Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. Interesting Historical Happenings "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore On May 19th, I attended a Confederate Memorial Day program at the old Blackmore Family Cemetery near Warsaw, which was sponsored by the James Kenan Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Three iron crosses were erected at the graves of the three brothers, Romulus, Harold, and Buckner Blackmore, who were brave Confederate soldiers. All three were captured at Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865. Several members of the Blackmore family took part in the ceremony including Dr. James Blackmore of Wake Forest, Frank Blackmore, an attorney of Winston-Salem, N. C. Blackmore of Burgaw, and Miss Mary Alice Blackmore of Warsaw. After the memorial service a reception and luncheon was held at the lovely old home of Miss Mary Alice Blackmore in Warsaw. North Carolina Confederate Memorial Day was a holiday in North Carolina until 1971 when the Legislature endorsed the National Memorial Day on May 30th and now Congress for the convenience of Federal employees has moved Memorial Day to Monday nearest to May 30th. May 10th was originally chosen by North Carolina because it was on this day in 1863 that General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson died. The Baptists of Mount Olive and Bear Marsh will be interested in the passing of Clara Dixon Richardson of Black Mountain, North Carolina, at the age of 97. Her father, the Reverend A. C. Dixon, D. D., was pastor of these churches 1874-75. He later married Miss Mary Faison of Warsaw and was pastor of Moody Church in Chicago and the famous Spurgeon’s Church in England. When Clara Richardson visited us during the years we always took her to Bear Marsh and to Mount Olive. She graduated from Oxford University in the same class with the Duke of Windsor. For lovers of art, there is now an exhibit at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill of a selection of original finger paintings by Ruth Faison Shaw, the originator of the first formal finger painting. Miss Shaw was a native of Kenansville and she discovered the art of finger painting while directing a school for English speaking children in Rome, Italy. The exhibit is called the "Open Door of Imagination." The exhibit will be open until May 31st. On Sunday afternoon I attended the dedication of the Cowan Museum and the restoration of the Kelly-Farrior house in Kenanswille. This historic house now houses the museum. The house, in modified Greek Revival style, was built by a contractor, Isaac B. Kelly, for the Farrior family in the 1850’s. Representative Wendell Murphy of the North Carolina Assembly made a talk on the economic education impact of historical restoration and preservation. Thomas Kenan III of Chapel Hill spoke on "Creating New Partnerships for Old Buildings." The dedication was attended by hundreds of people from far and near. On Sunday afternoon, prior to the Cowan Museum dedication, I spoke at the second reunion of the Newkirk family, which was held at Kirkwood Presbyterian Camp near Wallace. I spoke on "Some Highlights in Lower Cape Fear History." It was attended by 135 persons. This family is descended from Cornelius Van Newkirk, a native of the Netherlands who came to New Netherlands in 1659. His grandson, Barent Newkirk (1689-1765) moved to Berkley County, Virginia, and two of his sons, Tobias and Abraham Newkirk settled in Duplin County prior to 1750, and were the progenitors of a large and prominent clan. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto ==============================================================