Scrapbook By Sharon

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

In Honor Of Veteran's Day

Digital scrapbook pages I made of some of Stan’s family lines World War I veterans. This is nowhere near all of them, but I wanted to do some for Veteran’s Day.

Earnest Marion “Huck” Harris, World War I

Genealogy - Henry Grady Harris

In anticipation of Veteran’s Day this year I was looking up some in family lines who served during World War I. November 11 is always Veteran’s Day because it was on the 11th hour that the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 bringing the end to the first World War. I was doing some digital scrapbook pages along those lines, especially using the poem by John MacRae.

In Flanders Fields
By John Macrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Poppies have been a symbol of remembrance for the Day of Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, or Veteran’s Day as it is now known.

Fields of poppies (Papaver rhoeas) in France were churned up during World War I but occasionally poppies would manage to bloom in the midst of the blood and mud on the Western Front. Poppies became a symbol of remembrance of World War I and is linked to Armistice Day (November 11), now called Remembrance Day. Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) adopted the poppy as its official memorial flower in 1922. A shortage of poppies from French manufacturers led to the idea of using unemployed and disabled veterans to produce the artificial flowers. In 1924, a poppy factory was built in Pittsburgh, Pa., providing a reliable source of poppies and a practical means of assistance to veterans.

American humanitarian Moina Michael, a native of Georgia, wrote, “And now the Torch and Poppy Red, we wear in honor of our dead…”

Henry Grady Harris is not in Stan’s direct line. I believe their common ancestor was Samuel G. Harris and Tryphena Harris. But he and his family have proven to be difficult to follow and I can’t be sure.

But his story must be told, lest we forget.

Henry Grady Harris was born 1/5/1899 or 1900 in Union County, SC to Benjamin Franklin Harris and Euphemia McGee.

1900 U.S. Census of Pinckney, Union County, SC, Pg 26; Enumeration District 0072; FHL microfilm 1241544, Lines 37-44
Benjamin Harris, Head, W(hite), M(ale), Born May, 1868, 32 yrs old, Married 13 yrs (1887), Born in SC, Both parents born in SC, Farmer, Can read and write, Rents Farm
Eugenia Harris (sic), Wife, W, F, Born Mar, 1874, 26 yrs old, Married 13 yrs, 7 children with 5 still living, Born in SC, Both parents born in SC, Can read and write
Herbert C. Harris, Son, W, M, Born Mar, 1890, 10 yrs old, Born in SC, Both parents born in SC
John D. Harris, Son, W, M, born Jan, 1893, 7 yrs old, Born in SC, Both parents born in SC
James E. Harris, Son, W, M, Born Dec, 1895, 4 yrs old, Born in SC, Both parents born in SC
Bishop Harris, Son, W, M, Born Sept, 1898, 1 yrs old, Born in SC, Both parents born in SC
Henry G. Harris, Son, W, M, Born Jan, 1900, 4/12 mos old, Born in SC, Both parents born in SC

1910 U.S. Census of Union, Union, South Carolina; Roll: T624_1474; Page: 32B; Enumeration District: 0122; FHL microfilm: 1375487, Line 86

Grady Harris, Nephew, M(ale), W(hite), 10 yrs old, Born in NC, Both parents born in NC (sic), Farm Laborer

You will notice he died 10/8/1918. So I looked up his Division and Regiment to see if I could find out what happened. Remember, WWI ended with the signing of the Armistice on 11/11/1918. On his FindAGrave.com entry it says he died clearing German machine gun nests in France.

Doing a Google search, this is what I found out.

The 30th Infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard in World War I and World War II. It was nicknamed the “Old Hickory” division, in honor of President Andrew Jackson. The Germans nicknamed this division “Roosevelt’s SS”. The division was originally activated as the 9th Division (drawing units from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee) under a 1917 force plan, but changed designation to the 30th Division after the American entry into World War I in April 1917. It was formally activated under its new title in October 1917, as an Army National Guard division from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee.

King George V and Major General Edward Mann Lewis inspecting troops of the 30th Infantry Division, 6 August 1918.

In May 1918 the division was sent to Europe and arrived in England, where it departed for the Western Front soon after.

