Johnston County, NC - Nicholas Rose House ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE FOUR OAKS NEWS Article title "W.N. Rose house expedition continues" Tuesday, August 27, 1985 Four Oaks History by James Bryan Creech While the newspaper explorers from Four Oaks were photographing and walking through the William Nicholas Rose house at Overshot Aug. 11, our guide, Ambrose Lee, remarked that he knew the location of another older house site in the nearby woods, that of the home of Nicholas Rose, father of William Nicholas Rose whose house we were exploring. By automobile Ambrose Lee, Calvin & Pam Edgerton and I went north on US 701 across Mill Branch & then east into the pine woods toward Mill Creek. A mile through fields & overgrown paths brought us to the site of the Nicholas Rose house & a site to sadden the hearts of those who like old houses. Two chimneys (another has collapsed) guard a pile of broken boards & heavy framing timbers. In recent years the house has been dismantled by persons who wanted some of the fine woodwork which still was in excellent condition after more than 160 years. Building a fine house Nicholas Rose (1790-1836) was the son of Benjamin Rose, who came from Smithfield, Va in 1784 & settled in what is now Bentonville near Mill Creek Church. In 1814 Nicholas Rose married Sarah Rhodes. About the same time he built a house on land he bought from Samuel Lee Sr. & Samuel Lee Jr. by Mill Branch & Mill Creek near Overshot. I did not see the house while it was standing, but I have seen sections of the framing & some photographs in the possession of Ambrose Lee. The braced frame construction is the best I have ever seen in the area. I have never seen corner posts shaped with such care. The hewn & planed corner posts are about 8 inches by 8 inches with a 4-inch by 4-inch section cut out of one corner to make the corner of the room walls. These heavy posts were mortised & pegged into 12-inch by 12-inch sills. Plates were mortised & pegged on top of the posts, braces were mortised & pegged into the heavy posts. I wish just one section of the framing had been saved. I doubt that such a sample of carpentry now exists in the county. Such heavy framing is a craft from Europe & England in the Middle Ages. A grist mill About a quarter of a mile from his house Nicholas Rose built a grist mill on Mill Branch & installed a home made turbine water wheel under it. We visited the mill site by returning to US 701 & hiking in on the south side of the branch. In 1857 Avera Rose, son of Nicholas Rose, was struggling to set up a sawmill near the grist mill. A huge man-made ditch still can be seen below the dam & I wonder if this is not some of Avera's engineering. Is it possible he built an overshot water wheel & gave the community its name ? Proof of Avera's engineering experiment is found in a letter from his brother, Joseph Green, while Joseph was in medical school at the University of Virginia in 1857. Joseph wrote, "I would like to know how your mill operates now - whether or not you have got it sawing. I told you that you would never saw with it fixed as it was when I saw it last, is it so or not ? I hope it will be profitable." Home for Johnstonians Nicholas' son, Benjamin, was the father of William Nicholas Rose (1842-1915) often called Jr. to distinguish him from his uncle of the same name who remodeled the house at Overshot featured here last week. William Nicholas Rose served as a private & a corporal in Company E 24th N.C. Regiment in the Civil War. In later life he was known in the county as "Squire Bill." He earned himself an important place in Johnston County history by writing "The Roster of Confederate Soldiers of Johnston County." Squire Bill, who lived at his grandfather's homeplace, married Sallie Langston. Their 10th child was destined to become one of the best known & most respected men in Johnston County in this century. Herschell Vaughan Rose (1887-1959) served in World War I, was admitted to the bar in 1922 & was Clerk of the Court of Johnston County from 1926 until his death in 1959. For a time he was also the county welfare department & in many other ways served the residents of Johnston County. He was a historian & writer who preserved the history of the county because of his love for his family & the people & land of this county. He was founder & the first president of the Johnston County Historical Society. He was, I think, the chief inspiration for the establishment of the Bentonville Museum & Visitor's Center, although he did not live to see the opening in 1965. The Nicholas Rose house, now a tangled heap of broken boards & crumbling brick, sent forth for four, perhaps five generations a remarkable number of gifted & useful men & women who have served this county & the nation well. [Copy of article at Heritage Center, Johnston County, Smithfield, NC] ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Guy Potts ___________________________________________________________________