The news & observer., 1905-12-17
DIR. KIEGSBURY WRITES OF MR..
CREECY AND OXFORD.


cradle and able editor of the Eliza
beth City Economist. now in the 93d
year of his age, Mr.. L. II. Creecy.
Scholarly. we'll informed, trained
thoughtful, in extreme age, he is still
"A good writer and very interesting.
| was much interested in his recent
editor al in The Economist, and which
appeared in the News and Observer.
of 1st ofDecember. upon oxford
Eighty Years Ago" Think of it, it
Is his own "reminiscences dating back
that far In 1925, he was a student at
the then celebrated Oxford Male
Academy, and his teacher was the
famous, unr.valled teacher of his day,
To- whom | referred recently in the
News and Observer, James ID. john
son, an old Scotch Presbyterian, a
Mr.. Creecy calls him. He had great
distinction later, for l remember that
about 1884 or 1885 he was still at
Oxford enjoying. q very high reputa-
tion as a teacher. My father moved
from Halifax town 10 oxford in the
spring Of 1892, and he sent my gifted
cousin. Charles Il. Itingsbury, when u
bCv of some fifteen or sixteen to
school to Mr. Johnson. Even later
the old families of 1925, were known
TO me-zsay about 1S35-38. Thomas
Blount Littlejohn. he mentions, was
my wife's grandfather, and it was i'm
his capacious home in the great grove
that / was married in 1857. He was
Il native of Edenton, y. c., his father
being a Scotchman, and his mother
of the famous Eastern Carolinian fam
ily of Blounts, from which many dis
tinguished CarOlinianS were descended
or were of blood kinship, among
them the Pett.greWs, the Bryan $,
family Of Judges w. S., and Henry
Bryan and others. Mr.. LittleJohn
Il. st
cratic, most honorable and upwright
man, and for a half century per-
haps served as a Ruling Elder in the
Presbyterian church at Oxford. lie
had many descendants, among them
Gov Jones. of Arkansas, Joseph Lit
tlejohn. with whom students
boarded. was brother to Thom'
as gentleman i'm a hlgh sense
and a devout Methodist. When
Young man he went to France as
Secretary Of Gov. William X. DaVic.
who was sent as Plenipotentiary or
something OF the kind, Ia the then
NapCleonic government. Mr.. l. tile-
john later removed TO tennessee,
where he planted and prayed until
the close of his Nous and useful life
R.dicys. mentioned by Mr.. Creecy.
Joseph IL. i.ittlej john, long time Il
leading and wealthy farmer in Frank
lin county near Louisburg, n. G. the
Redleys, mentioned by Mr.. Creecy'
were a large family, The head Of it
was d.. James Ridley. who was a
graduate of the University of North
Carolina about 1905 or 1906, as wa
his medical contemporary, DR.. James
Young who for q half century was
one of the leading physicians OF OK
ford and of the great Old county OF
Granville. You see the physicians OF
that section in the early years of
ailfh
were tho trained men in education of
the University Of North Carolina. Let
the men who hurrah SO much over
progress education now, put
that in the note book of memory.
Dr. James Ridley was genuine des-
cendant, grandson ! think 1T was
of Lord Keeling, a British nobleman.
who lived and died in Granville /
knew the doctor from my earliest r"-
membrance unit he died about 1854,
aged eighty years. DR.. Ridley had
several sons who became prominent In
several Southern States. among them
Rev. joseph Ridley D. D.. who
married my hrst cousin EZd =
Kingsbury, sister of Gen. Charles p.
Kingsbury, L. S. Army. and Judge
Bromfield Ridley of Tennessee. Dr.
Ridley. the Episcopal minister. spent
some thirty or more years or his use
ful life in this one State. i knew per-
sonaly some of the Sneeds. Tay-
lors, r. \. Herndon, the Virgins and
Others referred to by Mr. Creecy and
went to school at the same Academy
which Mr.. Greasy attended, with some
of each name. oxford was a very
small place in 1925. 1t is built on
the plantation of Mr.. Thomas B. Lit
tlejohn. and he laid it off about 1910
or 1911. He gave the land TO the
town upon which the Male and Fe
a ioc, Tod no
Female Academy had a high reputa-
tiOn also from about 1880 10 the
great war. Scores of girls i'm East
ern Carolina were educated there.
one of the first elderly ladies l met
i'm Wilmington soon after my arrival
in 1876, informed me that she was
educated in oxford Female Academy
Many from Mr.. Creasy's section OF
Eastern Carolina I can remember to
have known at oxford while they
were students. Oxford. like SO ma,y
North Carolina towns, is showing
more or less progress. 1t has over p
500 Inhabitants, and four handsome
churches, three of which are of re-
cent construction of brick and stone
the Methodist, Episcopaliah and
Presbyterian. II has sew vsral good
schools largely attended, among them
Horner's large. famous. classical and
military school, that began in 1852,
and Baptist Female College, which
has flourished over a half century.
There is also located the large Ma
sonic Orphan Asylum. 1t is in
superb grove on an eminence, and has
nine brick buildings, I believe. Col.
Hicks. who has charge. is probably
the best super ntendent of all ii has
had. This fine home for the INDECENT
helpless orghan children, is the out
come of the foresight, energy and de-
votion of the able John II. Mills, who
was friend of mine, from 1852 to
the end of his most useful and eff
cient life. Out of his labors for the
orphans h3ve come the six or seven
prosperous orphan schools now in
North Carolina. Mr. Mills had faults
but he was devoted and brainy and a
power for good. AS the outcome of
the excellent schools at Oxford. and
the great influence of the University
of North Carolina from 1900 to
1860.
l take leave to say that from about
1S45 to 1855, there were more we'll ed.