It was attached to the Second Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The major operations the 30th Division took part in were the Ypres-Lys, and the Somme offensive, in which it was one of the two American divisions that assisted the Australian Corps to break the Hindenburg Line in the Battle of St. Quentin Canal. The division had, in three months, from July until October 1918, sustained 1,237 officers and men killed in action (KIA), with a further 7,178 wounded in action (WIA) or missing in action (MIA). (Source: Wikipedia)

The 117th Infantry Regiment was a unit of the 30th Infantry Division and was known as the “Break Through Regiment.” Orders were received on May 2, 1918, to entrain for duty overseas, and on the night of May 10, 1918, the 117th Infantry went on board transports at New York. The First and Second Battalions with 20 officers and 1922 enlisted men climbed up the gangplank and onto the HMS Northumberland, and the Third Battalion consisting of 27 officers and 949 enlisted men went aboard the HMS Anselm. There were nine troopships that sailed on the morning of the 11th of May. The 1,942 men of the 117th Infantry were the only men on board the Northumberland that trip so there must not have been much space for troops as being that she was a cargo ship accommodations on board were crude as the men were likely bunked out in the holds of the ship. Some ten days later, after an attack by submarines off the Irish Coast, in which the convoy escaped without loss, the HMS Northumberland docked at Liverpool, England, where special trains carried the 117th Infantry straight through London to Folkestone. The 117th proceeded from Calais to Norbecourt, where, under British officers and non-commissioned officers, the officers and men of the regiment were trained strenuously for five weeks. About July 1 the Thirtieth Division was ordered to move into Belgium. The 59th Brigade, which crossed the border on July 4, was the first unit of American forces to enter the war-torn little country, which bore the first assault of the German attack in the world war.

“The 117th was assigned to Tunneling Camp, where it was given its final training in trench warfare and in attacking strong points. The 117th Infantry was purely on the defensive while they were in Belgium. The Germans knew the location of every trench, and their artillery played upon them day and night. Night bombers also made this a very uncomfortable sector, for they dropped tons of explosives both upon the front and at the rear. There was little concealment on either side, because this part of Belgium was very flat. Artificial camouflage provided what little deception was practiced upon the enemy. The casualties of the 117th in the two months in which it was stationed in the Canal Sector were not heavy. Only a few men were killed, and the number of wounded was less than 100.

“On September 1, 1918 trucks and busses were provided and the 117th Infantry moved through Albert, Bray, and Peronne to near Tincourt, just back of the celebrated Hindenburg Line. The 59th Brigade went into the line first, relieving the Australians on the night of September 26. The 118th Infantry took over the front line, with the 117th Infantry in close support. The casualties of the latter were rather heavy from gas shells in making the relief, one company losing 62 men to the hospital.

“The attack upon this part of the line was set for the morning of September 29, 1918. The 27th American Division was on the left, the 46th British on the right of the 30th American Division. The assault of the infantry upon the fortifications of the Hindenburg Line was to be preceded by a bombardment of 72 hours — with gas shells for 24 hours and with shell and shrapnel from light and heavy artillery for 48 hours.

“In the Thirtieth Division sector, the 119th and 120th Infantry were assigned to make the opening attack, with the 117th Infantry following in close support, and prepared to exploit their advance after the canal had been crossed. The 118th Infantry was held in reserve. The 119th Infantry had the left half of the sector, while the 120th, strengthened by Company H, of the 117th, covered the right half.

“The plan of battle was that the 117th, following the 120th, should cross the canal between Bellicourt on the left and the entrance to the canal on the right, then turn at right angles, and proceed southeasterly down the main Hindenburg Line trench, mopping up this territory of the enemy for about a mile. Connection was to be made with the British on the right, if they succeeded in crossing the canal. The facts of the case are that this paper plan of battle worked out somewhat differently under battle conditions. Most of the assaulting companies became badly confused in the deep fog and smoke, strayed off somewhat from their objectives, and their attack swung to the left of the sector. The 117th, which followed, went off in the opposite direction fortunately and cleaned out a territory which otherwise would have been left undisturbed. While it caused endless confusion and the temporary intermingling of platoons, companies, and even regiments, this pall of mist and smoke on the morning of the attack undoubtedly contributed to the success of the battle. The Germans did not know how to shoot accurately, for no targets were visible. During the morning hours it was impossible for a man to see his hand more than a few inches in front of him. Men in the combat groups joined hands to avoid being lost from each other. Officers were compelled, in orienting their maps, to lay them on the ground, as it was impossible to read them while standing in the dense cloud of smoke and mist. The atmosphere did not clear up completely until after the canal had been crossed.

