Charles Phillip Johnstone

Phillip Johnstone died early Wednesday morning, Sept. 21, 2017, at his home in Pontotoc. He was 96 years old.

Charles Phillip Johnstone was born in Amory, Mississippi, on May 4, 1921, to W.H. and Nettie Johnstone. He grew up in Pontotoc and graduated from Pontotoc High School. A combat veteran of World War II, he served with the 15th Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Corps in North Africa and Italy. He attended annual reunions of his squadron up until a few years ago.

After the war, Phillip worked as a civilian for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, then for the Internal Revenue Service, first in Tupelo and then in Greenville, MS, where he met his wife, Rachel Weed. In 1957, the Johnstones moved to Pontotoc, where they raised their three children. Phillip worked as office manager for Pontotoc Electric Power Association until retirement in 1986.

Having played baseball for Pontotoc American Legion Phillip developed a life-long passion for the game. He was an avid follower of Ole Miss sports and loved watching their football, basketball, and baseball games.

Services will be held at 11 AM on Monday, September 25, 2017, at Browning Funeral Home, with Rev. Kenneth Corley officiating. Graveside services will be at Pontotoc Memorial Gardens. Browning Funeral Home of Pontotoc is in charge of arrangements.

Phillip Johnstone is survived by three children, Julia Johnstone Hogue (Jim), James Phillip Johnstone (Susan), Beth Johnstone Anderson (David), nine grandchildren, Jason Hogue, Ethan Hogue (Catherine), Leslie Hilliard (Bill), Colin Johnstone, Evan Anderson, Reid Anderson, Kyle Anderson, Michael Johnson (Sheila), David Richardson III (Patricia), and four great grandchildren, Lane Johnson, Maggie Johnson, Lily Hilliard, and Kate Hilliard. Additionally, he is survived by a host of nieces and nephews who will all miss their "Uncle Oop."

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, a sister, Elizabeth Loonan, and two brothers, Kenneth Johnstone and Jack Johnstone.

Phillip's grandsons will serve as pallbearers.

Honorary pallbearers are Judge Charles Thomas and Billy Roberson.

Visitation will be in the Browning Funeral Home Chapel on Sunday September 24, 2017, from 5:00PM to 7:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.

Published in The Daily Journal on Sept. 24, 2017

Jones Lyon Culbreth

April 2, 1952 - June 11, 2017

View the Full Online Memorial

Mrs. Jones Lyon Culbreth, age 65, of Lumberton, passed away early Sunday morning, June 11, 2017 at Southeastern Hospice House in Lumberton. She was born in Norfolk, VA on April 2, 1952 to the late Harvey Berry Lyon and the late Mavis Inscoe Lyon. 

Mrs. Culbreth was an educator for many years throughout Robeson County having taught school at Red Springs Public Schools, Deep Branch, Union Chapel and Pembroke Middle Schools. She served as a Librarian at St. Paul's High School and J.C. Hargrove, Assistant Principal at Magnolia Elementary and Principal at Tanglewood Elementary.

Mrs. Culbreth is survived by her loving husband, Phillip B. Culbreth, of the home; her son, Barden Lyon Culbreth, of Raleigh; a sister, Dianne Crawford (Larry) of Lumberton; her nieces and nephews, Adam Crawford (Tabitha) of Youngsville, NC, Kelly Crawford (Mike) of Macon, GA, Amanda Bryan (James) of Wilmington, NC, Cyndi and Caitlyn Culbreth, both of Chapel Hill, Joe Culbreth (Andrea) of Atlanta, GA, William Kemp Culbreth III (Betsy) of Houston, TX and a host of extended relatives, friends and special caregivers.

A time of visitation will held on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 from 7:00-9:00PM at Floyd Mortuary & Crematory, Inc.

A graveside service will be held on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 11:00AM at Meadowbrook Cemetery in Lumberton with Rev. Joe Bounds officiating. 

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.

On-line condolences may be made by visiting: www.floydmortuary.net .

Nicholas Carl "Buck" Stubbs Obituary

LUMBERTON — Mr. Nicholas Carl "Buck" Stubbs III, 80, of Lumberton, died April 3, 2016, in GlenFlora Nursing and Rehabilitation.

Mr. Stubbs was born on June 26, 1935, and reared in Pembroke, a son of the late Nicholas Carl Stubbs Jr and Lois Jeanette Tyner Stubbs.

He was a former member of the Calvary Methodist Church in Pembroke and later joined Chestnut Street United Methodist Church in Lumberton. At Chestnut Street United Methodist Church, he was a member of the Chancel Choir, Wesley-Friendship Sunday School Class, United Methodist Men of which he was awarded Man of the Year in 1977 and 1993 and served as president in 1978. He also served on various church committees.

