The coastland times., 1951-11-23


when he was free household
servant, he always ascertaine6
whether guests were of the North
or South before he would answer
the door. Incidentally, Uncle Jack
married five times, the fifth being
after he had achieved the status
of centenarian. His marriages
were all to young women and only
one of them was what we consider
as legal and sanctified. The bride
and groom laid a broom on the
floor and stepped across it togeth-
er, probably on their way to bed,
and their nuptials were complete.
Elizabeth Spencer, one of Sam
uel's sisters, possessed an enviable
amount of property for the period.
A fellow by name Of Arnold Gray
migrated from New England and
married her. They lived in a two
room house whose timbers went
into the construction of the Israel
Watson house on the same site.
Arnold Gray was an abolitionist
of local renown. He imported his
New England ale and divided his
time between slipping that and in
spring Elizabeth's slaves to treat
himself and the other members of
his household as fellow citizens in
stead of masters and owners. His
liberal attitude resulted in Eliza
beth's slaves becoming unmanage-
able and gaining fame for their
unprecedented sassiness.
SaundersOn's SpOrted Coaches
The Saundersons arrived. Today
the name is frequently spelled
with no (u). Benjamine and Ivey
Saunderson settled on opposite
banks of the Fur. They were rich
and sported coaches and fine
horses with their coaches and
servants garbed in special livery.
They cultivated vast tracts of land
and married into the Spencer fam
lily and lived in splendor. One of
the Saundersons, whose name was
also Benjamine, though probably
of later generation, married Re-
becca Wise Of Craven County, and
they were the grandparents of
General Benjamine Simmons, late
of Fairfield, and of Isabella Gibbs
of Middleton, who became the wife
of United States Senator F. M.
Simmons. Benjamine and Rebecca
Saunderson lived on the Swamp
Road in a house built by Samuel
Spencer which stood near the
present home of the Selbys. In
spite of the wealth of the Saunder-
sons they built no enduring homes
at Engelhard.
The Meals were here and so were
the Harrisses. These two families
were united by marriage at an
early date, because one of the Har-
ris men was a veteran of the Revo-
lutionary War, just about all of
the Meals and Harrises might be-
come Daughters of the American
Revolution. The Rose family was
here. Jeptha Rose was perhaps the
first, or one of the first. He built
the house popularity known as the
Captain Sam Spencer place. The
Cox family had arrived also. They
built a good sized old two-story
house which stood in the lot be-
fore the Post Office. Some of the
oldest people now may remember
when it was destroyed by hurri-
cane.
Widow Kept Coffin Ready
In the house currently occupied
by Merle Gibbs, a widow also
named Gibbs lived nearly two
centuries ago. She anticipated
death catching her unawares. In
order to prevent too much con-
fusion when she would arrive at
the inevitable hour she had built
or bought herself coffin which
she kept upstairs and used for a
container for her Sunday clothes.
That was a classic old home be-
fore it was remodeled. 1t had, per-
haps, more of the colonial archi-
lecture than any of the foremen-
! toned houses. There were the
dormer windows running across
the front, for instance. The house
later became known as the Johr
Burrus place. He was well fixed
too. His brother in Fairfield owned
a hundred slaves. John sent his
daughter to Salem College. She
later married Gentleman" George
Credle who had attended college
in New York. John was also thu
uncle and guardian of Israel Wat
son until he left to attend Ran
dolph Macon College just prior tt
the Civil War.
L