“The barrage for the attack went down at 5:50 a.m. The First Battalion, under Major Dyer, jumped off promptly on time, with C Company under command of Captain Blair and D Company in the line, A and B Companies in support. The Second Battalion followed at about 500 yards, while the Third Battalion, with a company of engineers, was held in reserve on the crest of a hill. The tanks, for the most part, became separated from the infantry, but their work was invaluable in plowing through the barbed wire, which had been cut up very little by the barrage. Like nearly everyone else, the tanks lost sense of direction in the smoke and fog cloud, while the majority of them were disabled before noon of the 29th.

“Most of the morning was consumed by the 117th in clearing out the area south and west of the tunnel entrance. Some units, mistaking one of the trench systems for the canal, turned southward before actually reaching the genuine canal. They cleaned out thoroughly the Germans, who were in this pocket, but toward 10 o’clock turned northward and began to pass over the tunnel, the left flank skimming Bellicourt and the right crossing near the tunnel entrance. It then turned southward and mopped up the area assigned it.

“The First and Second Battalions reached their objectives after vigorous fighting, consolidated the positions they had won, and reorganized their companies, which had been badly scattered and mixed by the morning fog.

“The casualties of the 117th on September 29 were 26 officers and 366 men. Seven field pieces, 99 machine guns, 7 anti-tank rifles, many small arms and 592 German prisoners were the trophies of the day. Though the casualties were rather heavy, in view of the machine gun and artillery resistance, which the Germans offered from powerfully held positions; they should be regarded as rather light. With a clear day, without fog or smoke, they would have been double or treble this number.

“The 59th Brigade next offensive was launched the following morning, October 8, with the 117th on the left, the 118th on the right and the British were on their flanks. The jumping off line was northeast of Wiancourt, while the objective was slightly beyond Premont. The First Battalion of the 117th launched the attack for the regiment, and the Second Battalion was in close support, while the Third Battalion, which had been cut up badly the day before, was in reserve. The attack got off on time in spite of the difficulties that were encountered the previous night in getting into position under fire and in the dark.

“In the face of furious German resistance with all kinds of machine gun nests and an abundance of light artillery, the battalions advanced very rapidly, skillfully knocking out machine guns and maneuvering to the best advantage over the broken ground. The Second Battalion suffered heavy losses during the morning and two companies of the brigade reserve were ordered to its support. Before noon Second Battalion Commander Major Hathaway, announced the capture of Premont and his arrival at the prescribed objective. Positions were consolidated during the afternoon and preparations made for a possible counter-attack.

“The casualties of the 117th on October 8 were the heaviest of any day of fighting in which it was engaged on the front. The toll of officers and non-commissioned officers was especially distressing, as it cut down the number of leaders in the coming battles.

“During the night, when all were expecting word of relief after such a strenuous day in which everyone had spent himself to the utmost, orders were received that the brigade would continue the fight at daybreak the next morning. The sector was moved to the right, however, and the front of attack shortened. The drive started before six o’clock in the morning, after the usual barrage, which had been laid down by the artillery. In spite of the fact that this shift was made at night, that the two battalions had to reorganize and gather their men from the attack the day previous, and that the Germans kept up their bombardment by artillery and airplanes, all the companies were on the tape and the attack was launched on the minute.

“The resistance slackened during the day, and with the exception of a short check at a railroad embankment, the advance was steady toward the objective. The First and Second Battalions fought side by side, the Third Battalion was held in reserve and to further recuperate. There was a big decrease in the intensity of the hostile artillery fire during the day and the losses were light compared to the day before. Busigny was captured and all objectives reached early in the afternoon.

“During these three days of fighting, October 7, 8, and 9, the regiment lost 34 officers and 1051 men as casualties. A count of the spoils taken included 113 machine guns, 28 field pieces, 907 small arms and about 800 prisoners. The great majority of the latter, 703, were captured on October 8, showing that on the final day the men, enraged by the losses of their comrades the day previous, killed most of the Germans they took. This became not an uncommon practice in the latter days of fighting, especially against the German machine gunners, which would kill or wound from their place of concealment a half platoon or more of men before their gun was located and put out of action. This custom of taking no prisoners was confined to no regiment, but became common practice throughout the division.

