Publications from The Murfreesboro Historical Association

Moreover, the separation of a young Murfreesboro daughter and her Union husband is paralleled with the tribulations experienced by a torn and separated nation during the years of war. Murfreesboro's population, both black and white, along with a thirst for high culture and progressive pursuits were all tragically wounded, either physically, economically, emotionally, and or spiritually as a result of the war. In this volume, Parramore brings to life the lasting effects of war upon the great, as well as the least, the rich as well as the poor, and the scholarly, as well as the illiterate. 

Murfreesboro and the Founding of the American Republic 1608-1703
by Thomas C. Parramore (2001)     $15.00 + postage  

Take a historical trip back to colonial Jamestown in 1608, time surrounding America's true foundational roots. Visit with expeditionary forces sent by the Jamestown Colony to the vicinity of Murfreesboro, NC. Learn

Of their association from approximately 1608-1650, while reading about the history of the Meherrin Indian tribe from 1680 to the 1770's, the settlement of William and Mary Murfree at Murfree's Landing (designated in the mid-1700's as a King's Landing), and Hertford County's role in making North Carolina independent of Britain.

In this book, Parramore deals with powerful relationships between people like William Murfree, the town's father and namesake. Murfree, instrumental in the development of orders for colonial representatives from the local area to vote for independence from Great Britain (known as the Halifax Resolves), was one of the first to call for a free American Republic. The author continues to highlight the war itself, and recounts how William Murfree's son, Hardee Murfree, founder of the town of Murfreesboro, led the attack on Stoney Point, NY, during the Revolution, helping to win that war.  

Murfreesboro, North Carolina and the Great Intracoastal Waterway 1786-1814
by Thomas C. Parramore (2002)     $15.00 + postage 

The idea that Murfreesboro, NC played a vital role in establishing the Intracoastal Waterway, a protected sea-lane now running from Maine to Texas is perhaps a little known fact. In this work, Parramore reveals those efforts on the part of many people of northeastern North Carolina, especially those of Murfreesboro were responsible for initial plans. Hardee Murfree, Murfreesboro's founding father proposed the project in the 1780's. The Murfree family continued support of the project, and around 1811, Hardee Murfree's son, William Hardee Murfree realized that the proposed canal project would need additional financial support from other coastal states, perhaps even the Federal Government.

The author describes efforts of Murfree and his son, Congressman William Hardee Murfree to introduce a bill before Congress for a canal that would eventually become destined to open new transportation opportunities free from the threat of submarines, destructive storms, and hazards of the Atlantic graveyard. This extremely interesting work is a study of their efforts. 

The Gatling Aeroplane of 1873: America's First Airplane
by Thomas C. Parramore (2003)      $7.00 + postage 

In this brief work, Parramore relates the fascinating story of the "Turkey Buzzard", the first known man-powered airplane built and flown in America. His account embraces the inventive spirit of men and machines in a time gone by, and portrays the sometimes intense rivalry between builder and pilot of this plane, James Henry Gatling, with his younger brother, Richard Jordan Gatling, inventor of the famed "Gatling Gun". Both brothers were residents of Hertford County, NC, near Murfreesboro.

Utilizing hand cranks to power fan-like blowers, Gatling's plane embodied features later implemented in the "Wright Flyer" of 1903, such as flexible wings, a movable stabilizer and a vertical rudder at the plane's tail end. On a brisk Sunday afternoon in the Fall of 1873, Gatling, sitting in the cockpit of his invention, with hands and arms furiously turning the cranks of his fan blowers, reportedly glided a little over 100 feet from a platform constructed approximately 12 feet above the ground. As he descended through the trees and bushes before settling in a rather rough and damaged fashion amid an open field, James Henry Gatling put North Carolina, as well as Murfreesboro on America's aviation map!

A History of The Riddick Plantation of Hertford County, North Carolina
by Franklin H. Harris, Jr.       $15.00 + postage 

Originally compiled from over two years of research as a Master's Thesis, this work captures the unique period of dramatic and social change in Hertford County's history. From the slow, less financially productive plantation society of the early 1800's, through a new and prosperous merchant society growing our of a need for new goods and services, better transportation, and a more stable financial footing, few visionaries were daring enough to shape the future of their surroundings.

The reader is allowed to travel through these changes with Abram Riddick of Hertford County, North Carolina, a plantation owner and true economic visionary and "Apostle of the South." This bustling plantation/township, known as Riddicksville helped boost the county of Hertford into the future, through a civil war, and through reconstruction years, before giving way to the changes brought about by effects of time. 

