19 th
Century Schoolteacher
Dempsey P. Barclift, Jr
A Biography
By
Ronald Forehand
Schoolteacher Dempsey Barclift was an advocate of gender equality in
education and a strict disciplinarian with devout Christian convictions. As
teacher, Mason, and Confederate, he was well respected in Chowan, Perquimans
and Hertford counties.
Dempsey Barclift was the last of nine children, bor
n in 1822 to Dempsey and Martha in Durant’s Neck. Their
homestead was near Hertford in Perquimans County, on the banks of the Albemarle
Sound, North Carolina. Dempsey (sometimes spelled Demsey) Barclift Sr was a
planter who died in the same year as his son’s birth. Mother, Martha Sutton,
was Dempsey Sr’s second wife and lived until Oct 17, 1846, watching most of her
children either die young or leave Carolina for frontier migration to Illinois,
Arkansas, and Missouri.
Dempsey Barclift’s 273 acres of land were distributed among his heirs in 1825. Dempsey Jr share was 43 ¼ acres on the borders of Durant Neck in southern Perquimans County. No deeds have been identified which clarify Dempsey’s disposition of this property that he inherited at age 3 years.[1]
The extent of Dempsey’s education is unclear, but exceeded his peers and was probably partial compensation for his clubfoot malformation. [2] He did not follow his siblings to the western frontier, but Dempsey did spend time in Norfolk County, where he lived at the age of 22 years and served as Steward in the Methodist Church. In 1846 he was a teacher at Hickory Ground, Norfolk County, Virginia.[3] And for at least one year, 1848, he supplemented his income by serving as business secretary for Perquimans County native, Mr. Anderson C. Toms, who conducted a “general Commission and Forwarding Business for the purpose of conveying both foreign and domestic grain”. This business was located on Campbell’s Wharf in the City of Norfolk. In this time, good and legible handwriting was evidence of cultural training, and Dempsey’s hand is consistently praised for its style and beauty.[4]
Dempsey returned to Hertford in “Old Pergs”[5] (Perquimans County) before the Federal Census of 1850. He was residing at the Farmers Hotel, operated by Mr. Hathaway. The Farmers Hotel was later named the Eagle Hotel, but was ultimately demolished in 1915.[6] According to a local Hertford resident, Kim Howell, the Eagle Hotel was a beautiful building in its day and like so many other places, claims that “George Washington slept there”. While residing in the Farmer’s Hotel, Dempsey served as Assistant to John Kimberly, Principal of Hertford Academy. Situated on the “Academy Square” and consistent with most formal schools of the day, Hertford Academy admitted only males.[7]
In 1851, at age 29, schoolteacher Dempsey married 21 year-old Elizabeth (Lizzie) Toms. Lizzie was daughter of Benjamin and Martha Wilson Toms, a Quaker family living in Perquimans County. Benjamin Toms had died when Lizzie was just nine years old. The Toms children do not appear to have adopted the Quaker faith, as Lizzie married a Methodist, and sisters Pharibe and Elvira also married outside of unity.[8] Mr. A.C. Toms, Dempsey’s former employer in Norfolk, and Elvira Toms were Lizzie Toms’ siblings.
In 1853, the financially sound Hertford Academy announced that Dempsey would serve as Principal of the newly created Female Department. Miss Caroline Harvey assisted him.
In January 1859 Dempsey purchased property lots 23,24,25 in Hertford, Perquimans County for the sum of $2,000.[9] These lots were on both sides of the present courthouse.
Also, about this time, Dempsey appears in the Hertford Methodist Church records.[10] A devoutly religious man, Dempsey’s obituary later recounts, “He gave his heart to God while in tender years at age seventeen…The one great desire of his heart was to glorify God in his soul and body, and ever be ready to do the humblest for the Master.” [11] His strong and overriding Christian devotion is apparent in the letters he wrote to his sister in Illinois.
