to William P. Henley.
The period between 1850 and 1860 witnessed the transition of the town from sleepy hamlet, with little commercial enterprise, to a growing village centered at the
Cross Roads. One of the first mechanics to arrive was Haley Davis who began operating a saddle shop at the Cross Roads in about 1846. An ad published in the
Greensboro Patriot newspaper in April 1853 announced that William P. Lindsay wished to inform the public that “he is carrying on the Carriage Business in its various
branches at Kernersville, Forsyth County, where he will be pleased to receive calls from his old friends and the public generally.” In 1857, a company was formed to
erect and operate a school in the village. John F. Kerner donated land adjacent to his residence for this purpose, and a large brick structure was erected there. This
private school was established in November 1858, and was called the Kernersville High School. A law enacted and ratified by the North Carolina General Assembly on
July 7, 1863 formally incorporated this school as a joint stock company. The town also had its amusements during this period, one of which included a visit by the
Great Western Circus on the 5th of July 1850, an event chronicled in the June 29, 1850 edition of the Greensboro Patriot.
As it did throughout the South, the American Civil War had a significant impact on the town and on the families of Kernersville and the surrounding area. Most local
men rushed to join the Confederate Army soon after hostilities were declared. Many joined the 11th Infantry Regiment Volunteers which had been organized at
Danville, Virginia on June 18, 1861. A few months later, on November 14, 1861, this regiment was redesignated as the 21st North Carolina Infantry. It drew its recruits
from Davidson, Surry, Forsyth, Stokes, Rockingham, and Guilford Counties. Many local boys enlisted in Company E of the 21st known as the Forsyth Grays. It was
raised in Forsyth County and enlisted at Salem on May 24, 1861. On April 26, 1862, the 1st North Carolina Sharpshooters Battalion was formed from Companies B
and E of the 21st with Company B becoming Company A of the Sharpshooters Battalion and the Forsyth Grays becoming Company B. Men of both the 21st Infantry
and the 1st Sharpshooters Battalion fought at many of the pivotal battles of the war. Examples include 1st Winchester (May 25, 1862), Seven Days Battle (June 25-
July 1, 1862), 2nd Bull Run (August 28-30, 1862), Antietam (September 17, 1862), Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862), Chancellorsville (May 1-4, 1863),
Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863), Petersburg Siege (June 1864-April 1865), and Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865) to name only a few.
Other local men who were too old, too infirm or too young to be conscripted into regular units of the Confederate Army were mustered into various home guard units
such as the local militia and junior and senior reserves. The initial conscription act had made service compulsory for most of those 18-35 years of age. However, as
the war progressed and manpower shortages grew, men between the ages of 18 and 45 were conscripted in regular units, while those 16-17 and 46-55 were still
subject to service in the militia and reserves. Throughout the conflict, questions arose over exemptions from military service. This confusion is illustrated by a letter of
September 5, 1864 in which the Confederate Adjutant General wrote to Augustine H. S. Beard of Kernersville: “Received your communications. I return your
certificates. Gen[eral] Orders No. 3 dated 11 Sep 63 ordered an examination of all discharges prior to 1 Sep 63. You did not appear before the board & thus your
certificate is worthless.” Beard, a prominent Kernersville citizen was born March 9, 1829 and died April 15, 1905. He married Susan L. Fields.
Some local men were killed or wounded during the War and others died of sickness in the camps. Most, however, survived and returned to their homes where they
faced the daunting task of rebuilding their lives and making a living for themselves and their families. Some such as Newell Wesley Sapp, Isaac Harrison McKaughan,
and Cyrus Barksdale Watson became successful farmers, businessmen, professional men and civic leaders in the post-war period. Indeed, Watson was the
Democratic nominee for Governor of North Carolina in 1895 and also ran for the U. S. Senate.
Not surprisingly, the War interrupted the town’s growth, but by 1866 it had resumed, with tobacco becoming a major commercial enterprise, primarily the production of
plug and chewing tobacco. By 1870, Kernersville had about 100 inhabitants and several businesses. On March 31, 1871 the town was formally incorporated by an
act of the North Carolina General Assembly which established the corporate limits of the town as “all that portion of the said town within a radius of three-quarters of a
mile from Kernersville High School.“
In 1873, the Northwest North Carolina Railroad reached Kernersville and provided a major economic boost to the town’s growth, and by 1878 its population had
increased to some 600 inhabitants. At that time, it had three tobacco factories (W. H. Leak, John L. King and R. B. Kerner) and five general stores doing a mercantile
business (Beard & Roberts, Kerner & Co., A. H. S. Beard, Guyer & Pegram and N. W. Sapp). It also had other commercial enterprises including a tannery, buggy and
carriage works, blacksmith and saddle shops, a tinner, pump maker, shoe maker, and cabinet work and undertaker. There were also masons, painters, carpenters
and other mechanics. The town had several doctors, Andrew D. Lindsay, Benjamin J. Sapp and Elias Kerner, and four resident ministers. The latter included Rev.
Moses J. Hunt, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Elder Levi Bodenhamer, of the Primitive Baptist who was also a medical doctor, Rev. Prof. S. R. Trawick, Methodist
Episcopal, and Prof. of the District Conference School, and Rev. C. L. Rights, Pastor of the Kernersville Moravian Church, known locally as “Uncle Rights.”
