Rockingham County NcArchives History .....Stoneville Post Office ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Howard Sparks n/a January 22, 2013, 6:05 pm History of the Stoneville Post Office Eden Daily News June 1, 1988 By Guy Lewis The original name of the town here was Mayo, as confirmed by official records of the U.S. Post Office Department. The name is also confirmed by the 1860 census records for the county, which lists residents of the town together with their post office address. Another confirmation of the old name Mayo for this place is a map dated 1857 showing its location where Stoneville now is. The original copy of the map is preserved in the map room of the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington. In 1868 the new North Carolina Constitution required the counties of the state to be divided into districts called townships. When this was done, many of the districts were named for the principal town of the area. Thus Mayo Township District was named after the town of Mayo; and Leaksville Township District after the town of Leaksville. Though the names of both of these old towns were later changed, their districts were not renamed; and still retain their old names to the present time. The post office at Stoneville (which was formerly named Mayo) was opened on May 8, 1821, with Nathaniel Scales Jr. appointed by President Monroe to be the first postmaster here. Postmasterships today are Civil Service appointments, but many senior people will recall the time when they were political appointments. Nathaniel Scales Jr., who was born in the year 1785, was a son of Henry Scales, whose house still stands northeast of present-day Stoneville, on a hill on the south side of road no. 1516, just east of Buffalo Island Creed bridge. (Transcribers note: I believe this should be Creek instead of Creed) Nathaniel moved here in 1805 and built a home on what is now Glenn St., on a lot now occupied by the Christian Church. His house was still standing until thirty-five years ago, when it was torn down. He died in 1839, leaving a widow, Caroline. They and their children are a family of considerable interest; and will be the subject of a forthcoming article by the writer. The next postmaster here was the town’s physician, Dr. Richard H. Scales, born in the year 1811 and son of the above Nathaniel. Richard was appointed on Dec. 4, 1838. But a year and a half later the post office was closed due to the great economic depression of the time. It was on July 24, 1840 that the office here was closed. The temporary closure, however, stretched out to fifteen years, during which period local mail service was handled by the area office at Madison. The Mayo office reopened on June 15, 1855, at which time the third postmaster was appointed. He was Nathaniel Box Scales, known popularly as "Nat Box." He was born in the year 1828, and was a son of the first postmaster. The shell of the Nat Box Scales home, with its thick-layered brick walls, is still standing today on the west side of U.S. 220 Bypass, overlooking the Stoneville exit south of town. (transcribers note: I remember seeing this shell of a house and my mother telling me that "someone important" lived there a long time ago.) The post office here was notified to cease the sale of U.S. stamps and close down its operations again on May 31, 1861 because the State of North Carolina had, eleven days before, seceded from the Federal Union (May 20, 1861). During the four years of the Civil War the address here will (transcribers note: should be was) still, however, designated Mayo. Reference a letter written by the late Francis J. Stone, dated June 6, 1863, a copy of which is in this writer’s annotated copy of "A History of Stoneville by R.L. Stone," now preserved in the Special Collections Room at the Rockingham Community College Library. During the war years people brought their letter to Stone’s store, where they were forwarded by an travelers going in the direction of the mail’s destination; and likewise picked up mail brought by random visitors to the store, which was operated by Pinckney Marion Stone, brother of the above mentioned Francis. The store (the first brick building erected here) was built in 1859. It stood on what is now the northeast corner of Main and Henry streets; and was torn down in 1900. The bricks were reused to build the structure standing there now, which is presently occupied by Mr. Steve Smith for an office. The old building that stood there before extended sixteen feet further west into the middle of what is now Henry Street (Reference book mentioned above). With the cessation of the War, the U.S. Postal system resumed its operation of the post office here, as if there had been no four-year interruption by the C.S. Postal system which operated the office for four years; and Stone’s Store continued to serve on (then as a U.S. Post Office) for nineteen months after the war. Again, the post office here was closed. It was by a formal order dated December 11, 1866. The office remained closed that time for two and a half years, during which time the area office at Madison again provided mail service for this place. (Note: During that first two weeks of December 1866, the Postal Dept. sent out orders to the little post offices throughout the county to discontinue operation. Economic conditions were such that few people could afford even three cents for a stamp. However, the post offices at Wentworth, Leaksville, Madison, and Reidsville continued during that time). When the smaller post offices did reopen, a number of them did so with changed names. As mentioned previously, the U.S. Post Office here began with the name Mayo; and continued with that name during the C.S. Postal period, per Mr. Stone’s 1963 letter