Bertie County NcArchives History .....Bertie Co Railroads 19th Century 
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Gerald Thomas gerald_thomas00@comcast.net March 21, 2017, 3:57 pm

BERTIE COUNTY RAILROADS
DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
by 
Gerald W. Thomas
© 2017

The North Carolina General Assembly took its initial action to have railroads
constructed within the state in 1831 when it passed a law directing the governor
or Board of Internal Improvements to have surveys made for two desired railroads
– the Carolina Central and the Cape Fear and Yadkin. During the same session,
the legislators authorized charters for two other railroad entities – the North
Carolina Railroad Company and the Tarboro and Hamilton Railroad Company. (During
this period in the state’s history, individuals seeking to establish private
companies were required to obtain authority from the legislature.) In 1832 the
General Assembly enacted Virginia laws incorporating the Portsmouth and Roanoke
Railroad Company, and the Petersburg Railroad Company.  Authorizing charters for
the incorporation of railroad companies became the "rage" with the General
Assemblies of 1833 and 1835, when nine and seven charters, respectively, were
granted.1
The Petersburg Railroad Company, having received legal authorization to build
and operate a rail line in North Carolina, petitioned the Northampton County
court in June 1832 and September 1832 to be granted permission to extend its
rail line into the state. By September 1833 the company had secured necessary
right-of-ways across various properties within the county and laid tracks to
Blakely (subsequently Garysburg), on the Roanoke River, the terminal point on
the nine-mile section of the line.2
	During the 1856-1857 session of the General Assembly, Joseph R. Mason of
Northampton County introduced a bill in the House of Commons to charter a
company to construct a railroad from Garysburg to Windsor. The resulting law,
ratified on February 2, 1857, mandated that a corporate entity, to be known as
the Garysburg and Windsor Railroad Company, be organized to construct a railroad
from Garysburg to Mud Castle, Jackson, Rich Square, Roxobel and Windsor. The
statute appointed twenty-one commissioners, including six individuals from
Bertie County – Stephen A. Norfleet, A. W. Capehart and J. H. Hardy (all of
Roxobel) and L. T. Webb, J. J. Taylor and William Gray (all of Windsor) – to
receive subscriptions for capital stock of the company. The commissioners were
authorized to sell shares of stock to individuals, counties and towns. The law
did not specify a finite amount of funds to be raised from the sale of stock
($50 per share), but stipulated that sufficient money be raised to construct and
equip the road. Additionally, the statute mandated that stockholders elect seven
directors of the company and that those seven individuals select one of their
own as the company’s president. The seven persons, in essence the de facto
"board" of directors, were tasked by the law "to have constructed as speedily as
practicable a railway with one tract [track] from Garysburg to Windsor." The
company was specifically given the "power" to condemn land in cases where
landowners were unwilling to sell right-of-ways across their lands for the
railroad. The company was further authorized to transport passengers and freight.3
	The Garysburg and Windsor Railroad Company never materialized. No records or
other information have been found to document efforts made to implement the
provisions of the authorizing legislation. Surely, the chaos and difficult times
brought upon North Carolina during the Civil War (1861-1865) would have negated
any efforts to build the rail line.
By the start of the Civil War, North Carolina lawmakers had authorized more than
three dozen railroad companies to be chartered. While every authorized company
was not subsequently organized, by the outbreak of the war chartered companies
had constructed more than 900 miles of rail lines across the state. However,
none of the lines ran into the counties that bordered the Albemarle Sound,
including Bertie County. Railway building was curtailed in the state during the
war and did not resume until 1867. Resumption of railroad construction did not
resurrect the Garysburg to Windsor railroad.4
	By the early 1870s no railroad had progressed into Bertie County. Then, in late
1872, reports circulated within North Carolina that a railroad was being planned
that would eventually run through the county. Reportedly, a company to be known
as the Atlantic and Pacific Seaboard Railway, was to build a line from Norfolk
to Charleston that would pass through Gates, Hertford, Bertie, Martin, Beaufort,
Craven, Jones, Onslow, New Hanover and Brunswick counties.5 However, no company
was organized to construct the road. 
Bertie County’s first railroad was built by Greenleaf Johnson, a Baltimore
lumberman and entrepreneur, who established lumber operations in the county
before the end of the 1870s. On March 15, 1878, Johnson’s son and business
associate, Howard N. Johnson, and prominent lumberman, John L. Roper, purchased
pine timber standing on two tracts of land in Bertie County. The two men
acquired timber on two additional tracts before the end of the month. These
"timber deeds" represented the first transactions in the county associated with
Greenleaf Johnson’s lumber company. Johnson’s business model entailed purchasing
parcels of land with standing timber, or buying timber from landowners, felling
the trees and transporting the resulting logs to his sawmill. The logs were
transported over a rail system that eventually interwound through more than
30,000 acres of land. Johnson located his sawing operations southeast of Windsor
at a point on the Cashie River near the mouth of Wading Place Creek, a site
commonly known today as Johnson's Mill. The mill site served as the terminal
location for the rail system. Lumber products produced at the sawmill were
loaded onto boats and barges and shipped to Norfolk and Baltimore.6
Johnson wasted no time in commencing construction of his railroad. The system,
built as a "narrow gauge" line, entailed five miles of track running "back to
the highlands" by mid-November 1879. Logs were skidded to the rail sidings by
oxen and mules, loaded by steam engines mounted on rail cars and pulled by steam
locomotives to the mill.7
	The beginning of the decade of the 1880s found the citizens of Bertie County
without the benefit of a rail system interjecting into the county upon which
valuable agricultural, forestry and fishery products could be transported to
markets. The county’s businessmen and farmers predominantly shipped their goods
from the county’s ports of Colerain, Windsor, Avoca and various other wharves
situated along the Chowan, Roanoke and Cashie rivers and Salmon Creek. The
citizens of Windsor, the county seat, particularly felt that a rail line to
their town would be highly conducive to improving the local economy. But, for
such a line to be planned and constructed, officers of one of the railways
running to the north or west of Bertie had to be persuaded that profits were to
be made by tapping into the county’s resources and economy.
	Citizens of nearby Halifax County held the same position and they strongly
desired that a railroad be brought to Scotland Neck. In April 1881, a
"committee" of individuals from the town proposed to officials of the Wilmington
and Weldon Railroad Company that a fourteen-mile branch running from Scotland
Neck to a point about eight miles below Weldon on the Wilmington and Weldon
Railroad would benefit the entire Roanoke valley, including upper Bertie County.
The citizens positioned that such a rail way, with a depot in Scotland Neck,
would move goods, produce, and other marketable items directly to Norfolk and