Mr. Stubbs was a charter member of the Raft Swamp Fire Department. In addition, Mr. Stubbs was a member of the Robeson County Wildlife Club, an avid bowler and enjoyed hunting. Mr. Stubbs was an Army veteran and later served in the Reserves, and was a Mason and a Shriner.

A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Gardens of Faith Cemetery with Masonic rites to be rendered. A memorial will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Chestnut Street United Methodist Church, the Rev. Herbert Lowry officiating. The family will receive friends in the Asbury Hall from 5 to 7 p.m.

Surviving are a daughter, Betsy S. Kinlaw of Lumberton; a sister and her husband, Sue and Ted Maness of Lumberton; a special friend and companion, Mary Mason; several nieces and nephews; great-nieces and -great-nephews; great-great-nieces and great-great-nephews; and a host of many friends.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Smith (Libby) Stubbs.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the General Fund of Chestnut Street UMC, P.O. Box 1464, Lumberton, N.C., 28359.

Services entrusted to Boles–Biggs Funeral Home Lumberton

Sailor Hector McNeill

One of the most often cited figures in lineages from Robeson County is that of "Sailor" Hector McNeill. Hundreds, if not thousands, of persons claim to be a descendant of this enigmatic ancestor.

"Sailor" Hector McNeill Monument in McNeill Cemetery

Often he is referenced as the the Founder of the town of Red Springs; a stone in the town's McNeill Cemetery verifies this claim, but even so that is somewhat a misleading characterization. While he did receive a grant from the King for the land where the town is now located, it was his grandson, "Red" Hector McNeill that was the town's first mayor. The two are often mistaken. He is also frequently mistaken for "One Eye" Hector McNeill (in part probably due to the well-circulated photo of "Red" Hector as mayor) and Colonel Hector McNeill, Loyalist leader in the Revolution. However, these are not the same men.

Most of the "Sailor" Hector McNeill biography comes to us from the work of James Roberts' "Some Descendants of Sailor Hector McNeill." This account describes "Sailor" Hector and his brother "Shoemaker" John McNeill arriving in North Carolina around 1740 with their father, Neill McNeill. The brothers are described as being very young and their mother presumed now deceased in Scotland.

There is a great void in the records for "Sailor" Hector from 1740 until 1771 when he appears in the Bladen Tax Record living with Neill McNeill Snr. [the use of "senior" and "junior" in this time period does NOT always indicate father and son, but that there was an older and younger person in the area with the same name] and John Hart.

So where was "Sailor" Hector in the interim?

James Roberts writes that "Sailor" Hector McNeill was shanghaied in Charleston, South Carolina, and spent twelve years sailing around the world with the Royal Navy. Mabel Lovin, another researcher, has written that he was also shanghaied, but from Wilmington, North Carolina. Annie Culbreth Gaitley, a descendant of "Sailor" Hector McNeill, told Roberts she believed Sailor Hector McNeill escaped [author's note: or released from] his forced indenture in Virginia, and found his way to our ancestral Culbreaths living there. After several years of searching, I believe Aunt Annie was the closest to the truth and here's why, and I ask the reader's patience as I go through my theory.

"Sailor" Hector McNeill and his wife, Mary McNeill [maiden name to be proposed shortly] , had the following children: Isabella (married a Daniel Buie), Catherine (unmarried), William "Little Billy" (married Jane McNeill), Mary "Polly" McNeill (married Camp/Kemp Culbreth), Malcolm Culbreth McNeill (married Ruth FitzRandolph), and an unknown daughter who died young. All of these children were born between 1775-1790.

It is this writer's proposition that Mary McNeill, wife of "Sailor" Hector McNeill, was a Culbreath herself. To my knowledge, this has never been published or presented in written form. One living Culbreth cousin has informed me that Annie Culbreth Gaitley told him as a boy that "Sailor" Hector McNeill's wife was a Culbreth, and her name was "Annie." I accept this as truth, but defer to fluidity of names of the time, where Polly is short for Mary is short for Marian/Marianne [Annie?] which comes to us from Marron, a Gaelic version of Sarah. See how it gets confusing real fast! 

I'll jump back to the children of "Sailor" Hector McNeill and Mary [Culbreath] McNeill. Malcolm Culbreth McNeill? Okay that one is obvious. Middle names did not become common for the masses until about 1850. Yet, this Malcolm McNeill, and his son William McNeill are almost always listed with the middle initial "C." It is so frequent, it's probably safe to drop the "almost" and just say "always." This presents an interesting hypothesis, could the Malcolm C. McNeill have been an orphan from a family of Culbreaths adopted by "Sailor" Hector or was the name just that important to the family. Then there's the daughter, Mary McNeill, who marries Camp/Kemp Culbreath from Mecklenburg County, Virginia. I find it very strange that Camp/Kemp packed up his bags, traveled two hundred miles, and married a complete stranger. In this time period, land and property, were too valuable to let just anyone into the family!