In June1859, at age 30 years, and after 42 days of illness, Lizzie Barclift died of erysipelas, a severe form of streptococcal skin infection.[12] She and Dempsey were married 8 ½ years and had two daughters, Elvira C. (Ella Toms) Barclift[13], and Sarah Elizabeth Barclift.
Unfortunately, geographically isolated Hertford Academy was unable to sustain sufficient patronage. By 1860, unable to meet teacher salaries, the Boarding Department was closed and school term reduced to six to eight months per year. [14] This difficult news came less than one year after Lizzie’s death, undoubtedly a hard blow to Dempsey.
With the Boarding School closed, on November 13, 1860, GW Freer paid $2,200 to Dempsey for two lots, 79 & 80, which were bounded by Market Street, Exum Elliott’s Corner, Hyde Park Street and Dobbs[15]. It is unclear exactly when Dempsey acquired this property but it is possible that eldest daughter Ella (Elvira C) and second child, Sarah E, were born here in 1855 and 1858 respectively.
The sorrowful years of 1859 and 1860 were followed by promising events of happier days.
Sometime before the September 1860 Federal Census, Dempsey and two daughters had moved to Yeopim living with Elizabeth Hatfield, a much older “housekeeper”. Additionally there were 10 other house occupants suggesting this was a boarding house with Dempsey as Head of the Household.
While living in Yeopim, on August 7, 1860, 38 year-old Dempsey, now a widower with two young daughters married Miss Mary Ann Simpson of Center Hill, Chowan County. Mary Ann Simpson was owner of 177 acres in Center Hill. She inherited this farm from her father, Samuel Simpson. During that year, Mary conceived and Dempsey and daughters relocated to her house in Center Hill also known as Tyner.
On August 6, 1861, Mary sold her property to her sister, Penelope Simpson for $2,000. This land was adjacent Elisha J Burkes farm. Among the witnesses to this sale was Dr. R.H. Dillard.[16] On the same day, Dempsey purchased the property back from his sister-in-law for $2,000.[17] These sales resulted in changing the property ownership from Mary to Dempsey. Mary was “too infirmed in health and body”[18] to make the trip to the Chowan courthouse for the Aug 6th proceedings. On August 22, Mary delivered her first child, Samuel Simpson Barclift.
Interestingly, during the 1850 Chowan census, Elisha Burke, age 17, was living in the household of Henderson Simpson, age 47. Henderson and Samuel Simpson may have been brothers and Elisha Burke may have married one Henderson's daughters (Jane 14, Anna Maria 12).
Dempsey and Mary had four children, son Samuel Simpson Barclift, and daughters Pattie (Martha R.), Neppie (Penelope) and Mamie (Mary Renshaw.) Barclift. Dempsey ran a one-room schoolhouse for local children on the Center Hill Farm.
Prior to 1900, Dr Richard Dillard wrote this about Center Hill: “In 1860 Mr. Dempsey Barclift moved from Perquimans County, settled at Centre Hill, and conducted a large school there for a number of years. Some of the older citizens still residing in that community were numbered among his pupils. He was a rigid disciplinarian and a strict Methodist. Slacking was the greatest crime in Mr. Barclift's school, and he punished it accordingly; pupils came there to learn, the boy who failed to know his lesson was sure of a sound thrashing. Mr. Barclift was of medium stature, dark completed, wore a beard, had a well-shaped head, very bald, and small black piercing eyes. He always carried a large black cane with a crooked handle.”[19]
Although a rigid instructor, Dempsey displayed a strong sense of civic duty. Soon after relocating to Center Hill, the War Between the States interrupted their lives. According to Dempsey’s death announcement in the Virginian Pilot newspaper, he was a Confederate veteran.[20] With memories of two recent wars against England, many southerners believed that Americans in the north were threatening Southern States Rights to control their own destiny. It must have been difficult for these men, forced to choose between a unique and vague concept of Union with people who lived 4 weeks away, or union with their neighbors. Even if it meant war, they had little choice but to stand with their neighbors. No official CSA records have been identified which demonstrate service by Dempsey Barclift. Given his handicap, if he served at all it was probably in a clerical or support role.