Richmond. The committee proposed to build the branch road, which, when
completed, would be turned over to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Company.
The company would furnish the rolling stock and other necessary operating
equipment. At the time the residents of Halifax, Northampton and upper Bertie
counties were mostly served by steamboat navigation on the Roanoke River.8
Alternative competition with the steamboat companies would be beneficial and
convenient.
	Later in the spring of 1881 published reports indicated that Bertie County
might receive a railroad, not from a rail line to its west but from its east. By
the middle of May 1881, the Elizabeth City and Norfolk Railroad (chartered in
1870) was nearing completion. According to a newspaper article, the road was
going to be extended to Edenton about thirty miles farther westward. The article
continued, "it is probable that by means of a railroad ferry connection with the
west side of Chowan river [i.e., Bertie County] will be made and the road
continued through Bertie, Martin, and to Goldsboro or another point on the
Wilmington & Weldon Railroad.9
	The editors of at least one Virginia newspaper, the Index-Appeal of Petersburg,
believed that significant economic benefits would result, both to Bertie County
and Virginia citizens, with the extension of a railroad into Bertie County. The
paper supported the construction of a railroad from Garysburg through
Northampton and Bertie counties to the headwaters of Albemarle Sound. The road
would access "a fine cotton district, tap one of the best wooded timber belts on
the Atlantic Seaboard and terminate at the large fisheries on Albemarle Sound."
The road, connecting with the Petersburg Railroad at Garysburg, would serve as a
"tributary to Petersburg and throw a vast deal of country produce into" that
city’s market. The paper noted that Petersburg area businessmen would accrue
benefits from the enterprise. The paper espoused that the Virginians could
"safely promise our North Carolina friends a hearty co-operation on the part of
Petersburg and the Petersburg and Weldon railroad, if once the enterprise is
begun." At the time a prominent lawyer in Northampton County supposedly was
engaged in preparing a charter for the Northampton Railroad Company. The
company, once organized, intended to run a rail line from Garysburg to Woodland,
a small, but very prosperous town near the border of Northampton and Bertie
counties. The editors surmised that it was "more than probable that the people
of Bertie would complete" the railroad through the county to Albemarle Sound.10
Bertie County, it seemed, was to receive a railroad to connect with other parts
of the state, but the reports all seemed premature and without substantive bases
– the products of early-on discussions or conjecture. The Goldsboro Star of July
23, 1881, contained another similar report. "A company is being organized to
start the railroad from Suffolk to Goldsboro crossing the Roanoke at Williamston
and running through the counties of Hertford, Bertie, Martin, Pitt and Hyde."
Less than ten months later, a public report indicated that a railroad was "in
course of construction from some point on Chowan River, near Petty Shores [in
Hertford County, east/northeast of Cofield], and will pass through Hertford and
Bertie counties, to some point on the Roanoke River. About four miles of the
track is reportedly already laid."11 But again, no railroad came to Bertie County.
 	During its 1883 session, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law to
incorporate Greenleaf Johnson’s lumber and railroad operations. The law,
ratified on March 7, 1883, appointed Johnson, his two sons (Greenleaf Jr. and
Howard N.), Duncan C. Winston and James J. Moore as a "body politic" (corporate
entity) "to be styled" as the Cashie and Chowan Railroad and Lumber Company. The
statute authorized the company to construct, equip and operate a railroad of any
gauge from some point on Cashie River near Windsor to some point in the county,
or some point in Hertford County, or in the direction of Chowan River. Also, the
law authorized the company to extend its railroad to the Roanoke River and to
build and operate branch lines running off the main line, provided that no
branch exceeded ten miles in length. To generate a cash corpus to finance the
company’s operations, the act allowed for $100,000 in capital stock to be sold
at $50 a share (2,000 shares).12
By the spring of 1883, the Johnson lumber company was carrying on an "extensive
business" in Bertie County. In May a Raleigh newspaper reported that the company
had twelve miles of railroad, three locomotives, three steamboats, and a
steam-powered mill boasting a five-horse-power saw. Logs were being cut across
the county, hauled from three to seven miles over the railroad system to the
sawmill where they were cut into lumber and shipped to Johnson’s Norfolk
business location. Some logs, rather than being processed into lumber, were
assembled into "rafts" at the sawmill and at a site on Salmon Creek and
transported to Norfolk by steam tugs, where the logs were cut into lumber. The
company’s average sales were one million board feet of lumber per month. The
paper further reported that Johnson’s company was currently building a road in
Hertford and Bertie counties. The road was intended to eventually connect
Windsor on the Cashie River and Winton on Chowan River, a distance of more than
thirty miles.13
	Access to railroad transportation continued to be a desired objective of Bertie
County officials and certain citizens. To provide some access to the railroad
facilities at Scotland Neck, the commissioners of Bertie and Halifax counties
authorized the establishment of a ferry across Roanoke River at Clark’s Landing.
The commissioners designated M. L. Wood, Esq., a prominent resident of Lewiston,
to establish the cross-river transportation and construct related facilities.
Wood’s ferry opened for business on Monday, August 30, 1883, and afforded
travelers a more direct road between the upper end of Bertie County and the
railroad terminus at Scotland Neck. The new route shortened the distance between
Lewiston (Woodville) and Scotland Neck by approximately eight miles.14 But, the
large majority of Bertie County residents received little or no benefit as a
result of the new access to the Halifax County railroad facilities. The access
primarily benefited the citizens in the western section of Bertie County.
	By the mid-1880s alternative transportation to steamers on the area waterways
and wagons and carts pulled by horses, mules and oxen over rough roads was
becoming more imperative to the people of Bertie County. Windsor, the county
seat, was almost totally dependent on water-borne shipping down the crooked,
narrow and somewhat treacherous Cashie River. The ten miles of river from
Windsor to Johnson’s Mill was the most dangerous stretch of the waterway with
"many sunken logs and trees" and almost continuous overhanging tree limbs from
both banks obscuring navigation. A Congressionally-mandated survey of Cashie
River conducted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers during the fall of
1884 concluded that more transportation was needed for the citizens of Windsor
and Bertie County. Large lumbering operations, extensive fisheries and
considerable farming were all dependent on the Cashie River, termed by Assistant
Engineer, Capt. F. A. Hinman, as "the sole outlet" for their products.15   
	Two years after the General Assembly enacted legislation to incorporate
Greenleaf Johnson’s lumber and associated railroad operations, it passed a law
that chartered the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad and Lumber Company. The law,
ratified on March 4, 1885, appointed James A. Church, James B. Martin, George H.
Reeves, E. Dwight Church, R. E. Oatman, John L. Roper, and Scott Sykes as the
