Saturday, September 24, 2011

More About "Uncle" Sam Tolson

Below is the rest of Ben Salter's book chapter (see Thursday's post) about Samuel C. Tolson:

"Mr. Sam Tolson was born on Portsmouth island, N.C. November 7th, 1840, lived, died and was buried on this island November 17th, 1930, making his stay on this island a little over 90 years.

"He was a nice old man when I was a boy, he used to tell me of days on Portsmouth when he was a boy, many interesting stories he would tell. Once he said that when he was a boy the ducks, geese and brant were so thick that you could stick a bush down on the banks of the shore and kill all you could carry home.

"He said he could remember when people on the island had no window panes in their homes and had no matches to make fires. They did as the Indians did, they rubbed sticks together to start their fires. They had wooden shutters at the windows to close against the wind and rain and when it was cold.

"He used to smoke a clay pipe with a long stem. When he dressed up he wore a derby hat and a stiff breasted shirt with gold studs in it. He was rather sharp looking for that day.

.... [I quoted this paragraph Thursday.]

"He told me that when he was a boy there was a big Fort on Beacon Island, a big castle on Castle Rock, and Flounder slew Rock was a large rock with folks living on it."

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of slavery on Ocracoke. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news092111.htm.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:25 AM

    I'm intrigued! Where can I get this book?

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  2. I do not know if Ben Salter's book is still in print. Maybe one of our readers knows.

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  3. Anonymous11:03 PM

    Philip, Is this Tolson? also part of the Tolson family homeplace on Ocracoke, the Old house we love & rent each year, that is now known as the Rondthaler house. Think I remember reading that it was (I think) the Tolson homeplace before the Rondthaler's purchased in 1930s or 1940s. - Nollie

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  4. Nollie, the "Rondthaler House" was previously owned by Daniel Sylvester Tolson (1867-1944) and Sabra Howard Tolson (1870-1951). Sabra was my grandfather's sister. My dad always referred to the house as "Uncle Dan's & Aunt Saber's."

    I don't know what connection there may be between Uncle Dan and Samuel Tolson from Portsmouth. It is likely very remote.

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