“The next few days were given the 117th to rest and recuperate, a course it sorely needed after the exhaustion and losses of the last three days of it’s fighting. On the morning of October 16, however, it was called back into the line to relieve the 27th American Division.” (Source: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~cacunithistories/military/117th_Infantry.html ; This Page is owned by Joe Hartwell, ©2005-2019. Last Updated January 3, 2019)

Amiens, France. 8/18/1918. A couple of British ‘Tommies’ look over captured German MG 08/15 machine-gun at John Malard Wood. Found at https://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield_one/comments/lsl2x5/wwi_amiens_france_18_august_1918_a_couple_of/

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Clinchfield Mill In Marion, NC

Marion, NC, 1903

Marion, the County Seat of McDowell County, was planned and built on land selected by the first McDowell County Commissioners. People wanted the County Seat to be built near the Carson House at Buck Creek several miles from its present location. In fact, court was held there for several years, but Sam Carson himself did not want the town there because he thought it would disrupt plantation life. Ultimately, he and his family donated 50 acres for the County Seat. Then 13 additional acres were bought at $5.00 per acre. Marion was located at a crossroads in a rather central part of the county. The date was March 14, 1844. It was not until 1845, however, that the official name Marion was sanctioned as County Seat by the state legislature. This was in spite of the fact that Marion had been used unofficially for several years. The name Marion came from Francis Marion, the South Carolina Revolutionary War hero, known as “Swamp Fox”. At the time of its founding, Marion was the “end of the line” west, and the old stage coach road west wound around from the end of Main Street through and by the pastures of Pleasant Gardens. Then it followed the hills to the wide ford of the Catawba River. Here buggies, horses, wagons, carriages, and stagecoaches could ford the river when the water was “not up”. The road then made its way to Buck Creek, the Carson House, and on westward. The devastating fire of November 25, 1894 started on Sunday morning in an old building known as the “Ark” which was located behind the Courthouse. The fire spread to Main Street and roared down the street across the railroad bridge and beyond. Next, it jumped across the street and went back up Main Street to Court Street. The few brick buildings were also gutted, as there was no public water supply. Cinders and burning timbers were blown all the way to Mt. Ida, but some houses miraculously escaped with the help of bucket brigades. The re-built houses and businesses were much sturdier and much better built. It was in 1903 that a group of local men, interested in education, got together and started the first public school, which was called The Marion Academy. This was located on Academy Street next to the old Presbyterian Church. Miss Maggie Hudgins was employed as the first teacher. Besides the Presbyterian Church (1847), there were nearby the Baptist Church (1862), the Methodist Church (1908), and the Episcopal Church (1883) was on South Main Street. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1867. Farming then was a main source of income besides the business places in town and the professions. On weekends, farmers would drive into town to sell whatever they had and to replenish their needed supplies, but especially to hear the news. With the establishment of the industrial plants: Marion Manufacturing Company (1909), Clinchfield Mill (1914), and Cross Mill (1916) and Drexel Furniture (1903) with it’s Marion plant (1918) there was bound to be change. Industry made it necessary to have electricity, telephones, and running water. There came the old Marion Light and Power Company, started by J.H. Morgan and R.H. Bennett, the Marion Telephone Company, started by Paul Smith with central in an upstairs room on Main Street, and the Marion Water Works.

Marion, Main St, 1920’s

Http://www.marionnc.org/history.htm
Benjamin Stolbert, “Madness In Marion”, Nation, October 23, 1929, p. 463, The mill village surrounding the Marion Manufacturing and Clinchfield Mills were described by another source as being “among the worst examples of company towns in the South.”

Twelve hour shifts, wages of $8-10/week, stretch out, unsanitary work conditions, rules like not paying a new worker for the first 30 days of work