"body politic." James A. Church, of New York, was the principal owner of the
company. The law authorized the company to construct and maintain a narrow-gauge
railroad from a point at, or near Hill’s Ferry on Roanoke River in the western
sector of Bertie County, to a point on the Cashie River at or near Simmons’
Landing (subsequently known as Austin), situated just south of Windsor. The
company was granted the authority to operate branch lines which were not to
exceed twenty miles in any direction from the main line. Furthermore, the
company was given the "exclusive right" to carry passengers and transport
freight over its rail system, provided that "reasonable rates" were charged.16
	Shortly after the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad Company was chartered, the
proposition of a "Garysburg and Windsor Railroad" resurfaced. Almost three
decades had passed since the North Carolina legislature had authorized a company
to be chartered for the construction of the direly needed line. By early April
1885 Peter E. Smith (a surveyor, civil and mechanical engineer of Halifax
County) had finished a "preliminary survey" for the forty-five-mile line.
However, the commencement of construction on the line was dependent on the
citizens of Bertie and Northampton counties raising $80,000, each county being
responsible for $40,000.17
	Robert Rufus Bridgers, president of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad,
reportedly supported the Garysburg-Windsor rail line and was "ready and anxious
to build the road." However, Bridgers was expressly unwilling to initiate any
work unless the citizens of Northampton and Bertie counties fulfilled "their
part of the proposition." In addition to raising $80,000 for the project, the
people of the two counties were also expected to give right-of-ways across the
lands where the line was to run and contribute standing timber "of proper
quality" near the line of the proposed road for crossties and necessary
trestles. Additionally, Bridgers demanded to be provided "upfront" $40,000 in
cash or $50,000 in county bonds from Northampton County, such financial
resources to be used to pay expenses related to grading the roadbed. Bridgers
was willing to "extend the road to Windsor in Bertie upon like terms." The
Roanoke News (Weldon) reported on April 30 that "if the people of these counties
want the road and [are] ready to assist in the work as was at first suggested
the road will soon be built." In the view of certain persons, there was "no
doubt" that the road would be of "incalculable benefit" to the two counties.18
As had been the case in the late 1850s, no railroad would be constructed from
Garysburg to Windsor. Given the conditions placed on the project by Bridgers,
its seems likely that the citizens of Bertie and Northampton counties –
particularly those individuals who would have been required to give up real
estate rights and valuable timber – were not generally receptive to the
railroad, regardless of the overall benefits that might have accrued to the
counties. Also, the "upfront" funding for construction of the road may not have
been raised. 	 
	By the summer of 1885 work had begun on the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad. Crews
were busy clearing the roadbed and laying the rails for a line from Austin to
Lewiston. By the middle of October the road had been constructed from the
landing to within six miles of Lewiston. At that time the ongoing construction
was intended to only run the line to the town of Lewiston, from whence its
continued course was to be determined, possibly to the rail terminal at Scotland
Neck. A corresponded writing from Lewiston noted that it was generally thought
that a cheaper route would be to connect with the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad
at some point near Weldon. While the road’s main objective was, in accordance
with its legislature-approved charter, the transportation of lumber, it was also
going to accommodate passengers.19 
	The construction of a partial cross-county railroad in Bertie County was "to be
rejoiced." An unidentified correspondent from Lewiston wrote: "May the day soon
come when we may be connected with other parts of the country by steel ribs. The
transportation facilities in this county are very poor indeed. The people of …
[Bertie County] are in need of a Railroad and such an enterprise would pay the
projectors [investors]. It is a fine country and only needs facilities for
shipping. The road would be very beneficial also to either Weldon or Scotland
Neck."20
	The citizens of Lewiston and the western section of Bertie County were destined
to be the beneficiaries of a railroad coming out of Virginia. By early October
1886, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company had begun work on a
thirty-five-mile stretch of road from Boykins, Virginia to Lewiston. The route
along which the road was to be constructed had been surveyed, the right-of-way
cleared, and iron [rails] had been purchased. Grading the roadbed was slated to
soon begin. The road, once completed and operational, would bring substantial
benefits to the peninsula between the Roanoke and Chowan which was very
destitute of railroad facilities.21
	In early 1887 the Chowan and Roanoke Railroad Company was nearing completion of
its line from Austin to Lewiston. The General Assembly, during its 1887 session
(January 5 – March 7) passed an act to amend the company’s charter. The act was
ratified on February 1, 1887. First, the law revised the name of the company to
Cashie and Roanoke Railroad Company. Second, the act in essence re-authorized
the company to construct and maintain a narrow or standard gauge railroad from
Lewiston to Simmons’ Landing (Austin). Third, the law granted permission to the
company to extend its railroad to Garysburg and Avoca at the head of Albemarle
Sound.22 Clearly, the state’s lawmakers desired to give the company ample legal
latitude to maximize its operations in Bertie County and thereby, provide direly
need transportation services to the citizens of the county.
	The Cashie and Roanoke Railroad’s Windsor (Austin)-to-Lewiston line was
completed by March 1889. Regional newspapers immediately reported the "good"
news and indicated that there were "good prospects" for a railroad to next be
built to Avoca. It was "believed" that the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad Company
would soon extend its line from Windsor to Avoca. More important at that time,
the Seaboard Air Line road, which was still under construction from Boykins to
Lewiston, was destined to provide Windsor access to North Carolina and
Virginia’s overall rail networks, giving Bertie resident an all-rail route to
major commercial centers. Access to such centers had "been greatly needed."23
	In the fall of 1887 surveyors were at work locating a railroad crossing over
the Roanoke River at Norfleet’s Ferry, between Roxobel and Scotland Neck. Local
residents surmised that the work was being done under the direction of the
Cashie and Roanoke Railroad Company. However, at the time the Seaboard Air Line
and the Atlantic Coast Line railroad companies were competing for more rail
business in the Old North State. Both entities were seeking to extend their
lines in the Roanoke Valley region and the interior sections of North Carolina.24
	By the spring of 1888, James A. Church’s lumbering operations throughout Bertie
County were in full production. Trains of the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad were
daily transporting logs to the company’s facilities at Austin which was
"improving wonderfully." An account contained in the Windsor Public Ledger
revealed that Church was preparing to make "extensive improvements" in the
terminal facilities at Austin to better serve freight and passenger traffic.25


