These sketches were all but three written between the late summer of 1968 and Washington’s Birthday 1969. They were of course done mostly for my own interest and amusement, when not busy at something else. It had often been suggested to me that I might write down some memories of Asheboro as it was in my early memory. But I have no idea whether anybody, outside my own family, will enjoy reading them. It does not matter a great deal. This is the sort of thing I could do.
Having reached the mature age of five in 1883, a year before the Southern Railroad built its way into town, my short memory covers a short period of great changes. I cast my first vote in Asheboro in 1904, and have never lived there since, though never entirely losing connections. So, these sketches carry memories of sixteen years, with echoes from further back.
It may be necessary to issue some warnings to anyone who does read these little sketches. My memory is clear enough on almost everything reported from it. But there are a few odd points of wavering memory. Streets may be mixed somewhat. There is a difficulty of memory about those two old downtown hotels. The Burns House was easy to name in a way, for Barney Burns was the last man to run it, and I am pretty sure he sold it to my father. The deed books will show. But I have no idea of who ran it when I was very young. The other one, I called the Trogdon House, because I have a strong association of Bill Trogdon with one or the other of them, and at the moment of setting names down “Trogdon” seemed right. But reading over Mr. Blair’s History, I see he calls it the Hoover House, and again the Asheboro Hotel. (I remember now that Mr. Blair is correct.)
One other little incident: In the sketch of schooling, I referred to a lady principal or teacher under the name of Miss Lily Hubbard. I now think one of the two lady teachers who seem to have had the school that year, was Miss Lily Porter, who married a Presbyterian minister named Shaw (she was daughter of David Porter and aunt of Miss Hope Hubbard, of Farmer); and I believe the other lady may have been named Hubbard. I think so. For an omission in the school story, there was a Virginia lady, whose name feels quite like Clendenning, who had the school headship perhaps. She taught me some good manners and had some echo of Virginia old family about her. Her memory is as strong as anything but was somehow in another pocket when I wrote.
I judge that nearly everybody ought to try writing down a little of what they remember, because if they ever want to recall any of the past for others, the setting down something now will, at any future time, help to bring up other details and other events.
– Sidney Swaim Robins
Contents
- The Lot I Grew Up On, 1
- A Landmark Goes In The Night, 6
- The Old Courthouse Center, 8
- Randolph Court In Session Around 1895, 13
- Echoes of Randolph Court, 18
- J. Addison Blair and Son Colbert, 21
- William E. Mead, 25
- Three English Captains, 30
- Uncles, Aunts and Baldwins, 34
- What Asheboro Ate, 39
- Uncle Willis Hamlin and Household, 43
- Grandpa’s Last Buggy, 47
- The Railroad Comes, 50
- Wid Connor, 57
- Bucolic Wit and Humor — Zeb Vance, 60
- Poor White Trash, 65
- Schooling In Asheboro, 69
- That Old Time Religion, 77
- Churchly Footnotes, 86
- Skipper Coffin, 91
- Marmaduke Circle, 99
- How We Began, 101
Source
Robins, Sidney Swaim. Sketches of My Asheboro: Asheboro, North Carolina, 1880-1910. Randolph, North Carolina : Randolph Historical Society, 1972.