The Voice of Southern Labor: Radio, Music and Textile Strikes, 1929-1934, by Vincent J. Roscigno & William F. Danaher
Sinclair Lewis spent a summer in Marion, NC and wrote about the awful situations the workers faced. Dilapidated housing, poor nutrition, the cycles of debt to the company that never ended, sicknesses like Tuberculosis and Pellagra were rampant. It kept getting worse. Finally 3 men went to Elizabethton, TN during that strike to try and find someone who would help them organize a union. Alfred Hoffman came back with them and started organizing. By mid-June they had enough workers signed on to begin to hold open meetings. Three quarters of the East Marion Mill signed up (as compared to 20% of Clinchfield Mill) so most of the resources were directed there. But the 2 mills shared meetings and rallies throughout. The AFL of the UTW provided little help other than the organizer, Alfred Hoffman. The strikers initially did parades between the two villages and picketted. Clinchfield Superintendent Bart didn’t taunt or fire his union employees at first but by July he laid them off and locked the plant. Baldwin, at East Marion Mill, fired them from the start. When Bart tried to re-open in August, they picketted again. The National Guard was called in. The picketers would try to keep the workers (who crossed the picket lines to work) from sleeping so they would throw dynamite in their yards, drive through the village shouting and singing. The strike was officially over on Sept. 11 when a “gentleman’s agreement” was reached. But immediately Presidents Hart (Clinchfield Mill) and Hunt (East Marion Mill) disregarded the terms by blacklisting employees who participated in the union and the strike. More than 100 strikers were refused employment and evictions from mill homes followed.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737808,00.html?iid=digg_share
“Monday, Sep. 09, 1929-North Carolina’s labor troubles were by no means confined to the Communist-led strike at Gastonia and its aftermath, the Charlotte murder trial (see above). At the Blue Ridge foothill town of Marion, another textile strike, directed by the conservative United Textile Workers of America, an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor, “went rough” last week, led to the summoning of National Guardsmen.
“Two months ago workers were organized by A. F. of L. agents in the cotton mill of Marion Manufacturing Co., owned by Spinster Sallie Baldwin of Baltimore. When the union hands struck, the mill closed down. Unionization spread to the mills of the Clinchfield Co. which also shut down temporarily. When Clinchfield tried to reopen, strikers massed before the gates, manhandled the superintendent. Guardsmen were sent in to restore order. Mill owners commenced to eject union strikers from company houses.
“Last week when a non-union worker attempted to move into one of these shanties, strikers blocked his way. County Sheriff Oscar Adkins and his deputies rushed the strikers. Stones flew. Pates were cracked. Noses bled. Sheriff Adkins swore out 148 warrants for ‘riot, insurrection and rebellion against the constituted authority of the State of North Carolina.’ After 74 strikers and their leaders had been arrested, the county jail was filled. More troopers came to town. Minor dynamitings occurred in the mills. A Labor Day parade was banned by the county commissioners and the mill owners moved to evict 230 families of strikers from company homes. “
Declared President B. M. Hart of the Clinchfield Mill: “I will meet only with my own employees. I cannot see that there is any difference between this so-called conservative union and the Communist union at Gastonia. They act alike.”

History of the Labor Movement In The United States, The T.U.E.L. (Trade Union Educational League), Volume X, 1925-1929
There was no formal agreement, but rather a handshake agreement. The mill reduced hours as promised but blacklisted a hundred workers for union activities and even evicted families from their mill homes that were known to sympathize. The mill management would not discuss their actions so a night shift spontaneously walked out on Oct 2, 1929. The County Sheriff, Oscar Adkins, and 11 deputies showed up and threw tear gas at the strikers. One 68 year old lame man began struggling with the sheriff and they began beating and clubbing him while the deputies fired into the crowd of retreating strikers. They killed 6 by shooting them in the back and 25 were seriously injured. This is called the Marion Massacre. B. M. Hart, President of Clinchfield Mill, praised the Sheriff and Deputies. There were 26 arrests with 4 convictions but all the deputies were acquitted quickly of 2nd degree murder. Union activity ceased and the governor refused to do a special investigation into the deaths.

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A24087
13 APR 2005 by Perry Dean Young
“The Marion Massacre By Mike Lawing Wasteland Press, 119 pp., $12
‘Twas in Marion, North Carolina,
In a little mountain town;
Six workers of the textile
In cold blood were shot down.’
–From ‘The Marion Massacre’ by Woody Guthrie

