Col. Walkup's Map

For years I had pondered over poor black and white copies (and poorly cited too) of this map.

Along the side is written "Made by Col Sam Walkup".  A year is attributed to the map:  1866.  (none of this is seen on this image, which is only the center portion of the map)

To write about Col. Walkup would require another post (and yes, maybe I'll do that one day) but suffice it to say that Samuel Hoey Walkup (1818-1876) was a "Renaissance Man" - he played the flute, was a lawyer (graduate of Chapel Hill), statesman (elected to the State Legislature), soldier (a general in the State Militia, later a Colonel in the Confederate Army - 48th N.C.), a diarist and letter-writer of his day.  But this post was to be about the map!

I once made an effort to find the real map and I contacted the wonderful folks at Chapel Hill, knowing that they had at least one of his diaries.  I figured they had the map and that they would scan it and post it at their map site.  They did their very best to find the map but it wasn't there.  And then I remembered that one of the books that used the image (again, very poor quality) had noted it was from the State Archives.  I apologized and then scoured the N. C. State Archives' catalog online and came up empty-handed.

In short, I gave up.

The image shown here was shared by researcher David McCorkle.  He found it just inside a Union County Court Minutes book at the North Carolina State Archives. (CR 097.311.3 Union County Superior Court Minute Docket 1866-1877 - the map is drawn on the very first page)

Imagine the shouting (yes, of joy!) when he sent me a recent email saying, 'hey, look what I found drawn in an odd place!' (or something like that - sorry David, I do not have your email in front of me).

Long story short, I ordered a scanned image of the map for the Dickerson Room of the Union County Public Library.  We hope to be able to print it out large enough for study.

We are, well, at least I am, excited!

And I continue to ponder about the 'why' of the map.  If Col. Walkup were here today I would like to know was this for his own purpose?  Did he just want to keep track of his neighbors?  If you look at the image here, Walkup's home is drawn in blue and labeled with his initials "SHW".  (he also  takes the time to actually give his home a roof)

That alone has led me to believe that his home, later in the way of Belk's new building (built around 1904 but don't quote me on this - it would be the first time that Belk built a building for his store in Monroe though), was turned and moved to face Franklin Street.

Walkup would be long dead by that time but his half-sister, mother of [William] Henry Belk and married to a Simpson at the time, was probably living in the house.  I say "probably" as I have no real proof of that.  If you study the Sanborn Maps of Monroe, you will  find that a house appears behind the Lee Department Store building in 1908 (who would deliberately build a house behind a department store???) - it is my belief that this was Col. Walkup's former home -- turned and moved.  And there is proof that the house behind the Lee Building was Mrs. Sarah Walkup Belk Simpson's!

Walkup's home can be seen in Sanborn Maps for 1885, 1892, 1897, and 1902.  Not to mention the 1882 Gray's New Map (see http://dc.lib.unc.edu/u?/ncmaps,1003) which has "S. H. Walkup" written over the house in question (I believe the exact same house seen here in McCorkle's image).

I have gone on long enough at this time - but suffice it to say that maps are fascinating and I look forward to having a high quality image of Walkup's map and finally knowing where the original truly is!

To learn more visit the Dickerson Room of the Union County Public Library (Monroe, NC) and ask for:  Civil War file, Walkup, Locked File 3, Drawer 1.  Within this file has been assembled images of the various maps for pondering over the home and articles/information found on Samuel Hoey Walkup.[2026:  These may all now be in the Walkup obituary/family file]

A nice bio was written by Mike Elliott about Col. Walkup and his wife, Margaret Pamelia (Minnie) Reece Price.  It can be found in "The Heritage of Union County, North Carolina" Volume I, pp 444-445.

You should also be able to find information about Walkup on the Internet.

-Patricia Poland, January 8, 2014 (tweaked a bit 1-9-14, revised 1-16-14 to clarify location of map in court minute book, give the year as 'attributed' and to not imply that the map was 'stuck' in the book) Removed link to jpg image of map at Union County Library's site, October 2025.