Family stories suggest that while in the Confederate Army, Dempsey served as a captain[21], but this has not been confirmed. It is unlikely that he served as a fighting soldier. Many men from Perquimans served with the 17th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company L. under Lucius Johnson at the battles of Roanoke Island and Ft. Bartow. The Federals, under Ambrose Burnside, captured many of these men, but we know of no stories to suggest that Dempsey was among this group.
Ella Barclift, 8-12 years old during the war, told stories of Yankee soldiers raiding the house in Center Hill. She recalled that Yankees pillaged what they could, burned some of the furniture but left the house standing. Family silver and other valuables were hidden in the walls of the house and some was buried in the fields.[22] Some of the furniture survived, and one mahogany table remains in the possession of Penny Wise Kersey. This dining table was cut down in 1970 to be used as a coffee table but otherwise is an excellent example of period furniture.
Beginning in the early 1860’s Mr. Barclift served as headmaster of his Center Hill School where he taught children of settlers in Bear Swamp Area. This was a difficult time of chaos and poverty in the area. As recounted by Mrs. John Quincy Adams Wood, 1861-1952, education was a problem in the rural areas, and after the war the best school was at Center Hill, “operated by Mr. Dempsey Barclift who was considered the best educated teacher in the community”[23]
The records of the Methodist Church document Dempsey’s role as an active citizen in the community. In the minutes of the February 11, 1865 Quarterly Meeting of the Hertford Circuit, Virginia Conference, Methodist Church, Dempsey is listed as a member of the Board of Stewards. However in the Quarterly Conference minutes dated February 10, 1866, Dempsey Barclift resigned from the Board of Stewards, Hertford Methodist Church.[24]
The reason for his resignation from the Hertford Church is unclear, but is possibly related to the distance of travel and other responsibilities in Center Hill residence. Not only was his school located there, but also he was active in the formation of a Masonic Lodge near his home. On February 27, 1867, an Act to Incorporate Centre Hill Lodge No. 260 Free and Accepted Masons in Chowan County was approved by the North Carolina General Assembly. Dempsey Barclift is listed as Worshipful Master on the list of Lodge Officers seeking approval of this Act.
Dempsey's brother George S. Barclift died in May 1867 and in his will had named Dempsey executor, "1st. I nominate and appoint my affectionate brother Dempsey, my Executor to carry out the purposes and intention of this will."[25] George was 20 years Dempsey’s senior.
Despite Dempsey’s renown as a teacher, sustaining a profitable schoolhouse during the postwar days in the south, presented substantial financial challenges. Dempsey seemed to enter into a period where it became increasingly difficult to maintain the homestead. With his physical handicap and only one young son, maintaining a successful farm must not have been easy.
In February 1869, Dempsey applied for Homestead Exemption from foreclosure on his property. The court appointed neighbors, Elisha Burke and Caleb and Harvey Perry to survey Dempsey’s holdings and identify property valued within the Homestead limitations. This property would be “exempt from sale under execution or other final process obtained on any debt” [26] These men identified 177 acres of land and personal property for this purpose. Of the personal belongings, they identified: “And of the personal property of Said applicant did lay off: 1 Horse (cream colored) @ $40.00;1 Buggy & Harness @ $60.00; 1 Horse Cart & Harness @ $8.00; 1 Cow & Calf @ $12.00; 1 Heifer @ $5.00; 1 Sow & pigs @ $10.00; 1 Sow dry @ $8.00; 2 Secretaries for $15.00; 3 Bureaus for $20.00; 1 Clock @ $12.00; 2 Divans @ $5.00; 1 Doz Mahagany Chairs @ $12.00; 1 Rocking Chair @ $2.00; 1 Wat Not @ $1.00; 1 Marble Slab table @ $4.00; 1 Carpet & Rug @ 10.00; 1 Doz Common Chairs @ $6.00; 1 Wash Stand @$ .50; 1 Candle Stand @ $1.00; 2 Sociables @ $2.00; Parlor Andrions @ $2.00; 1 Work Stand @ $1.00 - Amount Brot over - $236.50 - 1 Cook Stove - $15.00; Cooking Utensils - $5.00; 4 Beds & furniture for $100.00; 2 Side Boards - $12.00; Crockery - $8.00; 2 Pilland Tables for $10.00; 2 Leafed Tables for $5.00; Set Knoves & forks - $2.00; Spoons - $1.00; Bacon and lard - $60.00; Corn & fodder - $45.00”[27]
One year later, on Feb 15, 1870, and while still residents of Chowan County, Dempsey and Mary sold 1/2 acre to Samuel T. Simpson and Sarah Bond (her brother and sister) for $75. It may have been the small part of his property where the Masons Lodge 260 held their meetings and may have been sold off to protect it from bankruptcy.[28] It may also have been the schoolhouse property, which served dual purpose as Masonic Lodge.
