On January 27, 1931, Cheerwine inventor Lewis D. Peeler died in Salisbury.
Born in 1866, Peeler studied at a local Lutheran college and in Virginia before entering business. He tried his hand at a number of different enterprises, including farming and wholesaling, before beginning a soda business in 1913.
On January 27, 1993, Andre the Giant, world-famous wrestler and Richmond County resident, died in France.
Born Andre Roussimoff in Grenoble, France in 1946, he suffered from acromegaly, a result of a pituitary disorder that caused his body to over-produce growth hormones. He grew to be giganitic, later billed at 7’4” and 500 pounds. At 17, Andre moved to Paris, where he was discovered by a wresting promoter. He trained and worked hard at the sport. He enjoyed success in several countries and as a variety of personae before moving to the United States.
Image from the N.C. Museum of History.
On January 27, 1788, William Tryon, royal governor of both North Carolina and New York, died.
On January 29, 1920, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation establishing the Nantahala National Forest.
A print of the Southern Produce Wagon produced by the Hackney Wagon Company. Image from the Wilson County Public Library.
On January 26, 1823, Willis Napoleon Hackney was born in Nash County.
Photographs of holes number 10 and 12 on “Thistle Dhu” course
that appeared in the August 1919 edition of Popular Science.
On January 29, 1829, John Louis Taylor, the first North Carolina Supreme Court chief justice, died. Born in England, Taylor moved to America when he was 12. He attended William and Mary College, but was unable to complete his studies due to financial problems. He moved to Fayetteville, where he was admitted to the bar in 1788 at the age of 19.
On January 25, 1788, Weldon Edwards was born in Northampton County. Though not as ambitious or well-known as many contemporaries, the “venerable Democrat” was a major player on the stage of 19th century North Carolina politics. His political career extended from the close of the War of 1812 to the Reconstruction era.