“In the early dawn of Oct. 2, 1929, the McDowell County sheriff and several deputies faced a group of workers outside the fence in front of the Marion Manufacturing Company, whose 600 employees had been on strike for four months.
“Sheriff Oscar Adkins would later swear in court that the strikers opened fire first, although no weapons were ever found on any of the strikers. And, more important, none of the deputies was shot. When the dust settled, however, six strikers had been killed and 24 were wounded. Charges were brought against the sheriff, the mill superintendent, two mill foremen and 14 deputies. A preliminary hearing exonerated the sheriff, the mill employees and six deputies. Eight deputies were brought to trial on second degree murder charges, but a jury in nearby Yancey County quickly acquitted them. The deputies were the beneficiaries of a “Dream Team” of lawyers that included a future governor and U.S. senator as well as a future chief justice of the state Supreme Court. All of the strikers were fired from their jobs and evicted from their company-owned homes.
“It was an historic moment in the history of labor in America. Sinclair Lewis came down and wrote six articles for the Scripps-Howard newspapers, later published as a union pamphlet entitled Cheap and Contented Labor, the phrase used to lure factories to the South. Socialist leader Norman Thomas contributed to the strike fund. Woody Guthrie wrote two (still unpublished) songs about the martyrs in the “Marion Massacre,” as the Raleigh News & Observer headlined its report from the scene.
“Mike Lawing grew up in Winston-Salem, but frequently visited relatives in Marion. He drove past the mill dozens of times, but had never once heard anybody mention what happened there. He was well into middle age when his father pointed to the site one day and started to tell him about it. The elder Lawing had three uncles working in the Marion and Clinchfield mills–two supported the strike, one was “loyal” to the company. Lawing’s mother was related to a deputy accused of shooting at strikers as well as the attorney who represented the Union. “It was as if both sides were ashamed of what had happened, and nobody wanted to talk about it,” Lawing says now. Only in recent years have we begun to see local historians or historians of any kind paying attention to the dramatic story of the efforts to organize labor unions in the textile mills in our state.
“Fascinated by the story, Lawing began collecting information about the strike and its bloody aftermath. He interviewed everybody he could find and collected news reports of strikes in Marion. His research resulted in a series of articles published in the McDowell News, and he has now published the story in The Marion Massacre.
“Lawing is modest about his efforts, explaining, “I am not a writer–I prefer to be thought of as a storyteller.” The truth is, Lawing lays out the story in far more sensible and readable prose than the great muckraker Sinclair Lewis did.
“Lawing traces the precise cause of the walkout at Marion to an overload of work that Lewis apparently did not know about. This extra work was on top of the 12-hour day that the men, women and children were expected to work every week for $13, minus the cost of housing and whatever they’d charged at the company store. All they were striking for was a reduction in the work load from 12 to 10 hours with the same pay. Lawing also explains how each of the major strikes in 1929–in Marion, in Elizabethton, Tenn., and in Gastonia–was unique and unrelated to the others. Tragically, the fiercely independent workers shared their bosses’ fears of any kind of union that smacked of Bolshevism and Communism. And the bosses gleefully preyed on the workers’ racism. Blacks could only get the most menial jobs in the mills. Joining a union, they said, “would mean your wives and daughters would be working right alongside a Negro.” And the workers would continue to operate against their own best interests–until their jobs were outsourced to Communist China.
“With admirable persistence, Lawing has succeeded in getting this story home to the folks in Marion and McDowell County whether they want to talk about it or not. After Lawing’s articles were published in the newspaper, he was able to connect with many families who had ties to the incident, and their information helped him correct several mistakes. He has scheduled readings in Marion and the book is for sale in three locations there. If his book does not make it on any kind of statewide or national stage, at least he will have helped to erase the long conspiracy of silence and confronted the folks back home with the facts about this tragic event in local history.”

Bailey Bright “B.B.” Reese (DOB: 1/26/1878 in Joe, Madison County, NC, DOD: 12/10/1949 in Marion, McDowell County, NC) married Lillian “Lily” or “Lilly” Vianna Conner (DOB: 1/9/1887 in Marshall, Madison County, NC; DOD: 1/15/1984 in Marion, McDowell County, NC). The Reeses came down from the mountains to Marion, NC and went to work in the Clinchfield Mill. They lived in the mill village. Bailey Bright was the night watchman at the mill. They lived at 58 Virginia Road (or the house behind that one). B.B. was a member of Clinchfield Baptist Church in Marion. Lily told how she remembered him sitting in his rocking chair reading his Bible or his Biblical Recorder. How he would fall asleep until the Bible fell and woke him up, then he would pick it back up and try to read some more. Bailey Bright and Lily were living with Rass and Gertrude Young at 50 (or 52) Virginia Rd when Bailey Bright died. Their son, my Grandfather, was William Wilford Reese. He also worked at the Clinchfield Mill where he met his future wife, my Grandmother, Geneva “Ginnie” Margaret Lamb. They got married on Dec 30, 1933.

Here is B.B. and Lily on the porch of their mill house in Marion, NC.