Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On September 9, 1961, Maria Beale Fletcher of Asheville became the first Miss North Carolina to be crowned Miss America.
On September 9, 1820, Martha McFarlane McGee Bell, heroine of the American Revolution, died at her home in Randolph County. The wife of a Deep River gristmill owner, Bell and her husband were ardent supporters of American independence, and their mill became a gathering place for local patriots during the war. There is also evidence that the Continental Army used the mill to store supplies.
On September 8, 1896, B. Everett Jordan was born in Ramseur. Before being appointed to fill the vacant seat of Senator Kerr Scott in 1958, he was a successful textile executive who had worked his way up the ladder in one company since the 1920s.
Although several newspapers at the time considered him to have been placed in the Senate as a “seat warmer” for Luther Hodges who was then governor and popular politically, Jordan was reelected in 1960 and 1966.
On September 8, 1712, Governor Edward Hyde died of yellow fever at his home on the Albemarle Sound.
Born in 1667 in England, Hyde inherited several properties and had ties to royalty. He attended Oxford University but didn’t complete a degree. Despite his connections and inheritance, Hyde faced financial ruin and sold much of his property.
On September 8, 1663, the first transfer of land under the Lords Proprietors in Carolina took place. The grant was made to Sir John Colleton, himself one of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina.
On September 7, 1846, a violent hurricane hit the Outer Banks and opened Hatteras and Oregon Inlets. Families that lived on Hatteras Island later said they had no idea that it was possible for an inlet to form near their homes, but the following morning “they saw the sea and sound connected together and the live oaks washing up by the roots and tumbling into the ocean.”
On September 7, 1859, John Merrick was born into slavery in Sampson County. When he was 12-years-old, Merrick and his mother moved to Chapel Hill, where he worked in a brickyard and she was a house servant.
When his mother remarried and moved away, Merrick remained in North Carolina and established himself as a brick mason in Raleigh, working on the construction of Shaw University. Economic fluctuations compelled him to take a second job as a bootblack in a barbershop.
On September 7, 1881, Sidney Lanier, widely-acclaimed poet, author and musician, died at his home in Polk County.
On September 7, 1860, educator and founding president of UNC-Greensboro Charles McIver was born in what’s now Lee County.