 |
The Rev. Simeon Colton, D.D., by illustrator
Rich Powell from a 1904 engraving of
an 1854 daguerreotype. |
ASHEBORO --
What was
life like in Asheboro in the 1850s?
Find out as Ross Holt, director of the Randolph County
Public Library, debuts his book A Man of
Restless Enterprise: The Diary of Simeon Colton, 1851-1862, at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, January 8, at the Asheboro Public Library.
Holt’s talk is free and the public is invited.
The Yale-educated Rev. Simeon Colton, D.D. (1785-1868), was
the superintendent of the Asheboro Male and Female Academies from 1854 until
his retirement in 1862, and minister of Asheboro Presbyterian Church during the
same period. Holt has transcribed and annotated Colton’s diary, which is in the
Southern Historical Collection at The University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
“The diary is an amazing look at life in central North
Carolina as the country heads towards civil war,” Holt says.
In his writings, Colton shares his thought on domestic
affairs, the complexities of travel both in the area and nationally, and the
difficulty of operating schools in communities facing demographic, economic and
civic challenges. He also reflects on his charge to develop Presbyterian
congregations in rural areas, and wrestles with his own questions of faith.
As the country draws toward war, Colton turns his incisive
mind to national affairs, and to the sin of slavery as the genesis of the
conflict.
Pious and outspoken, Colton also is not shy about voicing
his opinion of neighbors and colleagues who fell short of his expectations.
“Some of the diary reads like ‘Asheboro Confidential,’” Holt says.
Colton was a Connecticut native who grew up in
Massachusetts. A lifelong educator, he served as principal of a series of
preparatory schools in Massachusetts and Cumberland County, N.C., before coming
to Asheboro.
Colton’s diary also sheds light on the amazing reach of his
colleagues, friends and former students. Among the latter were Charles Merriam,
who would establish The Merriam-Webster
Dictionary, and Loring Norcross, who would become the uncle of poet Emily
Dickinson.
Included in Holt’s book is the most definitive profile of
Colton to date, was well as profiles of his extraordinary children, who made
significant contributions of their own. “One of my colleagues observed that
Colton’s story demonstrates the power of a family that places a supreme value
on education” Holt says.
The diary project grew out of Holt’s research for the
Randolph County Historic Landmark Preservation Commission on the 1839 Asheboro
Female Academy, which recently was designated as a Randolph County Historic
Landmark.
A Man of Restless
Enterprise is available through
Amazon.com. Proceeds from book sales go to
the Randolph Room, the local history and genealogy service of the Randolph
County Public Library.
Holt said the process of transcribing the diary and chasing
down references to people and places was a series of daily “A-ha” moments,
generating a series of interesting and sometimes odd facts. For example:
- Colton was trained at Yale as a chemist, and had
a lifelong affinity for the subject. In 1850, he testified as an expert witness
in a celebrated murder trial in Fayetteville.
- Colton was put on trial by the Presbyterian
church during a doctrinal controversy in 1839 and acquitted, but just barely.
- Among his friends was Elisha Mitchell, the
University of North Carolina professor who measured the altitude of North
Carolina’s Black Mountains and for whom Mount Mitchell is named.
- His son Henry was a newspaper editor who shot a
man, nearly fought a duel, and wrote the first travel guidebook to the western
North Carolina mountains.
- His son Fisher was a prominent architect in the
heyday of Chicago building, and designed the Gold Coast mansion that was used
as the exterior of the family home in the 1980s television series “Webster.
- ”His grandson Henry argued the appeal of John
Thomas Scopes, from the famed “Monkey Trial,” before the Tennessee Supreme
Court.
- His granddaughter Elizabeth was an instructor at
Meredith College whose research transformed higher education for women in the
early part of the 20th century.
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