Log train of the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad at the Austin facilities on Cashie
River. Image from The Windsor Story, 1768-1968, Windsor Bicentennial Commission,
62.

	Concurrently, Greenleaf Johnson’s lumbering and rail operations centered at
Howard, Johnson’s Mill, were similarly "a busy world." One individual observed
that the Cashie and Chowan Railroad and Lumber Company’s large properties and
operations within Bertie County were managed by E. E. Smith, with "ease and
precision" that was "astonishing."26
	In early 1888 the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company completed construction of
its line from Boykins to Lewiston. Intermediate stations on the line in Bertie
County included Roxobel and Beverly. A station at Kelford was subsequently
added. The new line became part of the Roanoke and Tar River Railroad, a
subsidiary of the Seaboard Air Line system. The new road, in conjunction with
the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad from Windsor to Lewiston, provided citizens of
the region long-desired access to expanded transportation. In June 1888 a number
of citizens of eastern Northampton chartered an engine and "train of cars" to
"run an excursion" to Portsmouth, Virginia. The chartered train departed the new
depot at Roxobel on June 22, travelled over the recently-opened Roanoke and Tar
River Railroad to Boykins, where the excursionists transferred to a train of the
Seaboard Air Line to complete their trip to Portsmouth.27
	The people of Bertie County had long sought rail line transportation within the
county; but, difficulties soon arose around the joint-company use of the
terminal facilities at Lewiston. Competition between the Cashie and Roanoke
Railroad and the Roanoke and Tar River Railroad was detrimentally impacting the
business of James A. Church’s company. The original purpose of the Cashie and
Roanoke Railroad was to transport large quantities of lumber to market, moving
logs along the rail line from Lewiston and other points within Bertie County to
the company’s facilities at Austin. When the line was completed (early 1887)
there was no other railroad serving Lewiston. Church, at the solicitation of
area citizens, extended the road to the town to provide freight and passenger
service. Within about a year the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company completed
its branch line – the Roanoke and Tar River Railroad – into  Lewiston.
Immediately after the introduction of the Roanoke and Tar River line into
Lewiston, freight and passenger transportation from the town over Church’s road
"ceased almost entirely." Consequently, Cashie and Roanoke Railroad trains were
run to and from Lewiston "at ruinous loss." Church reportedly "used every means
to stimulate patronage" for his railroad, but "without effect." He continued to
provide rail service to Lewiston until November 1889, when he had company
workers take up two miles of track running into the town and use the resulting
iron on other parts of the company’s rail system.28  
	Subsequently, a freight agent of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Company
visited Lewiston to investigate the matter and ascertain if it would be
profitable for the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad Company to re-establish the line
to Lewiston. After a "full investigation" the agent disclosed that "under no
circumstances could it be made to pay."29 Church’s company would not be able to
generate sufficient revenues from freight and passenger traffic into and out of
Lewiston to cover its related operating expenses.
	Residents of the Lewiston area were not happy that the rail line to Windsor had
been severed. Thus, they sought remedy. On December 21, 1891, approximately two
years after Church cut the rail line to Lewiston, a group of area citizens led
by W. A. Saunders filed a petition with the North Carolina Board of Railroad
Commissioners (i.e., the Railway Commission) seeking to have the Cashie and
Roanoke Railroad Company reconnect its rail line. On January 13, 1892, John
Wellington Branning, then owner and president of the company, filed the
company’s written answer with the Railway Commission. A hearing was scheduled
before the commission for April 20, 1892, but was continued until May 18, 189,
in Raleigh. Attorneys, Francis D. Winston and W. D. Pruden, represented the
company. John W. Branning appeared and testified. According to Branning, the
"track [was] taken up and discontinued for no other reason than want of business
… [and] if [sufficient] business could be extended to the company it would
gladly re-establish the line." The Commission opined that it should not require
the company to re-establish the line. Further, it appearing that the acts
occurred before the establishment of the Commission, it had no power to grant
the relief sought in the petition. Therefore, the petition was refused and the
action dismissed.30
	Western Bertie County’s access to railroad facilities allowed citizens to take
pleasure trips, as well as conduct business through rail operations. In the fall
of 1889 the Roanoke and Tar River Railroad ran "excursion trains" on two days
directly from Lewiston to the state fairgrounds at Raleigh so that citizens
might attend the State Fair. Conveniently, riders were not required to change
rail cars going to, or returning from, the event.31
	Two years had passed since surveyors located a site for a railroad bridge
across the Roanoke River in western Bertie County. By late October 1889,
construction on the bridge and a rail line running from Lewiston to the crossing
was almost complete. Once operational, the line would afford Bertie County
citizens a "direct railroad communication" with Raleigh. The Roanoke River – the
"bridgeless stream" – had "vanished."32
	The Chowan and Southern Railroad Company was chartered in North Carolina on
March 7, 1887, and January 24, 1889, and in Virginia on May 5, 1887, and January
27, 1888. The company was chartered to construct a railway system between Tunis
Landing on Chowan River through the counties of Hertford and Bertie to some
point on the Roanoke River in Bertie County. The company was also given the
privilege of extending its line on the south or west of Roanoke River to any
point on the Tar or Neuse rivers. During construction the name of the company
was changed to the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad Company. The main line was
completed in the latter part of 1889 and the road opened on April 1, 1890. The
road ran from Ahoskie into Bertie County to Early’s, Aulander, Kelford and
onward across the Roanoke River to Palmyra, Halifax County, eventually
terminating at Tarboro.33	
	In January 1890, John W. Branning, formerly a resident of Camden, New Jersey
who had, for a few years, been involved in the lumber business in North
Carolina, purchased 125 million feet of pine timber and other assets from James
A. Church. Branning, as the president and agent of Banning Manufacturing
Company, also purchased the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad and related assets,
which consisted of thirty miles of road (main line and branches) from Austin, a
steam-tug, barges, and log-rafting gear. The overall purchase price was almost
$1.2 million. The timber was all standing and covered approximately 50,000
acres. With the purchase, Branning Manufacturing Company owned more that 250
million feet of timber in Bertie, Martin and Washington counties. In connection
with the acquisition, Branning Manufacturing Company sold to Chicago Lumber
Company sixty million feet of "manufactured timber" to be delivered within three
years. Much of the timber was to be transported to the Branning Manufacturing
Company’s sawmill on the Edenton waterfront, which processed 100,000 feet of
timber per day.34
	On Saturday, March 29, 1890, citizens of Bertie County assembled at the
courthouse in Windsor to discuss actions to be taken to convince one of the
railroad companies then doing business in the county to run a line to the town.
However, the meeting was "poorly attended and … little was done." Apparently,
the residents had little interest in securing a railroad to the county seat.
With the rail line between Austin and Lewiston intentionally severed, the
nearest railroad connections to Windsor were about sixteen miles distant to
Lewiston (the Roanoke and Tar River Railroad) and about twenty miles to Aulander
(the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad). One individual surmised that either of
those railroad companies would likely run a line to Windsor if enough
inducements were offered. The individual concluded that "we fear that it will be
a long time before the whistle of the steam engine is heard in our town unless
it be the whistle of those that belong to the lumber roads."35
	John W. Branning, having purchased massive timber holdings, required
legislative authority to further expand his railroad system. The North Carolina
General Assembly during its 1891 session passed an act to amend the company’s
charter. The legislature permitted the company to construct and operate a
railroad from some point on Salmon Creek to within two miles of the mouth of the
creek in the direction of its main tract at Austin. The act stipulated that the
railroad not exceed fifty miles in length and that lateral or branch roads on
either side not exceed fifteen miles in length. The law authorized the company
to transport freight and passengers on the road. Since the newly authorized road
was to be constructed in Bertie County in an area on the opposite side of Cashie
River from Branning’s center of operations at Austin, the law permitted the
company to build a bridge across the river, provided that the structure did no
obstruct navigation on the waterway. The law was ratified on February 2, 1891.36
	Operating logging railroads was an immensely dangerous, and at times, deadly
undertaking. Accidents commonly occurred when employees loaded logs onto rail
cars, transported the loads to mill and terminal facilities, and unloaded the
cars. A serious accident occurred on the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad near
Windsor on Monday, November 23, 1891. A locomotive "ran off the track,"
completely wrecking the engine and causing an estimated $3,000 in damages. The
train’s engineer, fireman and several other employees of the company were
scalded and burned severely. An account of the wreck in a state newspaper noted
that a "good many accidents" had happened on that rail line and several persons
had been killed since it began operations in Bertie County.37
	By the end of 1891, four railroad entities – the Cashie and Chowan Railroad and
Lumber Company (logging), the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad Company (logging), the
Roanoke and Tar River Railroad, and the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad – were
operating in various areas of Bertie County. Almost eighty-seven miles of tracks
