From Hyde County Historical and Genealogical Society

The Hyde County Historical and Genealogical Society held its spring meeting on May 22 at the Epworth United Methodist Church in Scranton. An enthusiastic group of about 70 members and friends came from as far away as St. Louis and Chicago, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and many places in North Carolina. All have an interest in Hyde County history and had come to hear a program featuring four speakers on different topics.

Linda Gray Mayo, who has edited an upcoming fall publication of Hyde marriage records through 1899, was the first speaker. She gave a glimpse into her research and work on editing the early marriage records, noting that the charts in the anticipated hardcover edition will include names of brides, grooms, parents, officiates, witnesses, as well as place and date of ceremonies.

The featured subject of the society’s spring 2016 “High Tides” was next presented by Tom Carmine, grandson of Lizzie Swindell Bonner, who had assembled a scrapbook of clippings dating from 1904 to about 1931. A selection of the articles about weddings, funerals and other articles of interest that she collected are transcribed in the spring journal.  As part of his comments, he spoke of his memories of coming to Hyde County as a young man. Carmine also presented two recently copied and bound editions of the scrapbook to the society’s research library at the Mattamuskeet School library.

Morgan Harris, a well-loved former coach and teacher in Hyde, was present to discuss and show prototypes of two historical signs, which will soon be placed in Scranton and Sladesville. R.S. Spencer Jr. followed that presentation with a snippet of history about Epworth Church and the area of Scranton/Sladesville and read excerpts from mid-19^th-century newspaper accounts that highlighted local history.

At one point during the meeting, Isabelle Homes, president of the society, recognized Roy Clarke, who announced that R.L. Patrick, MD, a native of Hyde County, had presented a disc of his performance of 19^th-century romantic piano music to the society’s research library.

After a short business meeting, the meeting was adjourned and all enjoyed delightful refreshments provided by the members of Epworth United Methodist Church, perused books brought to the meeting by R.S. Spencer and continued lively discussions with one another.

In addition, about 30 people of the group went to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church, which was open for the afternoon, to see the historic church, which was rebuilt in 1875 using sound timbers from an earlier structure and barged to its current location in Sladesville around 1908-1909.

The Hyde County Historical and Genealogical Society’s mission is to preserve and record the history of Hyde County and its people. To that end, the society holds spring and fall meetings in different parts of the county and publishes an edition of its historical and genealogical journal, “High Tides,” twice a year. New members are always welcome. For information, contact the society at P.O. Box 517, Engelhard, NC 27824.