Now, if the reader is still with me, I'll present further evidence to my claim.

Let's go to William Culbreath of Mecklenburg County's 1787 will. He's Camp/Kemp's grandfather, by son, Thomas Culbreath. In his will, he lists his daughter, Mary McNeill. Who the hell is she? There are several candidates bouncing around Mecklenburg County at the time; notably a John, a Daniel, and a Malcolm McNeal. However, I have been unable to find these McNeal's in the area later and it's likely they, along with some of the ancestral Culbreaths traveled to Georgia and Tennessee.

This brings me to what is actually written in William Culbreath's will, specifically for the slave Hannah to go to William's daughter, Mary McNeill, following the death of William's wife, Margaret. I then turned to "Sailor" Hector McNeill's 1803 will. There with the land, home, and all the household property is a slave named Hannah. Please note as I write about Hannah as property, I am not condoning this terrible period of history nor being flippant about the forced servitude of apeople or a person. [Note: I caveat this that Hannah was a very popular name for female slaves.] Now, I go to "Sailor" Hector's wife, Mary McNeill, and her 1819 will. Mary gives "my negro woman Hannah" [I find the use of "my" verses the articles "a" or "the" interesting] to son Malcolm C. McNeill and son-in-law Camp Culbreath. 

Finally, examining the US Census records, we find the following :1820 US Census lists Kemp Culbreath with 1 Female Slave over 45, the 1830 US Census lists Kemp Culbreath with 1 Slave between 55 and 99, and the 1840 US Census lists Kemp Culbreath with 1 Female Slave between 55 and 99. Then in 1850, the US Government conducted a Slave Schedule as part of the census, and there appears a 100 year old black female belonging to Kemp Culbreath in Robeson County. Is this Hannah? I believe so.

So where does that leave us with Sailor Hector McNeill? This writer believes it proves a relationship between said McNeill and the Mary McNeill found in William Culbreath of Mecklenburg's will. It further supports that "Sailor" Hector McNeill probably did spend some time in Virginia, probably in the French Indian War, in which William Culbreath did fight. It could indicate that "Sailor" Hector, and possibly his father, Neil McNeill [McNeale], did spend time in Virginia before settling in Bladen [now Robeson] County. This period would account for their absence in the historical record of the area.

And yes, if the reader has connected the dots, Camp Culbreath married his first cousin, the daughter of his aunt Mary Culbreath and "Sailor" Hector McNeill, Mary McNeill.  

Windy Billy Splits the Party

This blog entry comes at a point where Presidential Candidate Donald Trump seems poised to split the national GOP.

In 1912, a similar split was happening in national politics whereby Teddy Roosevelt was seeking a return to office following his disappointment with the first term of the William Taft presidency. The Republican Party denied Roosevelt the nomination and he stormed out of the convention to form his own Progressive Party, a.k.a The Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt achieved second place in the 1912 election to Democratic Party candidate, Woodrow Wilson.

Political parties have all sorts of top-down and bottom-up relationships, and the 1912 election was no exception for the Republican Party of Robeson County, North Carolina. In September 1912, W.K. Culbreth was nominated as County Chair of the Republican Party. The trouble being: he was a noted Progressive and Roosevelt-man and the national GOP had nominated Taft, and the state parties were largely undeclared. The North Carolina GOP cast one vote for Taft and one vote for Roosevelt, with the other 22 delegates voting present.

Upon being elected as chair, W.K. Culbreth "Windy Billy" recalled the County Convention to shake up the Republican status quo. Three days later the Robesonian declared the party split.

What ensued was party chaos, with the Robeson County Republican Party finally declaring itself a little Taft and a little Roosevelt. The Robesonian's account, however indicates the county Republicans were solidly in the Roosevelt column. Page 1. Page 2. Of note, Malcolm "Make" Culbreth was also nominated as Road Supervisor for Maxton, NC.

Malcolm Drake McNeill

From time to time when doing genealogical research, you come across something or someone that strikes your interest. It could be an event or battle or a document of seemingly little historical import, but you find yourself becoming engrossed with learning all about that person, place or thing.

One of my favorite persons who I've discovered is Malcolm Drake McNeill. He was the son of William Culbreth McNeill (23 Feb 1809 - 25 July 1897) and his first wife, Pamela Ann Drake (9 April 1815 - 2 April 1852). Note: W. C. McNeill was the son of Malcolm Culbreth McNeill, and grandson of "Sailor" Hector McNeill.