By June of 1870, Dempsey had given up his school in Center Hill and moved to Harrellsville, across the Chowan River into Hertford County. For a few years, Dempsey taught school and raised his children in the town.[29] Harrellsville Academy was a military school prior to the war. With the initiation on hostilities in 1861, all students were inducted into the CSA Army and removed to Raleigh to serve as Home Guard.
It is possible that Dempsey returned to Center Hill. In January 1874, he entered into an agreement with Isaac White, “a man of color” to work a portion of Dempsey’s Center Hill land, maintain ditches and fences in exchange for the right to plant crops and live on the property. This arrangement was renewed in 1876.
In May 1875, Dempsey borrowed $86.16 from his neighboring farm owner, Elisha J Burke, to be repaid in 6 months. On December 15, two weeks prior to the marriage of his oldest daughter, he signed a $75 Deed of Trust with the same Mr. Burke to be repaid in 6 weeks.
The first family marriage saw Ella united with George Bascom Parker from the Folly Road Parker Homestead in Gates County about 20 miles north of Center Hill. “Grandma Ella” told the story that her father frowned on her courtship with George Parker, second youngest child of Edward Jordan Parker, a stern, Old Jerusalem minister, blacksmith and farmer.
Whatever her father’s objections, they were not so strong as to interfere with the wedding. And on Christmas Day 1875 in the Barclift Home, Dempsey’s eldest daughter and George Bascom Parker were married. Mary Ella Miller recalled stories her grandmother told of the wedding. She passed these onto Dot Forehand in 1945:
“The bride descended the stairway in a dress made of beautifully delicate ivory shadow with ribbons, bows and tucks throughout. The dress is entirely hand-made. Her maid-of-honor was her oldest sister, Sally Barclift, who, along with her seven attendants was waiting for the bride in the parlor. Following the wedding, the reception was also held in the Barclift home. The wedding dance was the minuet. The brides’ trousseau included a gray tarlatan dress with hoop skirt, tight-bodied long sleeves allowing only the toes of her size 3 ½ black shoes to show. The couple stayed at the Barclift Plantation for one week then traveled by horse and buggy to the Folly Road home of the Parkers.”[30]
On January 20, 1877, the Center Hill property was lost after defaulting on a Deed of Trust with Henry A. Morgan, which was dated November 1870. [31] The real estate was sold at the Court House door in Edenton to neighbor Elisha Burke for $900. Whether the Barclifts had returned to Center Hill from Harrellsville before the house was lost in unclear. But, in view of the earlier estimates of the value of the Center Hill estate and that some of it had been previously sold, it seems that Mr. Burke paid a fair price for the land and holdings.
Whatever the circumstances were regarding their unstable decade of the 70’s, by the time of the June 1880 census, Dempsey, Mary and four children were living at 47 Main Street in Hertford Township.[32] Like Dempsey, 22-year-old daughter Sarah was noted to be a schoolteacher during this census.