were operational in the county, of which sixty-five miles belonged to the two
logging companies.38
	Early 1892 brought news to Bertie County residents that a new rail line to be
known as the Norfolk, Wilmington and Charleston Railroad was in the planning
stage and might be influenced to run its line through the county. Rumors of this
to-be-constructed railroad had briefly surfaced in 1891. News of the railroad
quickly circulated throughout eastern North Carolina generating a good deal of
excitement. By early March citizens of Windsor were arranging an election in the
township to subscribe $15,000 to be contributed toward construction costs and as
an inducement for the line to pass through the town. Before the end of the month
engineers had surveyed the entire line along which the railroad was to be
located from Norfolk to Charleston. The projected line passed through Colerain
and Windsor. The estimated cost of building the railroad was $6,000,000.
Elections were held Monday, May 16, in Windsor and Colerain townships on the
question of subscriptions of $15,000 by each township to purchase capital stock
of the Norfolk, Wilmington and Charleston Railroad Company. The votes in both
townships were for the subscriptions. But, construction never began for the line
which turned out to be "imaginary."39 Once again, the hopes of Windsor’s
citizens for a railroad to come to their town were dashed.
	Concurrently with the reports of the Norfolk to Charleston line, other reports
circulated that the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad Company intended to build a
branch line from Aulander to Windsor and farther eastward to Avoca. The Roanoke
News on March 24, 1892, reported that G. M. Serpell, general manager of the
Norfolk and Carolina Railroad, "confirmed" that the branch road would be
constructed to Avoca, a distance of about forty-five miles. The paper
specifically noted that Dr. William R. Capehart’s "large seine fishery" was
located at Avoca, alluding that Capehart’s operations would benefit from the
line. Workers began surveying the route on Monday, March 21. It was reported
that the contemplated road would "in no manner interfere with the Norfolk,
Wilmington and Charleston R.R."40 But, no rail line was built to Windsor and Avoca.
On August 10, 1892, citizens of Kelford filed a complaint with the North
Carolina Railroad Commission claiming that the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad
Company did not provide sufficient accommodations for freight or passengers at
the Kelford depot. Eight days later a representative for the railroad company
replied that the company’s warehouses and reception room at Kelford were large
enough to accommodate the business which was characterized as "very light." The
representative further conveyed that the company would make Kelford a flag stop
if it did not have to stop its trains there to accommodate the crossing with the
Roanoke and Tar River Railroad. The clear majority of the business transacted at
Kelford, while considered light, was done with the Norfolk and Carolina
Railroad. Supposedly, the Roanoke and Tar River Railroad Company was willing to
build a station at Kelford whenever the business at the station appeared to
demand it. Depots at Roxobel (two miles distant on the Norfolk and Carolina
line) and Lewiston (six miles) had "ample station accommodations." Furthermore,
at Beverly (one mile from Kelford) there was a flag station and depot. Nineteen
months later (March 14, 1894) the commission opined that the facts of the matter
appeared "as set forth" by the company and the case was dismissed.41
Obviously, the Kelford citizens were not satisfied with the outcome of the case.
On January 27, 1897, they filed a new complaint against the Norfolk and Carolina
Railroad Company in which they asked the company to enlarge its Kelford
facilities for both freight and passengers. The company’s general manager, G. M.
Serpell, replied to the complaint stating that the facilities were "sufficient."
The Railroad Commission called the case at an April 14, 1897, session during
which the commissioners opined that "no additional improvements should be
ordered [for the Kelford depot] at the present time."42 For the second time
Kelford residents had failed to move the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad Company
to modify its facilities in their town.
	However, the citizens did not simply "walk away" from what they considered a
significant issue. They filed a third complaint against the company in early
1898. That complaint was basically the same as the previous two – "insufficient
freight and passenger accommodations furnished by [the] … company at Kelford."
But, their latest complaint contained a detail that the earlier two submissions
had not – "only one small waiting room for all colors" was available at the
Kelford depot. In short, the white citizens doing business with the Norfolk and
Carolina Railroad at the Kelford station, including awaiting the arrival of
passenger trains, had to comingle in the waiting area with black citizens. The
complaint was "served on" the company on February 3, 1898, to which G. M.
Serpell replied nine days later. "[T]wo additional rooms would be added to the
present building at once," clearly indicating that the railroad’s facilities at
Kelford would be immediately segregated. At a session of Railroad Commission
held on February 17, 1898, the commissioners noted that "it appearing that the
relief asked was being granted … no further action [was] desired." The case was
closed.43
	The North Carolina General Assembly passed an act during its 1893 session to
incorporate the Chowan and Aulander Railroad Company. The law was ratified on
March 4, 1893, and authorized the company, primarily comprised of members of the
Camp family from Franklin, Virginia, to acquire and own timberlands in North
Carolina. The act also authorized the company to build and operate a lumber
railroad from some point on the Chowan River near Harrellsville to Aulander,
Bertie County. (The railroad did not become operational until 1902.)44
During 1893 a series of events occurred that significantly impacted the
operation of Bertie County railroads. First, in late summer Branning
Manufacturing Company shut down all of its facilities, including the mills at
Edenton, the lumber operations at Austin, and the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad in
Bertie. The drastic and impactful actions were taken due to the ongoing
stringency in the lumber market. The United States was experiencing an economic
depression and Branning’s business operations were victims of the downturn. In
Bertie County a large number of men employed by Branning were "thrown out of
employment."45 The lumber market had harshly deteriorated during the three-plus
years following Branning’s acquisition of James A. Church’s businesses.
	But, John Wellington Branning, the enterprising and risk-taking business man,
would immediately launch another venture in the midst of the depression. He, as
president, organized the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad Company. On
October 20, 1893, Branning and the directors of the new company met and decided
to make an offer to the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad Company (of which Branning
was also president) to purchase that company’s assets for $56,483. The assets
included about ten miles of roadbed from Austin to Biggs’ Mill (in Bertie
County), all terminal buildings, stations, docks, switches, rails,
right-of-ways, locomotives (three), logging cars (forty-five), flat cars (three)
and a passenger coach. The resulting deed documenting the sale was recorded in
the Bertie County Register of Deeds records on October 23, 1893. Two days later
Branning filed articles of association with the North Carolina Secretary of
State for the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad Company. The company would
build a new single-track, narrow-gauge rail system in Bertie County. The road
would not run down the tracks of the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad from Austin to
Lewiston. That line, fifteen miles in length, was abandoned during 1894.
Branning would build his new road from the banks of the Cashie River at Windsor
to Powellsville, a few miles from the Hertford County boundary and the town of
Ahoskie.46 By 1894 construction (clearing the right-of-way, building up and
grading the roadbed, etc.) was underway on rail line.
As construction was ongoing on the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad,
Branning re-apparently opened at least a portion of the Cashie and Roanoke line
running from Austin. On Saturday, June 29, 1895, a heavily loaded train was
approaching the facilities at Austin as an empty train was backing on the same
track. The loaded train overtook the "light one" and smashed one of the engines.
Fortunately, no one was injured as the engineers and firemen jumped from the
trains before impact "to save themselves."47
John W. Branning, president of Branning Manufacturing Company and the Wellington
and Powellsville Railroad Company, oversaw the construction of a logging
railroad from Powellsville to Wellington, at Jacocks’ Landing on the Cashie
River about twelve miles from Windsor. As part of the Wellington and
Powellsville Railroad system, the lumber line ran southeasterly from
Powellsville through Perrytown and Merry Hill to Wellington. A branch, or
"bogey" line, ran from the main line near Perrytown to Colerain. Originally,
logs were transported from lower Bertie County by "bogey" tracks to Jacocks
Landing and carried by barge to Edenton and Columbia.48
The intersection of the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad’s main line and
branch line to Colerain was situated on land owned by Jeremiah Perry’s heirs.
The Perry family members had not sold any of their land to the railroad company,
nor had they granted any right-of-way across their real estate. However, in
accordance with pertinent state law, the company had "condemned" a portion of
the Perry property for the use of its rail line prompting the Perry heirs to sue
the company. The suit was tried in Bertie Count Superior Court on January 20,
1896. The court’s judgment was in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding the Perry
heirs $225 plus their court costs for "lands taken [and] rendered to [the
Wellington and Powellsville Railroad] company during its existence." The award
was for an eighty-foot-wide right-of-way through the Perry land. Apparently, a
disagreement between the company’s officers and the Perry heirs continued after
thee judgment. Almost ten months later (November 9, 1896), the company sued the
Perrys and the court once again adjudged that the right-of-way be "divested out
of the said defendants" land. However, the Perry heirs were awarded $40 as
additional compensation for the right-of-way.49   


