Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History

On January 9, 1859, the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal opened, connecting Albemarle Sound and Chesapeake Bay, providing a vital economic link between North Carolina and Virginia.

The canal was first proposed by William Byrd II in 1728, but engineering complications held up the project. The full canal was 75 miles long, but only 14 of those cut through the land. Of those miles, only five are in North Carolina, essentially bisecting Currituck County at Coinjock. The rest of the canal followed natural channels and dredged rivers.

On January 9, 1951, the cornerstone of the “World’s Largest Chair” was laid in downtown Thomasville. The purpose of the chair was to recognize the significant role that Thomasville, then home to Thomasville Furniture, and the entire foothills region played in the furniture industry.

The big chair actually wasn’t Thomasville’s first. That monument was built in September 1922, and at 16 feet, six inches tall was fabricated by Thomasville Furniture Company from the materials it took to make 100 normal chairs.

On January 9, 1878, Tabitha Holton became the first woman licensed to practice law in North Carolina.  Born in 1854 near Jamestown, she had three brothers, all of whom were attorneys. She is said to have gained her training in the law from having tutored her siblings.

On January 9, 1779, James Hogun of Halifax County was chosen as a brigadier general for the North Carolina Continental Line.  Hogun, a native of Ireland, settled near Hobgood around 1751. He was appointed the first major of the Halifax militia in 1776. Later that year he was promoted to colonel of the Seventh North Carolina Continental Regiment. He led the Seventh to serve under George Washington at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown in 1777.

On January 8, 1926, children’s show television host Soupy Sales, noted for taking pies in the face, was born Milton Supman in Franklinton.

Sales’ father, Irving, immigrated to America from Hungary in 1894. Irving operated a dry goods store, which was then a line of work common to Jews in small-town North Carolina. His son, the funnyman, later quipped that his father supplied all the sheets needed by the local Ku Klux Klan.

On January 8, 1975, famed firearms inventor David “Carbine” Williams died.

Born in Cumberland County in 1900, Williams worked for a railroad for a time while operating several illegal distilleries. In 1921, law enforcement officers raided one of those distilleries and, in the ensuing gunfight, a deputy was shot to death. Williams denied firing the fatal shot, but pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years.

On January 7, 1839, the legislature passed an act to establish North Carolina’s common school system. The law authorized counties to hold elections in which voters approve or reject new taxes for public schools.

On January 7, 1839, the first silver mine in the United States opened at Silver Hill, near Lexington in Davidson County.

Silver was first discovered on the site in 1838. Prospector Roswell A. King purchased the land, and along with John W. Thomas, was issued a charter by the General Assembly in 1839. The site became known as the Washington Mine.

The loss of silver and lead in the refining process caused financial troubles for the Washington Mining Company. Experiments in refining failed to improve the situation, and, in 1852, the mine closed.

On January 7, 1931, Gertrude McKee became the first female member of the North Carolina Senate.

Image from the State Library.