Murfreesboro, North Carolina: Cradle of Titans 1810-1824
by Thomas C. Parramore (2003)      $15.00 + postage 

Due to the creation and solid support of several female and male academies in the town, antebellum Murfreesboro enjoyed an enviable climate of culture and erudition that compared favorably to that of any town of its size in the United States. In a single generation, these schools produced the first two American ministers to Central America; a Congressman who served in both the Federal and Confederate legislatures as well as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court; a well-known Mexican War hero and professor and textbook author at West Point, a Confederate general, and other distinguished leaders. The sources of this phenomenon are traced in this volume.  

The Peanut Story
by F. Roy Johnson
Copyright 1962 Reprint 2003 $15.00 + postage 

This is the story of the peanut, a plant crop that during recent years has achieved world importance both as a valuable food and a source for high-grade oil. It also is the story of people who made significant contributions to the peanut’s advancement – from the early South American Indian who domesticated it to today’s scientist and technician who are improving it. 

Legends and Myths of North Carolina’s Roanoke Chowan Area
by F. Roy Johnson
Copyright 1962 Reprint 2004 $15.00 + postage 

The Murfreesboro Historical Association has brought forth this volume that first appeared in 1962, re-edited and new material added in 1966 and 1971. Mr. F. Roy Johnson, researcher/folklorist, wrote about times long past when he was living. He delved into people’s memories to obtain information, and he faithfully recorded what he heard in the language that was used in the telling. Had he done otherwise, his writing would have been inaccurate and meaningless. Time and language have changed since then, but the stories are reprinted just as Mr. Johnson wrote them.

The volume contains; Part I - Indian Tales, Part II - The Mysterious, Part III - The Marvelous, Part IV - The Supernatural, Part V - Folk Tales, and Part VI - Names and Their Origins. Sixteen illustrations are included. Roy Johnson believed that Social History is the people’s story, their problems and how they cope.

The Fabled Doctor Jim Jordan
by F. Roy Johnson
Copyright 1962 Reprint 2003 $15.00 + postage 

With just the right dose of mystique and intrigue, Johnson has provided us a wonderfully colorful account of one of Eastern North Carolina’s most interesting rural blacks of the early to mid 1900’s. From just before the turn-of-the-century and for the next 62 years, Dr. James Spurgeon Jordan’s life of conjure (aka “the practice”) is documented and explored. Within this work, Johnson has woven together many extraneous tales of early American conjuring, with Dr. Jim’s life of cultural anecdotes and 'conjurious' spiritual healing. Moreover, the author taps into Jordan’s many business ventures and lifelong investments in the rich and the poor, who traveled from as far north as New York; as far south as Georgia and Louisiana, and from as far west as Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.

Whether from far away, or from just down the road near ‘Jordan’s Corner’ country store in Hertford County, NC, people came to seek the wisdom and talents of this rare breed of man, who ingeniously played off the imagination and fear of people’s minds with trickery and illusion to instill a heavy dose of awe and respect for his mysterious power of manipulation. It could be said of Dr. Jim, that he cured many a husband’s wandering eye with the threat of vexation and curse, and for this, he pocketed a many a dollar. From warts to a case of the palsy, and from the pox to a plain ole stomachache, Dr. Jim’s concoctions of mysterious roots, minerals and animal parts usually did the trick. They came, they believed in him, and he became rich. So was the life of the conjurer. Some became richer than others, but perhaps no one richer in living life to its fullest, than Dr. Jim.

Murfreesboro, North Carolina
and the Roots of Nat Turner’s Revolt
by Thomas C. Parramore (2004) $15.00 + postage 

Perhaps in all of Dr. Parramore’s works, none has captured a more powerful and revealing look at early 19th century southern behavior. Men and women from both sides of the color spectrum often exhibited actions that were tawdry and explosive. While these actions were usually brought on by anxiety and frustration over agricultural and financial depression, they were accentuated, especially when mixed with the national dilemma of the South’s “peculiar institution.” Slavery will forever haunt America’s childhood, and Americans will probably never out-live its legacy, but can we learn from these youthful mistakes in the human endeavor?

In this work, the author has skillfully explored the deeper, grassroots beginnings of southern cultural attitudes and emotional outbursts that so often accompanied collectively riotous behavior between blacks and whites, as seen in Nat Turner’s revolt, not to mention the later collective parting of the South from the greater Union. Though small in size and population, Murfreesboro, located in Hertford County, North Carolina, played its part in sparking these anxious moments of our nation’s early years. Parramore’s collective portraits of men, both black and white, help illustrate the cultural attitudes of eastern Virginia and North Carolina, while revealing the conscious and sometimes unconscious actions that often spawned a spirit of revolution. Emotional turmoil among blacks and whites from the oppression of slavery, and the uneasy distrustful nature of southern whites over states rights and a lack of representation certainly provided the cultural tinder for burning. Tom Parramore has managed to reveal rural southeastern North Carolina’s part in gathering the wood for such a fire!