A log train of the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad at the Perrytown station
in 1896. Company officials and railroad crew members posed for the photograph.
Image courtesy of Bickett Perry.
 
Construction of the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad caused a legal
controversy to arise between Branning’s company and Greenleaf Johnson’s company,
the Cashie and Chowan Railroad and Lumber Company. The Wellington and
Powellsville Railroad Company sought to run its line across Johnson’s railroad
and associated right-of-way. Branning filed papers during a special proceeding
of Bertie County court to condemn Johnson’s land so that a right-of-way for the
line under construction could be obtained. Johnson’s company claimed it would
sustain irreparable damage and obtained a temporary restraining order. The court
found in favor of the railroad company. A penal sum was fixed by the Bertie
County court and Johnson appealed the decision to the North Carolina Supreme
Court. In early March 1895, the higher court held that it assumed that the penal
sum fixed by the Bertie County court, after due inquiry and deliberation, was
amply sufficient. The higher court further espoused that the Cashie and Chowan
Railroad and Lumber Company had failed to show that it had suffered, or would
suffer, irreparable injury. The petition was refused and the case dismissed.50
Greenleaf Johnson’s company would have to allow his competitor in the Bertie
County lumber industry to run its new Powellsville-to-Wellington railroad across
the company’s real estate.


This abstract from an 1898 North Carolina map shows the Wellington and
Powellsville Railroad lumber road running from Powellsville to Wellington
(Jacocks’ Landing) on the Cashie River and its branch line to Colerain. The
company’s line intersected with the Cashie and Chowan Railroad near Merry Hill,
likely the point of contention raised in the March 1895 civil suit between
Greenleaf Johnson’s Cashie and Chowan Railroad and Lumber Company and the
Wellington and Powellsville Railroad Company. Abstract courtesy of David S. Todd.

Greenleaf Johnson had suffered a defeat in the state’s court system, but a more
devastating personal loss had affected him and his family only a few days
earlier. Johnson’s son, Howard N., only forty-three years old, died at Norfolk
on February 24, 1895. While the younger Johnson had been ill for some time, his
death was unexpected. Greenleaf Johnson had not only lost a son, but also a
business associate and confidant. Howard had functioned as the
secretary-treasurer of the Johnson family’s lumber and railroad operations.51  
By December 1896 workers for the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad Company
had made sufficient progress on the Windsor-to-Powellsville route that they,
according to one source, were almost ready to begin installing crossties and
laying tracks from Windsor. The Roanoke News of December 10, 1896, contained a
"special from Windsor" – The Browning [sic, "Branning"] Manufacturing, Railroad
and Lumber Company will soon begin to build a railroad between this place and
Skoskie [Ahoskie], to connect this place with the Norfolk and Carolina road at
that point. The route bas been surveyed and stations located, and the
headquarters of the company will be in Windsor." A July 1897 newspaper contained
a report that "Windsor, Bertie County expects to be connected with the outside
world by railroad in a month."52 However, that was not the case.
The General Assembly during its 1897 session (January 6 – March 9) passed an act
that amended the charter of the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad Company
that had been effectuated with the filing of the company’s articles of
association. The law authorized the company to extend its railroad from
Powellsville to Ahoskie and to discontinue its present line of railroad (the
Powellsville-to-Wellington line). Also, the act authorized the company to extend
its railroad to any point on the Roanoke River after the line from Windsor to
Ahoskie was completed and to construct branch roads. The company’s capital stock
was set at $125,000 ($100 per share), but the company could, at its option,
raise the amount of capital stock to $300,000. Additionally, the company was
authorized to build, own and operate boats, steam boats, barges and vessels as
necessary in the transportation of freight and passengers.53
The citizens of Bertie County received sad news in September 1897. Greenleaf
Johnson, president of the Cashie and Chowan Railroad and Lumber Company, died
suddenly of paralysis (a stroke) at Baltimore on the twenty-first. Johnson, the
well-known lumber merchant, had, for almost two decades, brought industry and
employment to the Bertie County. He was seventy-six years old.54	
	By the end of 1897 nineteen miles of the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad
had been completed.55 Approximately eighty-six percent of the rails had been
laid. In early May 1898 John W. Branning and C. E. Branning met with G.M.
Serpell and J. H. Nurney, general manager and road master, respectively, of the
Norfolk and Carolina Railroad Company in Ahoskie. The four gentlemen jointly
decided where the tracks of the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad would run
in relation to those of the Norfolk and Carolina.56# The two companies’ tracks
could not be arranged to intersect so that trains could switch from one line to
the other since the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad was a standard-gauge system
and the Wellington and Powellsville was a narrow-gauge line.  
	Regional newspapers reported in late June that the Wellington and Powellsville
Railroad was nearly completed. Grading of the roadbed was ongoing between Stoney
Creek and Ahoskie, the final section of the road. Also, John W. Branning had
purchased passenger cars from a firm in Pennsylvania.57
The Wellington and Powellsville Railroad was completed in 1898. Per a report
filed with the North Carolina Railroad Commission, the railroad consisted of
twenty-four miles of main-line track and ten miles of sidings. Stations served
by the rail line in Bertie County were Windsor, Butler’s, Askewville, Holly
Grove, Cremo, and Powellsville. More importantly to John W. Branning, log trains
running the new railroad would haul the vast timber supply for Branning
Manufacturing Company’s sawmill at Ahoskie. Pursuant to the provisions of the
1897 law that amended the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad Company’s
charter, Branning abandoned the lumber line from Powellsville to Wellington.58

Engine No. 100 of the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad. Image courtesy of
Sally M. Koestler.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, four companies operated more than
sixty-one miles of railroads within Bertie County.59
Bertie County Railroads in 1900
Company	Miles of track
Cashie and Chowan Railroad	21.0
Norfolk and Carolina Railroad	13.1
Roanoke and Tar River Railroad	  7.6
Wellington and Powellsville Railroad	20.0
	61.7


This abstract from a 1900 map of North Carolina railroads shows the Wellington
and Powellsville Railroad (W&P) from Windsor to Ahoskie and the Cashie and
Chowan Railroad (C&C) branch lines from Howard (present-day Johnson’s Mill)
toward Chowan River. The Wellington and Powellsville Railroad line from
Powellsville to Wellington (Jacocks’ Landing) on Cashie River, as well as the
branch line from Perrytown to Colerain, is not shown, the lines having been
abandoned. Also shown are the lines of the Norfolk and Carolina and the Roanoke
and Tar River railroads running into and through western Bertie County. Abstract
courtesy of David S. Todd.

