Salem, NC.
January 24, 1889
CORRESPONDENCE----Kernersville Letter—
Messrs. Editors:-- The other day I received a letter postmarked Hope, Indiana, and on opening it found it was from Mr. THOMAS E.HOLLAND in reference to a communication
written by me 27th August last, and sent to the Press regarding “Old Pleasant Hill Sunday School” where he was a scholar.
When I was a boy the upper end of Salem was where the late JOHN P. VEST lived, and the woods began where MEINUNG’S carriage shop stands. And one Spring, at March
court at Germanton, it was ordered that the road from Salem to that place should be measured by the overseers; my father was the overseer from Salem to the Double
Branches; I carried one end of the chain and Mr. ABRAHAM STEINER the other; three quarters of a mile from the starting point the road forked, the right hand leading to
Germanton, the left hand to Old Town, and two miles from Salem on this Old Town road lived Mr. THOMAS HOLLAND, the father of the writer of this letter, and there he was born.
My father, Mr. ZEVELY and Mr. HOLLAND made up the neighborhood and the borrowing and lending was between us; and one day my step-mother sent me to Mr. Holland on
some errand, I don’t recollect what, and on stating said, “You may stay there awhile and play with the children.” This was something new, for it was generally “hurry back, don’t
stay long,” etc. When I got there I found nearly all the children in beds down with the measles. I delivered my message and left. When I came home they said, “Why did you
come back so soon?” Because there was no one to play with, all were sick with the measles, was my answer. And they laughed, or I was sent on purpose to get them, and sure
enough in nine days, I had plenty; and all the children took them from me.
Sometime ago I spent a night in Winston in the family of my friend, Mr. C.A. HALL, and the next morning he proposed to take me over the railroad survey on the Mocksville road. I
used to think I knew all about that country, but I found myself completely at sea. There was the ABRAHAM HOUSER, GOTTLIEB SPACH, CHRISTIAN LINEBACK and JOSEPH
HOLDER places, through which my friend, Mr. Holland used to range when a boy, and no doubt caught many a rabbit, and his father and mine killed many a turkey for they were
both “mighty hunters”. Now it is all changed, so I could not identify anywhere. All the land is owned, I think, by some of the FRIES family, and could not be bought for one
hundred dollars an acre.
But here is what Mr. Holland writes:
“Mr. C.L.R:--In the People’s Press of August 27th, I found a letter written by you which interested me very much, and though 52 years have passed, it made me wish I could have
been with you when you paid that visit to where old Pleasant Hill school house used to stand, for it was there too I went to Sunday School, and I still have in my possession a
Sunday School hymn book and some three small books that I received there as rewards. I prize them very much and would not part with them for any consideration. In your letter
you mentioned my father’s name and two of my uncles, TIMOTHY and BENJAMIN HOLLAND. Of my father, THOMAS HOLLAND’S children, five are still living, 3 boys and 2 girls,
the oldest 75 and the youngest 59 years old. My father died on the 17th of June 1869, a member of the Moravian Church, and left a good testimony that he was going to Jesus.
BENJAMIN HOLLAND’S family are all gone but two, and are in this state.
I shall never forget the time when JACOB BRUNER shot himself in my father’s house; Sister ELLEN and I were beating carpet in front of the door, and he got on a chair to take
the gun off the rack when the chair tilted and it seems I can still hear him say as he fell, “O, I am shot.” Some of these HOLDERS are around Hope (Ind.) one 84 years and quite
spry yet.
I remember old father VAN N. ZEVELY, our Superintendent. He was a good man and I have no doubt the seed sown by him is bringing abundant fruit. I distinctly remember
BISHOP BECKLER coming from Salem on Sunday afternoons to preach for us, and then there was Mr. JOHN VOGLER, Rev. JACOB MILLER and Rev. JOHN ALSPAUGH, and it
seems he is the only one still living, and I wish I could see him one time more, and hear him preach if he still preaches. He used to preach at a Methodist church near my father’s
house, called Jerusalem, located on the Old Town road about two miles from Salem.
In 1836 my father left North Carolina and came here. Hope was a small place then, now there is a large Moravian church and parsonage, both brick, they also have a flourishing
Sunday School. Fifty two years ago the first person was buried in the Hope grave yard and there are nearly one thousand graves there now.
Please excuse my forwardness in writing to you. We are strangers here, but I hope to meet you in a better land.<P>
THOMAS E. HOLLAND
C.L.R.
Kernersville, NC Jan 21st , 1889
MARRIED: At Shore, Yadkin county, on the 9th inst. HENRY F. SHORE to Miss JENNIE POINDEXTER
In Davidson County, J. T. LENNING to Miss LAURY HUFFMAN
In Davie County, A. C. HANSARD of Tennessee, to Miss EMILY SMOOTS.
DIED: In Broadbay Township, on the 20th inst., of typhoid fever, GEORGE W. SNIDER, son of A. J. SNIDER, aged 36 years and 8 months. Mr. Snider was a young man, well
known and respected, and his death is a serious loss, not only to his family, but to the community at large. His bereaved family and his aged father have the sympathy of a large
circle of friends.
In this place, HASTEN LEWIS, aged 78 years
At Franklinville, Randolph County, on Sunday, MRS. LUCY MAKEPEACE, relict of the late GEORGE MAKEPEACE.
In Stokes County, WM. WATTS at age 72years
In Davie County, JOSEPH DEADMAN, aged 17years.