Mary Ann Simpson Barclift died on December 10, 1880. In Pattie's prayer book she noted Hymn 124 “was read at the funeral of my ma 1880” [33]
In 1884 Dempsey’s eldest daughter, Ella and husband George decided to permanently reside in Norfolk. Following his father, Edward Parkers’ death, George sold his Gates County inheritance to brother Stockton.
Whenever Dempsey moved his residence, a Masonic Lodge seemed to appear. In Dempsey’s obituary, daughter Sarah reports that he served 49 years as a Mason. If accurate, this means that Dempsey became a Mason in 1852, while residing in Hertford Township of Perquimans County. Masonic Lodge 106, chartered in 1841 was active during this period although it ceased work in 1882. Interestingly, the Lodge was restored in 1890 not long after Dempsey moved back to Hertford Township. Hertford historian, Charles Skinner Jr, reports that Dempsey was a Mason serving in Lodge No. 260. This lodge was ratified on the 27th day of February 1867 by the State of North Carolina, “To incorporate Centre Hill Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, in the County of Chowan.” Unfortunately, the Center Hill Lodge no longer exists and records are unavailable. Interestingly, still active Lodge 240, known as Wiccacon in Harrellsville, Hertford County was chartered Dec. 5, 1865. Dempsey lived in Harrellsville in 1870. In Dempsey’s burial notice in the Virginian Pilot noted that the Mason’s provided his interment.
During his declining years, Dempsey lived with his daughters who had remained in North Carolina. Dempsey was living with Pattie, George and Callie Waters in Nixonton area of Pasquotank County in 1900. [34] According to her granddaughter, Frances Dingman, Pattie was tall, with long feet, and was ashamed of her shoe size. Because of this, she would send an employee, housekeeper to buy shoes for her. Pattie had married George Waters, son of Civil War Union Army veteran Captain, Samuel Waters. The family had moved to the south from Pennsylvania after the war.
Although apparently pleased to live with the Waters, Dempsey’s encounters with the old rival Samuel Waters, was oftentimes difficult. Pattie knew this story from her foster mother, Luna Jarvis:
“One day her Father Waters was visiting, and she worried because such visits always seemed to end in a dispute. Samuel Waters had been a captain in the Union Army and it was her impression that Dempsey had been a Confederate captain. While Dempsey was refined and a devout Methodist, Sam was a bit on the salty side. Later, after Waters had left, Luna asked how it had gone this time. Pattie said it went just fine until when Sam got up, he caught his hip and said "Damn Rebel bullet!!!"[35]
In 1900, Pattie sustained a serious leg injury when she stepped through a rotten board on her porch. At age 36, she died from sepsis resulting from this wound. A feeble Dempsey was with her when she died in her home in Elizabeth City.[36]
Following Pattie’s death, Dempsey moved to Union, Hertford County to live with daughter Sarah Elizabeth Knight. Sarah was his second child, by is first wife Lizzie Toms. The widowed Sarah Elizabeth Knight was Union’s postmaster at this time.
While living with Sarah, Dempsey died within a year of Pattie’s burial. His death notice reports, “He had been confined to his room for two months, during which time, none but God knew what his sufferings were, but was faithful under the chastening hand of God, perfectly resigned to his will”. Dempsey passed his parents’ Family Bible to Sarah and it is preserved as Bible Record #3081 in the North Carolina Archives.
Dempsey Barclift is buried in the Old Hollywood Cemetery in Elizabeth City, North Carolina near his daughters Pattie, Neppie (Penelope) and Mamie. (Mary A.).
Author’s note:
This short biography of Dempsey Barclift is dedicated to Isedora Miller Forehand and was a collaborative effort with Dorothy Kincaide, RN and Ruth H Beggs, MA. These two ladies spent numerous hours doing the tedious research. Dot worked on this material for 50 years. Frances Dingman contributed much of the material on Pattie and the Waters. Without their sustained efforts this document would not be possible.
Ronald L Forehand, MD
Rev Mar 5, 2003