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Ofl1l VOLUME VII JULY 1959 NUMBER l NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE ARTHUR PALMER HUDSON Editor CONTENTS Page RECOLLECTIONS OF A KNOTTS ISLAND BOYHOOD, Henry B. Ansell • . • . THE DECEMBER 1958 MEETING OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY ••••••••••••.•.•••• 13 ...- LEGENDS FROM BEAUFORT, NORTH CAROLINA, Tucker R. Littleton ••....• 14 GRAVEYARD WISDOM, Alonzo C. Hall •• 17 TALES OF THE STORM, Dallas Mallison z. 1 THE ELEVENTH CAROLINA FOLK FESTIVAL 31 THE BALLAD-HUNTING HENRYS, Mrs. Mellinger E. Henry. 32 A VARIANT OF "SIR HUGH," Walter McGraw •.•. .... 35 A Publi cat ion of THE NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE SOCIETY and THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE COUNCIL Chapel Hill \ NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE ~very reader is invited to submit items or manuscripts for publication, pref­ erably of the length of those in this issue. Subscriptions, other business com­ munications, and contributions should be sent to Editor of North Carolina Folklore The University of North Carolina Box 5Z3 Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Annual subscription, $2 for adults, $1 for students (including membership in The North Carolina Folklore Society). Price of this number, $1. THE NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE SOCIETY Donald MacDonald, Charlotte, President Norman C. Larson, Raleigh, .!.. ~ President Mrs. Earl H. Hartsell, Chapel Hill, Z Vice President Arthur Palmer Hudson, Chapel Hill, Secretary- Treasurer The North Carolina Folklore Society was organized in 191Z, to encourage the collection, study, and publication of North Carolina Folklore. It is affiliated with the American Folklore Society. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE COUNCIL Arthur Palmer Hudson, Chapel Hill, Chairman Isaac G . Greer, Chapel Hill, ~ Chairman Manly Wade Wellman, Chapel Hill, Secretary The Folklore Council was organized in September, 1935, to promote the coopera­ tion and coordination of all those interested in folklore, and to encourage the collection and preservation, the study and interpretation, and the active perpetu­ ation and dissemination of all phases of folklore. RECOLLECTIONS OF A KNOTTS ISLAND BOYHOOD By Henry B . Ansell [The most interesting and significant facts about the life of Henry Beasley Ansell (1832.-1920) have been best recorded in his "Recollections," from which the following selections have been taken. Born and reared on Knotts Island, he spent much of his life there and at Coinjock, on the mainland, as county sur ­ veyor and clerk of the c ourt. He was father of a large family, including Gen­ eral Samuel.Tilden Ansell (187 5 -1954). Early in the present century he began to record his memories and to compile a history of his native region. The re­ sult s are contained i n two manuscript volumes, now in the possession of the Southern Historical Collection of the University of North Carolina Library, entitled "Recollections of a Life Time and More" and described as follows: "Two large manuscript vol umes, written in the hand of H. B. Ansell, 1903 -07; 1912: Volume I. Chapters on various aspects of social history, church history, fishing and hunting, home life, and geography, written from his personal m em­ ories of C u rritu ck County, N. C., MS 189 pages ... ; Vol. ll. A history of Currituck County from about 1650 to 1790, including copies of earl y documents, etc., etc., compiled by H. B. Ansell." [In the August 11, 19 55, issue of the Elizabeth City Independent-Star, General John E. Wood, of Currituck, N. C., began publication of "Ansell Story of Knotts Island Boyhood" from a small book owned by Ansell's d.iughter which had pasted in it a portion of his 'recollections, ' and was not complete." In his introduction, General Wood remarks: "In this fascinating glimpse into the past he told of the people, the customs, ideas, beliefs, superstitions, the virtues and faults, di­ versions and occupation s , and a thousand aspects of life in Currituck during a large part of the nineteenth century." [The following selections, mainly of folklo ristic interest, are p~blished in North Carolina Folklore from the manuscript with the kind permission of Henry B-.