I first came across Malcolm Drake when re-reading James Roberts' book, Some Descendants of Sailor Hector McNeill. Roberts includes a great deal of information on his Uncle "Big Make" in the appendix of his book.

Malcolm Drake McNeill was born in the Moss Neck community on 3 July 1847. This places him about ten years older than our Culbreth sibling group (W.K., Make, John, Joseph, etc.). He attended school in Red Springs, taught by William Stewart, and in 1860's attended school in Anson County, taught by a Rev. Neill Ray.

In 1863, at the age of 15, Malcolm Drake McNeill left school and mustered with the Confederate army in Brunswick County, NC. He fought at Fort Fisher near Wilmington and was captured by Union forces when they overtook the fortifications and imprisoned. While a prisoner, he recalls to Roberts that he came across his cousin of his, Dougald McCormick, who offered him food and drink.

After the Civil War, Malcolm was released and returned home to start his own farm. However, the ravaged countryside was in no shape to wield a profitable return. Much of the transportation infrastructure had been destroyed by General Sherman's army, and the Radical Republicans in charge of the county enacted harsh treatment on the planter class. When the Conservatives regained control of Robeson County, they retaliated against not only the Radical Republicans but the local Native Americans and freed slaves. In response, the Lowery Band led by Henry Berry Lowery, roamed the area surrounding what would become Pembroke, attacking, stealing and looting plantations in the area, many of which were owned by these Scottish highlanders and their descendants. The McNeills in Moss Neck were at ground zero.

On November 20, 1870 he was kidnapped by the Lowery Gang and released the following morning. Two months later, while walking to the Moss Neck Depot with his brother-in-law John Taylor, Malcolm witnessed Taylor's head explode from a shotgun blast from the Lowery Gang hiding in the brush nearby. The plantation of Malcolm's father, William Culbreth McNeill, was robbed several times by the gang. In retaliation, Malcolm led a gang of ten white men to the home of Benjamin Bethea, a black man, and brutally murdered him for his suspected involvement with the Lowery Gang. This was indeed a terrible tragedy and low-point in the biography of Malcolm Drake McNeill.

Malcolm Drake McNeill circa 1880

A judge in Lumberton declared Malcolm an outlaw and he and the other murderers was later indicted by a Grand Jury in 1871. Among the indicted was Benjamin Fitzrandolph McNeill, Malcolm's only surviving brother, who fled south to Mississippi. Malcolm left for Baltimore and eventually made his way to Indian Territory and later Texas by rail, before arriving in Screven County, Georgia.

At the age of 27, Malcolm left the contentious and calamitous Lowry War behind and found a new life in Georgia, employed in the turpentine industry. Here he married Mary Elizabeth "Minnie" Zitterouer, a descendent of the German Salzburgers of Effingham County, Georgia. In 1875, they had a daughter, Louise Taylor McNeill. Little is known about Malcolm and Minnie's life between 1875 - 1900. It's likely he returned to visit friends and relatives in Robeson on occassion. His brother, Benjamin Fitrandolph McNeill, married in Robeson in 1880, so there is clear evidence this brother returned and largely waited out the clock on his indictment.

This unidentified photo was found with many photos of Malcolm Drake McNeill. Could this be Minnie Zitterour?

In 1897, Louise McNeill married Doctor Chauncey Rakestraw. In 1900, the Rakestraws made home in Charlotte, North Carolina, where his mother and the McNeill in-laws also lived.

Louise Taylor McNeill and husband, Dr. Chauncey Rakestraw

The family was frequently on the move. From 1906-1913, they lived in Savannah, Georgia where Malcolm, in his sixties, was a hotel clerk. In 1915, they moved to Asheville, North Carolina where Malcolm was security for the Langren Hotel. In the 1920s, he lives in Chester County, South Carolina and later Greenbrier, West Virginia. Sometime prior to 1930, Malcolm, now in his eighties, returned to Robeson County, North Carolina specifically Red Springs where Dr. Rakestraw opened a practice. The Rakestraws had one daughter, Louise Rakestraw, who was born in 1900, and was described as a quiet, shy and lonely girl.

Malcolm Drake McNeill and his grandaughter, Louise Rakestraw. How about that mustache?

Malcolm died December 18, 1936, surrounded by friends and relatives he had left so long ago to escape justice, and was described as "one of Robeson's Most Colorful Characters." Having fought in the Civil War, lived through Reconstruction and the local conflict known as the Lowery War, then fleeing West, to working in the turpentine pines of Georgia, then traveling to more places than many of his contemporaries at the turn of the century, Malcolm was true to the curse, "may you live in interesting times."

Additional readings:

Excerpt from "Descendants of Sailor Hector McNeill", semi-autobiographical account by James Roberts.