Unfortunately, John W. Branning, the lumberman and entrepreneur who beneficially
impacted Bertie County’s economy and saw his Wellington and Powellsville
Railroad completed and operational before the end of the nineteenth century,
died on March 19, 1901, at Edenton. He was 53 to 54 years old.60
The twentieth century would bring further impediments and imposing challenges
and competition to the county’s railroads. Automobiles, trucks and improved
roads and highways would siphon transportation business from the railroads. The
rush for pine timber subsided and lumber business prospects faltered. The Chowan
and Aulander Railroad operated only eight years (1902-1910) before shutting
down. The Cashie and Chowan Railroad was sold in September 1922, to
Foreman-Blades Lumber Company of Elizabeth City. In November 1916 Branning
Manufacturing Company sued the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad Company in
Bertie County Superior Court and was awarded a $126,288 judgment. Although
suffering financial hardships, the railroad transported more than 600 Bertie
County men from Windsor during 1917 and 1918 on the first legs of their trips to
United States military training camps and eventual service in the nation’s
military services during World War I. After the war the company was unable to
pay the amount previously awarded to Branning Manufacturing Company and in
October 1921 the judgment was "revived" in county court. The Wellington and
Powellsville Railroad Company was in dire financial distress. On September 27,
1923, John A. Pretlaw (president and general manager of the Albemarle Steam
Navigation Company) was appointed receiver for the company. In 1926 the owners
asked that the railroad be "junked," but the Bertie County court ordered that
the road be sold. Subsequently, the Carolina Southern Railroad Company purchased
the road. A March 1927 War Department report to the House of Representatives
noted that the railroad was "in very poor condition" and its "service is very
unsatisfactory." The Carolina Southern Railroad Company made improvements. It
converted the rail line to standard gauge and terminated passenger
transportation, concentrating solely on the movement of freight, predominantly
agricultural and forestry products. But, by the 1960s the company could no
longer sustain the road from Ahoskie to Windsor and the rail line was closed on
February 12, 1962.61 Once again, the citizens of Windsor were without railroad
service.

NOTES
1. The Forest City Courier, October 22, 1931. The pertinent article, "All North
Carolina Railways Built Since 1849," by Col. Fred A. Olds, summarizes the number
of railroad companies for which charters were authorized and subsequent rail
lines constructed from 1831 through 1930. Colonel Olds was a renowned North
Carolina historian.

2. North Carolina highway marker alongside U.S. Highway 158/301 at Roanoke River
bridge, near Weldon, "First Railroad," www.ncmarkers.com; www.waymarking.com.

3. Semi-Weekly Standard (Raleigh), December 24, 1856; Wilmington Journal,
February 6, 1857; Public Laws of the State of North Carolina Passed by the
General Assembly at its Session of 1856-’57 (Raleigh: Holden & Wilson, Printers
to the State, 1857), 68-71. In addition to the six Bertie County commissioners,
three each were appointed from Petersburg, Norfolk, Garysburg, Jackson, and Rich
Square.

4. The Forest City Courier, October 22, 1931; Charles L. Price, "North Carolina
Railroads During the Civil War," Civil War History 7 (September 1961) 298-309.

5. The Tarboro’ Southerner, December 12, 1872; The Charlotte Democrat, December
17, 1872.

6. Deeds RR-512, RR-513, RR-508 (two deeds), Bertie County Register of Deeds,
Windsor; The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh), November 13, 1879; David L.
Jennette, "The Forest Industry in Windsor and Bertie County, N.C.," The Windsor
Story, 1768-1968, Windsor Bicentennial Commission, 98.

7. The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh), November 13, 1879; David L. Jennette, "The
Forest Industry in Windsor and Bertie County, N.C.," The Windsor Story,
1768-1968, Windsor Bicentennial Commission, 98. A narrow gauge railroad was any
line where the distance between the rails was less than 4 feet, eight and a half
inches, commonly known as standard gauge. The most common narrow gauge lines
were built with the rails thirty-six inches apart. During the 1870s and 1880s
numerous private railroads and logging companies, such as Greenleaf Johnson’s
operations, used narrow gauge railroads. Theoretically, such roads were cheaper
to finance and operate since requisite equipment was smaller and road
construction less stringent. See "North Carolina Narrow Gauge Railroads," The
Tarheel Press, www.tarheelpress.com.

8. The Roanoke News (Weldon), April 28, 1881. The Scotland Neck Railroad was
completed in 1882 and sold to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad in 1883. See
www.carolana.com.

9. The Roanoke News, May 19, 1881.

10. The Roanoke News, June 2, 1881.

11. The Goldsboro Star, July 23, 1881; The Roanoke News, May 11, 1882.

12. Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina Passed by the General
Assembly at is Session of 1883 (Raleigh: Ashe and Gatling, State Printers and
Binders, 1883), 415-418.

13. The Farmer and Mechanic, May 23, 1883. The operations at Greenleaf Johnson’s
sawmill resulted in a related development – the building of a "mill town," on
the Cashie River within close proximity to the mill. A Capt. Beavers, presumably
the pilot of one of Johnson’s steam vessels, termed the newly risen community as
"quite a little town … in addition to [the] … private railroad. The community
was known as Howard (named after Greenleaf Johnson’s son, Howard N. Johnson, who
was secretary-treasurer of the lumber company). See The Farmer and Mechanic,
June 27, 1883.

14. The Roanoke News (Weldon), August 16, 1883; The Commonwealth (Scotland
Neck), August 23, 1883.

15. Report of Survey of Cashie River from its Mouth to Windsor, N.C., House of
Representatives, 48th Congress, 2nd Session, 1885, Ex. Doc. No. 263, Library of
Congress.

16. Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina Passed by the General
Assembly at is Session of 1885 (Raleigh: P. M. Hales, State Printer and Binder,
1885), 924-927. Hill’s Ferry was situated on the Roanoke River about one-half
mile east of Palmyra and approximately seven miles from Scotland Neck. See
NCPedia, "Hill’s Ferry."
	Simmons’ Landing (also called Simmons’ Farm), subsequently known as Austin (and
Alston), was situated at the present-day location of the Bertie-Martin Regional
Jail, or more commonly known as the "county farm" by local residents.

17. The Democrat (Scotland Neck), April 9, 1885.

18. The Roanoke News, April 30, 1885.

19. The Roanoke News, October 15, 1885.

20. The Roanoke News, October 15, 1885.

21. The Roanoke News, October 7, 1886.

22. Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina Passed by the General
Assembly at is Session of 1887 (Raleigh: Josephus Daniels, State Printer and
Binder, 1887), 784.

23. The Roanoke News, March 10 & 31, 1887; The Weekly Sentinel (Winston-Salem),
March 17, 1887; The Gold Leaf (Henderson), April 14, 1887.

24. The Roanoke News, September 8, 1887.

25. Windsor Public Ledger, April 25, 1888.

26. Windsor Public Ledger, April 25, 1888.

27. The Roanoke News, June 14 & 28, 1888; Branson’s North Carolina Agricultural
Almanac for the year 1890 (Raleigh: Levi Branson, Publisher, 1890), 17.
The total rail line from Boykins to Lewiston was reported under two companies –
the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad Company (segment of the line from Boykins to
the Virginia-North Carolina boundary) and the Roanoke and Tar River Railroad
Company (segment from Virginia-North Carolina boundary to Lewiston). Both
entities were subsidiaries of the Seaboard Air Line system. See First Annual
Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of North Carolina for the year
ending December 31, 1891 (Raleigh: Josephus Daniels, State Printer and Binder,
Presses of Edwards & Broughton, 1892), 85, 87, (hereafter cited as First Annual
Report of Railroad Commissioners); Second Annual Report of the Board of Railroad
Commissioners of North Carolina for the year ending December 31, 1892 (Raleigh:
Josephus Daniels, State Printer and Binder, Presses of Edwards & Broughton,
1893), 132 (hereafter cited as Second Annual Report of the Board of Railroad
Commissioners).