-­ Ansell's eighty-eight-year-old daughter, Mattie (Mrs . Ed) Ansell, of Currituck, r. C., a nd of the Southern Historical Collection of the University of North Caro­ lina Library. [The Editor acknowledges his obligations to Mr. Dudley Bagley, of Moyock, N. C., and to General Wood for information and assistance.) P r efatory Note..: It has been in evidence in all time that the young enjoy nothing more than tales told of the far pas t by the old. Often has the writer sat and spun out on the thread of remembrance yarns both pleasant and tragic, gathered from the old f olks of Kn.otts Island, to the great delight and edification of his and others' children. One day a few years back, the writer being in a fanciful mood, the pano­ rama of his birth - place passed, as often before, once more before him: the Eves carding and spinning; their lords fishing, fowling, or assembl ed in mirth­ ful groups talking war, religion, ghosts, and other such matters for recreati~n; boys spinning tops , storming yellow jackets' and bumblebees' nests, and rob­ bi ng the nests of ca t-birds; and all g oing to church on preaching days (Fridays), which were con sidered holidays. When in one of these moods, the writer asked himself:- W h y not write and give details of the events, incidents, and traditional stories h e had gathered together in past days on this I s la nd? So there and then, with daring venture, he determined to attempt to do what h is meditations had sugges ted, and has since produced a manuscript of from 50,000 to 60,000 words -- likely more. This Island, cut off geographically from other lands, is rich in local tradition. Its inhabitants from time immemorial have by the nature of their isolated situation formed many custo:ns and habits, social, religious, and political, peculiarly their own; a nd their doings and their traditions, if graph­ ically set out by a master mind, would make interesting local history. The writer of the following pages does not claim to be a writer of local history, but ventures simply and faithfully to record incidents and events, some of which were matters of his personal observation, others of local knowledge, and others still matters of tradition; all of which made a lasting impression on his young mind. The writer's memory goes back to the year 1835, when h e was but three years old, and his mind e,er reverts to the associations of his youth in his never-to-be -forgotten birth-plac e. The writer, his parents and his far-back ancestors were all born and reared on this Island; therefore if these pages of reminiscences crudely related should prove the least offensive to the pec.ple of this Island, h e relies upon a common ancestry and an intimate and life -long friendship to insure their for­ giveness; whereas, if he succeeds in reviving the memory of the old and amus­ ing and perhaps instructing the young of this Island, his effort will not have been in vain. Now, to others as well as the people of this Island who may chance to read these tales -- some for curiosity's sake, some seeking the novel and comic, and still others expecting the "Wild Wes tern scenes" of long ago -- I seem to hear yo·.1 say, "Is he not venturing into too deep water?" Suppose this question is asked, is it a good reason why I should not tell ~he story of my birth-place in the past days and what I know and what I believe in relation to it ? While the writer pleads to a degree of recklessness, yet there may be a commendable ray of light that pene trates this story; for is it not the product of a Currituckian, and is it not the first manuscript of local history ever written in Currituck by a Currituckian? For this reason I invite you who may read what I have to say to go with me in imagination over the scenes h erein set out. Thus I shall carry you back to my early days, to my native Island and there pres ent to you the life there in which I was horn and bred. Barco, N. C., August 3rd, 1903, to February, H. B. Ansell, 1907, and a few entries up to 1912 , &r some Barco, N. C. changes thereafter. Chapter I. Knotts Isla::id: Its Geography If you will look at the map of North Carolina you will find that Currituck County covers the north-east portion of this map, and by looking at the north­ east part of this county map )- c,\l will see what looks like a square piece of land 2 as if it had been belched forth from t.Iie State of Virginia down into Currituck Sound: This is Knotts Island. The western portion of this Island map is the "Great Marsh, 11 three and a hali miles .across to Morse's Point. This marsh, with its small knolls, and Mackey 1s Island help to make up this apparently square island map. Knotts Island proper, though, only covers the eastern part of thi s squire, averaging but little over a mile in width. Where the State line runs it is half a mile wide, while in t he south end it may be in places one and a half miles from the bay on the east to the Great Marsh on the west. This I sland has always been called seven and half miles long from north to south, and its area cannot cover but little more than that many square miles.

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