| Carroll County History |
The Legacy of the Early Settlers of Carroll CountyWhen preparing this brief history of Carroll County, the primary sources of my information were works of the late John Perry Alderman. He is the recognized historian of Carroll County and his untimely death robbed us of a wealth of historical knowledge. Fortunately, he did complete a book on the early settlements in Carroll and in the fall of 1992, as part of the county’s sesquicentennial celebration, he taught a Carroll County History class to a group of local teachers. I was privileged to be a member of that class. It is impossible to outline 240 years of history in 10 minutes, so I have elected to look at the legacy of the people who settled Carroll County—namely, those characteristics of the settlers which have influenced and continue to influence today’s county. It is not known who first explored the area of Carroll but the first record of anyone being in the county was a land title issued in November 1749 to James Wood for land in the area that got its name from James Wood-Woodlawn. However, he was a speculator and never lived in the county. Permanent settlement followed after roads were developed in the 1760′s to market the lead ore from the Ft. Chiswell area of Wythe County. The lead ore was shipped south to the Moravian settlement of Salem NC along the Flour Gap Road (roughly present day Route 620) and the Ward’s Gap Road that followed old US 52 down Main Street of Hillsville, south to Mtn. Plains Church and them eastward and over the mountains at Utt’s Orchards. It is estimated that 80,000 people traveled down the Wilderness Road to Tennessee and Kentucky and many of them came from North Carolina by way of Ward’s Gap and Flour Gap. To the east the ore was shipped through the Dugspur region and it was over this route that settlement of the eastern section of Carroll was made. A few people were here by the late 1750′s and in the early 1760′s but the steady influx of settlers began in the 1770′s and flourished in the 1790′s. It is estimated that there were about 100 households in the area of Carroll at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. By 1815 all the desirable land had been claimed although some was still held by land speculators. There were two major sources of settlements in Carroll. The first came from the foothill counties of Pittsylvania and Bedford, Virginia. Most of these settlers were second and third generation Virginians and most were of English origin although there were some Scots, Irish, German, Welsh, Swiss, and French mixed in. They began the settlement in eastern Carroll near the Burks Fork region. The other major group of settlers was the Quakers, descendants of the original Quaker families in America who were also primarily of English origin. When the Quaker families came to Carroll, they came mainly from Guilford and Surry counties, NC, often to escape the discrimination they suffered for their pacifist views. By 1805, 1/3 of the county population was Quaker and they had the only organized religion in the county with four meeting houses: one in the Coal Creek Gap area, one in Burks Fork area, one at Ward’s Gap and the fourth at present day north end Hillsville. However, the stay of the Quaker families was short-lived and by 1825, most were gone moving primarily to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Some Quakers who married outside the church remained with their families in Carroll and became leaders and prominent citizens in those years. One can only speculate if and how the history of the county would be different if the Quakers had remained the dominant population of Carroll County. Basically all these settlers came with their families and in family clusters. Most sold small farms in the counties they came from. They were not of nobility, but neither were they lawless individuals. Most came looking for an opportunity for a better life. But they had to be an adventuresome lot since they loaded everything they owned in a wagon and came to an unknown, unpopulated and heavily wooded area. With only their own resources to draw on, they cleared the land, built cabins, and developed a sense of community even though most lived in relative isolation from the others. The early settlers were frugal, hardworking and self-sufficient. They typically farmed an owner-operated farm of 150 acres. Work was done by family members and most of the families had several children. For the most part they made much their own furniture, their own clothes and raised their own food. In 1815 there were no “professional” people living in the County; and whatever schooling occurred usually took place in the homes. The exceptions being both the Quakers men and women who were highly literate for their time and who kept extensive records within their churches. As the county as a whole and Carroll County grew and transportation and communication improved, the degree of self-sufficiency was no longer and necessity but for many remained a way of thinking in Carroll County. The pattern of the small family farm life continued in Carroll County and even in 1910, Carroll was one of only five Virginia counties with over 95% of all available land in farms. While the number and size of owner farms decreased over the next 50 years, it has only been since the 1980′s that the manufacturing, government, and retail sectors of the economy became the largest employers in the county. From the beginning of the settlement, Carroll Countians have enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in their lives. Alderman writes in the settlement; “Nearly every family owned its own piece of ground and was beholden to no man for it. All were proud and fiercely independent, dedicated to the work ethic and to the personal proposition (still widely held) that the true test of one’s character was the promptness with which he paid his debts”. These attributes of the historical settlers can be seen through out the history and up to the present time in the county. When the Civil War began in 1860, the population of Carroll County was 8012 with 884 white males ages 17-34. Of these 884 men, some 600 volunteered within six months after the firing upon of Fort Sumter. Alderman attributes this large number of volunteers to native stubbornness, a sense of adventure, and the patriotism and loyalty toward their state. Certainly, it was not for the cause of slavery since there were 261 slaves in all of Carroll owned by 66 people and only five people owned more than 10 slaves. Some 50 years after the end of the War, the most famous event in Carroll County history occurred with the shootout at the courthouse and its resulting deaths and injuries. While there is still much speculation about the cause or causes of this event, no one disputes the role and influence of strong family ties and that sense of personal autonomy. When Carroll County native and capitalist, George L. Carter sought workers for his empire of railroads and mining in the early 1900′s, he is said to have favored men from the Carroll County area because of their strong work ethic and their loyalty. So many people from this area worked for Mr. Carter that they and their descendants still hold a reunion each year at the VFW in Hillsville. Times have changed in rural areas of the Country and Carroll County is no exception. In 1994, 34% of the county employment was in manufacturing with only a small number employed in farming. But a story related by the late Jim Cobb, personnel director, at the Hillsville Sara Lee plant, illustrated that the traditional Carroll County values of hard work and personal responsibility have not changed. In the mid to late 1990′s American industry adopted the Japanese concept of teaming. The Hillsville Sara Lee plant was having less success with teaming than to her facilities because so many of the workers wanted to work independently and prided themselves on their own individual work production. The plant did eventually implement the concept of teaming, and many of those same excellent individual workers became the strongest team members. What we are as a people in the year 2000 has been shaped by our individual and common histories. As we look to the future, let us capitalize on and incorporate those strong and positive attributes of self-sufficiency, personal responsibility, and strong work ethic that have characterized our people throughout the history of Carroll County. By: Shelby Puckett |