By the late 1870s, the town had other schools besides the High School which was also called the Kernersville Academy. They included Ray’s Normal School for the
education of prospective teachers, operated by Prof. John S. Ray, and the Greensboro District Conference School, a Methodist school operated by the Rev. S. R.
Trawick. April 1881 saw the founding of the first newspaper to be printed in the town. It was established by T. A. Lyon and H. C. Edwards, and aptly dubbed The
Kernersville News. In 1882, James Hubert Lindsay, son of Professor Silas Condit Lindsay, a well known educator in North Carolina and Virginia, took over the paper,
which he later renamed the News and Farm. Lindsay also published the Thomasville Gazette and the Summerfield Gleaner during his tenure in Kernersville.
The town continued to thrive and by 1888 its population had grown to more than 900. An old article from the News and Farm claimed that of these, some 500 were
direct descendants of Joseph Kerner. The town also had its own musical group, The Dixie Cornet Band, a literary magazine called the Southern Home, and a baseball
team that played other teams such as the Live Oaks of Oak Ridge. It also boasted of other literary and social outlets such as picnics at Harmon’s mill. One chronicler,
who attended the Kernersville Academy in the early 1870s, described an Easter Monday picnic where “the day was spent in fishing, croquet, talking, walking, rowing
and eating.” He also recalled that on the evening of the same day at the School “we had the loveliest party, and humorous speeches from several of the whole-
hearted men of the place.”
Tobacco manufacturing, which helped revive the town following the Civil War, remained a major enterprise throughout 1880s, but began to wane during the 1890s as
result of competition from such big tobacco manufacturers as R. J. Reynolds in Winston (now Winston-Salem) and the Duke family business in Durham, North
Carolina.
Beginning around 1900, the textile industry began to dominate Kernersville’s industrial base. The Davis-Crews Knitting Mill was one of the first to locate in the town. It
began operating sometime before December 1901 on Bodenhamer Street. Another early mill was the Victor Knitting Mill. American Hosiery Mill was established and
operated by the Kerner brothers in a building on Beard Street which is today part of the Highland Industries plant operation. Other early textile mills included the
Greenfield Mills and Lowery Mills. Another early mill in the town was the Kernersville Knitting Mill also located on Bodenhamer Street. It was incorporated April 19,
1918 with 13 stockholders. Mr. J. H. Adams was elected first president and Mr. J. E. Millis was the first treasurer. Mr. James J. Griffith was in charge of plant
operations. Initially, it occupied a small frame structure on the corner of Bodenhamer and Burke Streets that had been purchased from E. Grant Davis. This building
had been used as the Davis-Crews knitting mill prior to and during World War I. In 1928, the Kernersville Knitting Mill was merged with several other mills in High
Point, North Carolina and elsewhere to form the Adams-Millis Corporation which remained a major employer in Kernersville until it was bought by Sara-Lee
Corporation in 1988. The Vance Knitting Mill was in operation by 1924 in the brick building on North Main Street later occupied by Hooker Furniture Company. By the
late 1930s, Southern Silk Mill had a plant in Kernersville, and early in 1940 Herman Crawford and Sam Vance established the Vance & Crawford Mill. In 1945, Clay V.
Ring took over Crawford’s interest and the mill was renamed Vance & Ring Hosiery Mill. After this mill ceased operations, Randolph and Herman E. Crawford Sr.
purchased the equipment and building in September 1958 and began operating under the name Randolph Knitting Mill. Somewhat later, in 1962, Sam Vance Hosiery,
Inc. was chartered and took over the space in the Shore Building on South Main Street formerly occupied by Randolph Mill. This brick building was used before that
as a rug manufacturing plant. Another large hosiery mill that operated in Kernersville during the latter part of the 20th century was part of the Burlington Industries
conglomerate which by the late 1950s had become the world’s largest textile manufacturer. The Kernersville plant dates back to April 1949. It was originally located
on Main Street until 1962, when it moved to a location adjacent to the present exit of Business I. 40 and Highway 66. The plant in Kernersville produced men’s Gold
Cup brand dress socks.
Other industrial enterprises in Kernersville in the early 1900s included a woolen mill on South Main Street, furniture manufacturing and the production of mattresses.
The Kernersville Furniture Manufacturing Company was organized in 1901 “for the purpose of manufacturing medium-priced bed room furniture and odd dressers.”
The Ring Furniture Company was organized in 1910 by the stockholders of the former company in order to expand the line of furniture manufactured. Both of these
furniture plants were located where the Kernersville Lumber Company later stood. The Star Mattress Company operated by the Culler family was in operation on
West Mountain Street by 1924.
Textiles remained the principal economic engine of the town until the 1970s when off shoring undercut that industry throughout North Carolina.
Today manufacturing accounts for only a third of the town’s economic activity, a shift that has also spurred growth in its population which increased by 95 percent
between 1990 and 2005. With some 22,000 inhabitants today, Kernersville now bears little resemblance to the working-class community so familiar to many who grew
up there.
EARLY HISTORY OF KERNERSVILLE
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