I Want That Recipe!
A Unique Collection of Favorite Recipes
from the Murfreesboro, North Carolina Historical Association
(2005)
$14.95 + postage

The Murfreesboro Historical Association has collected the best recipes from members, family, and friends and compiled them into an attractive keepsake cookbook.

The cookbook contains 200+ well-loved recipes including appetizers, main dishes, desserts, and many others.

The Tuscaroras: History, Traditions Culture
Vol. 1 and 2

by F. Roy Johnson
Copyright 1968 Reprint 2007 $15.00 each + postage 

If you have ever wandered through the woods of Eastern North Carolina or taken a boat ride down its rivers, wondering what secrets they hold, then you are like many of us, curious about what happened here.  So little remains from earlier times, yet every spring when farmers till the fields and there’s a rain, one can still find arrowheads, tomahawks, and pottery shards dating back hundreds of years—tantalizing reminders of an earlier civilization.

Fortunately, during the early sixties a Hertford County publisher, F. Roy Johnson, realized that Indian history and folklore would be lost with the passing of those who recalled them. Mr. Johnson sought out these individuals, recorded his interviews, and published the results in a series of twenty-three books that sold out almost immediately.

Realizing that these keepsakes would be informative and interesting to an entire new generation without access to them, Murfreesboro Historical Association approached Mrs. Johnson to ask permission for the Publications Committee to reprint her late husband’s work. Graciously, she agreed!  That was the beginning of a determined effort to rescue The Tuscaroras: History, Traditions, Culture from the obscure shelves of private collectors and make it available to those who want to unravel one of the mysteries of Eastern North Carolina's past.

About a hundred years before English explorers landed here, the Tuscaroras had migrated from Iroquoian territory in New York to North Carolina, attracted by the abundant game of our pine forests, fertile land for growing corn, and navigable rivers, full of fish.  Their villages, twenty-four of them housing a population of approximately 25,000 on the Neuse, Tar and Roanoke were fortified--for good reason!   Rival tribes from Tidewater, Cape Fear, the mountains and the swamps farther south raided villages, slaughtering inhabitants unprepared to defend themselves.  Tuscarora ferocity became legend.  English incursion complicated the uneasy stability of the region, and after what the Tuscaroras interpreted as sufficient provocation, triggered the massacre at Bath.  The Tuscarora War of 1711 broke out.  North Carolina settlers were powerless to stop it; Virginians wouldn’t.  A stalwart South Carolinian with his Yemassee warriors came to the rescue.

Indians who stuck enough wooden splinters into the sympathetic Englishman John Lawson to make him look like a porcupine, and then gradually lit them until he danced his way into eternity became our allies.  How?  Who persuaded them to go against other Indians to help defeat the French?  What made them forsake the economic advantages of lucrative fur trade with the British to side with the increasing numbers of settlers during the Revolution?  Obviously, the settlers were undermanned, short of supplies, and virtually penniless.  To understand the treacherous shifts of allegiance one needs to know what circumstances dictated them.  

Roy Johnson’s explanation of Indian folklore provides insight to a philosophy entirely different from our Anglo-Saxon orientation.  Indian culture embraced elements of mythology, superstition, and brutality--all reflective of their grueling struggle to survive.  How else does one allay fear? Twelve year-old youths were conditioned by a three-week long rite of passage during which they were drugged, beaten, and purged of familial ties. There was tacit acceptance of death. Their vulnerability lay elsewhere. They were unable to cope with the hindrances of government, laws inhibiting their conduct and restricting their freedom.

For this reason, government-appointed Indian agents were provided to oversee and protect their interests on the land assigned for their exclusive use.  Ownership of these extensive riverfront tracts eroded with the declining population.  Young braves balked at the lack of opportunity, preferring to join the larger tribal confederation of Iroquois in New York.  In 1804, tribal elders negotiated with the North Carolina legislature to sell their reservation lands and the able-bodied relocated to New York.  Eventually those who preferred to stay behind intermarried and were assimilated into other races.  When this book was first published in 1968, the census indicated a Tuscarora population of 656.

The reduced presence of Indians in Eastern North Carolina seems strange when, not so long ago, they were the dominant race.Tangible reminders of this lie just beneath the soil. Once again, there is an accurate source to provide insight to what these people were like, how they lived, and what happened to them.