Kidnapper's Foil: Hollywood Comes to Monroe

In June of 1941, movie producer Melton Barker rolled into town to make a little film using local children.

Barker traveled the country making this "Our Gang"-type comedy, using the same script and upwards of 100 local children in the roles.

Wheeler Smith, manager of the Center Theatre, sponsored Monroe's production though a small fee was often collected from participants as well.

Local news articles, apparently Barker's press releases, announced it wasn't necessary to be able to sing and dance as "all types are needed to fill the cast".

In spite of information found in the Monroe Enquirer (July 21, 1941, page 1) the week it was premiered that "around 75 children" were used, only 56 names were in the article that also gave a synopsis of the film:

The story begins with a little girl being kidnapped and carried off to a hideout and held captive by the kidnappers. A large girl, playing the part of her big sister, reports the kidnapping and the local gang gets busy at once trying to find the kidnappers. A little boy, leader of the gang, is told that he is too small to go on the hunt, so he organizes a gang of his own--but you should see the picture yourself and see how the gang rescued the little girl and dealt justly with the kidnappers.

Whatever happened to the print? It possibly could be deteriorating in someone's basement or attic somewhere but few of Barker's films survived given that only one print was made for each production.

Monroe's production of "Kidnapper's Foil" premiered on July 25, 1941.

Some Sources (including Barker site listed below):

"Interest in Local Movie Increases", Monroe Enquirer, June 16, 1941, p 4

"Monroe Children to Act in Movie Filmed Here", Monroe Journal, June 20, 1941, p 3

"Monroe Girl 'Kidnaped' [s.i.c.] 'Released' When Found", Monroe Enquirer, July 21, 1941, p 1

Newspaper articles pulled from microfilm available at the Union County Public Library
http://unioncountync.gov/departments/library 

More information about Melton Barker can be found at http://www.meltonbarker.org/

Rev. Robert James McIlwaine of Union County, NC

Reverend Robert James McIlwaine ("Bobby") was born March 16th, 1860 in the Marvin community of Union County, North Carolina. Educated at Hopewell Academy in Huntersville, NC and Union Theological Seminary at Richmond, VA, he was ordained in 1895 as a Presbyterian minister. After marrying Della Shields in 1898 he first served near Kings Mountain, NC. He later led churches in Florida and Alabama before returning to his native state and county in 1910.

McIlwaine was an evangelist/missionary, planning and building new churches. He also served as a "supply" minister for area churches including Walkersville Presbyterian.

Faithful to his calling, he continued to preach and counsel after retiring in 1934, honing his gardening and well-known storytelling skills.

He first purchased the house at 204 Lancaster Avenue in Monroe, NC in 1925, making a home there with his wife and youngest son, Robert E. "Tug" McIlwaine. He is pictured here in his garden with Dahlias that matched his long frame. The photo was taken in October of 1936 by a fellow minister, Reverend Frederick Drane (1890-1982) who was the priest of nearby St. Paul's Episcopal Church for a number of years.

Aggravated by rheumatism in his later years, he fell at his home on December 13th, 1944. He died two days later at a Charlotte hospital.

He was buried at Banks Presbyterian Church cemetery in Marvin, almost in sight of his birthplace and childhood home. Wife Della died in 1957. Son Robert continued to live at the Lancaster Avenue property until about 1961. By 1962 the house had been sold and made into a duplex as it is today. This current photo of the house was taken in December 2007 which is now occupied by Alice Jules coffeehouse and the Pack Rat Antiques store.

Some sources used: Monroe, NC newspapers - Monroe Journal and Monroe Enquirer; Federal Census Research at Heritage Quest (on line); Miller's Monroe North Carolina City Directories; The photographic collection of Rev. Frederick Drane. (these and more available at the Union County Public Library, Monroe, NC)