28. Second Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, 573-575.

29. Second Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, 573-575.

30. Second Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, 573-575; The
State Chronicle (Raleigh), June 3, 1892. John W. Branning purchased the Cashie
and Roanoke Railroad and Lumber Company in 1890. The North Carolina Board of
Railroad Commissioners was created by the North Carolina General Assembly during
its 1891 session.

31. The Roanoke News, October 3, 1889.

32. The Roanoke Beacon, October 25, 1889.

33. First Annual Report of Railroad Commissioners, 514.
34. Fisherman & Farmer (Edenton), January 17, 1890; The Progressive Farmer
(Raleigh), January 28, 1890; Greensboro North State, February 13, 1890.

35. Windsor Ledger, March 19, 1890; The Democrat, April 10, 1890.

36. Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina Passed by the General
Assembly at its Session of 1891 (Raleigh: Josephus Daniels, State Printer and
Binder, 1891), 936-939. The law to amend chapter 67 of the private acts of 1885
(the act that chartered the Cashie and Roanoke Railroad and Lumber Company) was
written in error. The subject statute – chapter 67 of the 1891 laws – was
formally written to amend the charter of the Cashie and Chowan Railroad Company
(Greenleaf Johnson’s lumber and railroad entity). The references and contents of
the act clearly indicate that the law was intended for the Cashie and Roanoke
Railroad Company.

37. The State Chronicle, November 26, 1891.

38. First Annual Report of Railroad Commissioners, 114.

39. The State Chronicle, March 9, 1892; The Roanoke News, March 24, 1892;
Central Times (Dunn), March 24, 1892; The Elkin Courier, March 24, 1892; The
Headlight (Goldsboro), March 24, 1892; The State Chronicle, May 14, 1892; The
Wilson Advance, June 2, 1892; www.carolana.com.

40. The Roanoke News, March 24, 1892, April 1, 1892; The Democrat, March 24, 1892.

41. Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of North
Carolina for the year ending December 31, 1894 (Raleigh: Josephus Daniels, State
Printer and Binder, Presses of Edwards & Broughton, 1895), 175 (hereafter cited
as Fourth Annual Report of Railroad Commissioners).

42. Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of North
Carolina for the year ending December 31, 1897 (Raleigh, Guy V. Barnes, Printers
to the Governor’s Council, 1898), 433.

43. Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of North
Carolina for the year ending December 31, 1898 (Raleigh, Guy V. Barnes, Printer
to Council of State, 1898), 101.

44. Private Laws of the State of North Carolina Passed by the General Assembly
at its Session of 1893 (Raleigh: Josephus Daniel, State Printer and Binder,
1894), 377-378; State of North Carolina Fourth Annual Report of the Corporation
Commission for the year ending December 31, 1902 (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton,
State Printers, 1903), 39, 48; State of North Carolina, Fifth Annual Report for
the Corporation Commission for the year ending December 31, 1903 (Raleigh: E. M.
Uzzell & Co., State Printers and Binders, 1904), 294, 313-314. The Camp family
had been doing business as Camp Manufacturing Company since 1887.

45. The Progressive Farmer, September 5, 1893.

46. Deed 80-155, Bertie County Register of Deeds Office; Fourth Annual Report of
Railroad Commissioners, iv, 286.

47. The Progressive Farmer, July 2, 1895. The article regarding the train
accident was first reported in the Windsor Ledger. A more severe accident
occurred on the Norfolk and Carolina Railroad at Kelford on December 22, 1893. 
A freight train ran into a landslide at Kelford, wrecking the engine and
nineteen cars. Engineer William Barlow was killed, and the fireman and two
brakemen were slightly injured. The damage done to the engine and cars was
reported to be "considerable." Fisherman & Farmer, January 5, 1894.

48. David L. Jennette, "The Forest Industry in Windsor and Bertie County, N.C.,"
The Windsor Story, 1768-1968, Windsor Bicentennial Commission, 99.

49. Judgment Docket C, pages 350, 452-453, Office of the Bertie County Clerk of
Court, Windsor. The suit was brought by James H. Lawrence (a justice of the
peace residing near Perrytown) and his wife, Maggie Perry Lawrence; Walter. B.
Perry; Aulands C. Perry; Raleigh S. Perry; Euslia M. Perry; Lorenzo Dow Perry;
and Jeremiah Outlaw Perry.

50. The Charlotte Democrat, March 8, 1895.

51. Find a Grave, www.findagrave.com, "Howard N. Johnson;" First Annual Report
of Railroad Commissioners, 488.

52. The Roanoke News, December 10, 1896; The Charlotte Democrat, July 29, 1897.

53. Public Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina Passed by the
General Assembly at is Session of 1897 (Winston: M.I. Steward & J. C. Stewart,
State Printers and Binders, 1897), 108-109.

54. Alexandria Gazette, September 22, 1897.

55. The Semi-Weekly Messenger, December 14, 1897.

56. The Commonwealth, May 12, 1898.

57. The Semi-Weekly Messenger, June 24, 1898; The Progressive Farmer, June 28,1898

58. Eighth Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of North
Carolina for the year ending December 31, 1898 (Raleigh, Guy V. Barnes, Printer
to Council of State, 1898), 233; The Railroad Gazette 30 (1898): 187; H. V. & H.
W. Poor, eds., Poor’s Manual of the Railroads of the United States (London:
Poor’s Railroad Manual Co., 1901), 416; American Lumberman (Chicago), April 1,
1911.

59. State of North Carolina Second Annual Report of the Corporation Commission
for the year ending December 31, 1900 (Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton and E. M.
Uzzell, State Printers, 1901), 42.

60. The Semi-Weekly Messenger, March 26, 1901; Find a Grave, www.findagrave.com,
"John Wellington Branning."

61. Judgment Docket G, page 242, Office of the Bertie County Clerk of Court;
Deed 236-193, Bertie County Register of Deeds Office; C. Howell Pruden, "First
Passenger Trip Made in 1898 on W&P’s Ahoskie-Windsor Line," The Windsor Story,
1768-1968, Windsor Bicentennial Commission, 115-116; "John Alexander Pretlaw,"
Southampton County, VA Genweb site; The Enterprise (Williamston), September 26,
1922, January 5, 1926, June 15, 1926, October 29, 1926; Report from the Chief of
Engineers on Preliminary Examination and Survey of Cashie River, N.C. Below
Windsor, House of Representatives, 69th Congress, 2nd Session, 1927, Document
No. 779, Library of Congress. The statistic regarding Bertie County men who
departed Windsor on the Wellington and Powellsville Railroad during 1917 and
1918 was developed by the author as part of the research for his forthcoming
book, A Time to Serve: Bertie County During World War I. The book is scheduled
to be published in the last quarter of calendar year 2017.


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