already cited. And, the office, although sometimes referred to informally as "Stone’s Store," while that place was acting as a postal station for the C.S. during the war and for the U.S. for nineteen months after the war, was nevertheless still listed officially under the name Mayo, as confirmed by the above letter of Dec. 11, 1866 during the post office at "Mayo" to close. (Transcribers note: I think he meant to say telling the post office to close). When the office opened two and one-half years later (on July 7, 1869) it was done so officially under its present name, Stoneville. Mr. Henry Barnes, a resident of the community and member of the state legislature to Raleigh, was appointed by President Grant to be the first postmaster here under the office’s changed name. Mr. Barnes is the one who designated the office’s new name as Stoneville. His letter dated June 22, 1869, designating the name was returned to the Post Office Department’s Appointment Office in Washington. The name Mayo, being no longer used for the office at this place after 1869, was later used for another post office west of here, across Mayo River at the cross roads of the Northwest Fire Station community. The office was just a few hundred yards south of the present-day fire station in the dwelling house now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Benny Cardwell. The office operated briefly. Opening on March 17, 1880, with Alfred A. Vernon appointed the first postmaster there. The place had only two postmasters. The other one was James L. Kallam, who was appointed on May 10, 1900 After just twenty four years operation, that office was discontinued by an order from the postal authorities on Aug. 30, 1904 to close out the business, effective the following Sept. 15th. The Mayodan office, according to the letter, was to assume responsibility for serving the area. Continuing with the subject of the old Mayo that was renamed Stoneville, here following is a list of its postmasters and postmistresses from the first to the present, together with their beginning dates of service: Nathaniel Scales Jr., May 8, 1821 Richard H. Scales, Dec. 4, 1838 Nathaniel (Box) Scales, June 15, 1855 Pinckney Marion Stone (C.S.A. Post Station during Civil War), June 1, 1861 Henry Barnes, July 7, 1869 Francis Joyce Stone, Feb. 6, 1873 Jones W. Roberts, Mar. 21, 1889 Fanny T. Scales, July 26, 1893 Robert Sydney Lemmons, July 20, 1897 William S. Fagge, Dec. 7, 1910 Thomas Lawson Smith, Apr. 13, 1914 William S. Fagge (acting), June 1, 1922 Grace B. Fagge, Dec. 19, 1923 Marcus Thrasher, Dec. 15, 1931 Roy Husk Prillaman, Mar. 1, 1934 Doris King Claybrook (acting), Dec. 31. 1965 Bernard J. Carter, Aug. 10, 1968 Dwight L. Dixon (acting), Jan 1, 1974 Mabel Foley Priddy (acting), Feb. 15, 1974 Leonard D. Stowe, Feb 1, 1975 Dynette Jackson (acting), Dec 21, 1988 (Transcribers note: 1987?) Sharon Hardee, Feb 27, 1988 As mentioned, the post office here closed during the great depression of 1840, and also during the Civil War (as a U.S. Post Office). However, the Confederate States Postal System maintained a pickup and delivery station here in Pinckney Stone’s store. With the ending of the war, the U.S. Post Office Dept. took control of the C.S. Post Office Dept.’s local station and operated it until Dec. 11, 1866, when, as mentioned, it was closed again; and finally reopened the last time on July 7, 1869. When the U.S. Post Office was suddenly shut down here on May 31, 1861, Mr. Pinckney Stone assumed responsibility for the handling of local mail at first on an informal basis, as it was sometime afterward that the C.S. Post Office system was formally organized. For more information about the post office at Stoneville and some other local post offices, the reader may want to consult the manuscript book titled, "A History of Stoneville," by the late R.L. Stone, which was transcribed and annotated by this writer in 1979 and placed in the Special Collections Room of the Rockingham Community College Library. A copy is also in the Stoneville Library. Concerning Stoneville’s first postmistress, Miss Frances (Fanny) Scales, whose term commenced on July 26, 1893. She was born on March 1, 1844, daughter of the aforementioned Dr. Richard H. Scales and his first wife, Sophia R. Penn. Miss Fanny died at the age of eighty-one on August 14. 1825 and is buried in the Stoneville cemetery beside her bachelor brother, Eugene, and her sister, Jessie, and the latter’s husband , Dr. Joshua Smith. The home of Miss Fanny’s father, Dr. Scales, was three miles southeast of the town. His house was on the north side of State Road 135, directly opposite the broad field on the other side that served as the Spring Garden Muster Ground in early times. Road No. 2154 from Stoneville to Deep Springs crosses highway 135 at that location. The original post office for the community there was Spring Garden. It first opened on Sept. 30, 1830, with Thomas S. Galloway as postmaster, but closed ten years later, on April 4, 1840 – the year of the great depression. When the office was re-opened fifteen years later, the name was changed to Elm Grove; and Miss Fanny’s father, Dr. Scales, was appointed the postmaster – this on Sept. 21, 1855. Dr. Scales and also Miss Fanny’s mother, Sophia, and her step-mother, the former Mary Jane Mandeville, were buried in the field on the west side of their house there in the northeast corner of the cross roads. But, alas, the gravestones were pulled up by later tenants of the property, who stacked them beside the smokehouse. The last time the writer went there, about ten years ago, the stones were gone. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/rockingham/history/other/stonevil252gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 11.9 Kb