A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina

or, how a New Bern native became the first North Carolinian to write and illustrate a book for children.

Frontispiece of A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina

by John B. Green III

Mary Ann Bryan Mason (1802-1881) was born in New Bern, North Carolina, the daughter of John Council and Mary Ann Fulford Bryan.  In 1823 she married the Reverend Richard Sharpe Mason, rector of Christ Church, New Bern.  After pastorates in New York and Delaware, the couple settled in Raleigh where he served as rector of Christ Church from 1840 until his death in 1874.

Photograph of Mary Ann Bryan Mason from Richard Walser, Young Readers Picturebook of Tar Heel Authors (Raleigh: N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, 1975)

Mary Bryan Mason was known for her considerable talent as a musician, painter, and sculptor.  To these abilities she added that of published author in 1859.  In that year, no doubt drawing upon her experiences as the wife of a pastor and the mother of six children, she wrote and illustrated a children's book which she titled A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina.

Published by the General Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Union and Church Book Society of New York, A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina is a handsomely printed book consisting of ten allegorical and moralistic stories for children.  Each features a particular flower common to the woods or gardens of North Carolina and is accompanied by an engraved, color plate based on a floral illustration by Mrs. Mason.

"The Trumpet Flower", engraved plate from A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina

Mrs. Mason followed the success of A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina with a novel in 1860, Her Church and Her Mother, and a housekeeping how-to book in 1871, The Young Housewife's Counsellor and Friend.  She died in 1881 and is buried in  Raleigh's Oakwood Cemetery.

Cover of A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina

A Wreath from the Woods of Carolina is today recognized as the first children's book written by a North Carolinian.  The Kellenberger Room is fortunate to have a copy of this rare work.

Dr. Guion and the President

or, there's more than one way to send a letter to Georgia!

by John Green III

On April 22, 1791, Dr. Isaac Guion of New Bern wrote a letter to his business associate Joseph Clay of Georgia.  The letter is brief and mundane, dealing with financial matters.  What is not mundane is the method that Guion chose to send this letter to Joseph Clay in Georgia.

Both men were patriots of the Revolution - Guion serving as a regimental surgeon and later as a paymaster in the North Carolina Continental Line, and Clay serving as a major and paymaster in the Georgia Continental Line.  The two men apparently had known each other for some time.  Guion might have entrusted his letter to an agreeable sea captain sailing south or to the postal service as it existed at that time.  Instead, the third line of his letter reveals his chosen method and also serves as one of the very few first-hand accounts, however brief, of an important event in New Bern's history - 

"I cou[l]d not omit Writing you by so favorable an opp[ortuni]ty the president of the U.S. having favored Us with a Short Visit & going to your State Colo. Jackson of his family condescended to be the Bearer."

First page of letter

President George Washington visited New Bern April 20-22, 1791 during his tour of the Southern states.  Washington had begun his trip at Philadelphia, passed through Virginia, stopping at Mount Vernon, and then entered North Carolina.  The President visited Halifax, Tarborough, and Greenville before reaching New Bern on April 20th.  While in New Bern, Washington received an address from the citizens of the town, attended a dinner and ball at the Palace, and received an address from St. John's Lodge No.2, signed by Isaac Guion, Worshipful Master.  It was perhaps through their connection as fellow Freemasons that Guion was able to prevail upon Washington, or rather Washington's aide and secretary William Jackson (Col. Jackson in the letter) to carry the letter south to Joseph Clay.

Second page of letter

Washington and his party left New Bern on April 22nd, traveled to Trenton and then on to Wilmington before entering South Carolina.  After visiting Charleston, the President's party crossed into Georgia and stopped at Savannah on May 12th where they were met by a delegation which included Joseph Clay.  It may have been at this meeting that William Jackson delivered Isaac Guion's letter to Clay.

The history of Dr. Guion's letter following its delivery is unclear.  Presumably it remained among Joseph Clay's personal papers until his death in 1804.  At some point it was acquired by North Carolina historian and collector Alexander B. Andrews, Jr. who donated it to the New Bern Public Library in 1945.

Address page of letter

Here's to the Land of the Long Leaf Pine!

or, What's a State Song without a State Toast?

Postcard, copyrighted and postmarked 1907. Private collection

by John B. Green III

In our last post we discussed William Gaston and the creation of North Carolina's official state song, The Old North State.  But there is another "Old North State", and not one written by William Gaston.  Since 1904, several generations of North Carolinians have gotten to their feet, raised a glass, and regaled their listeners with the following lines - 

Here's to the Land of the Long Leaf Pine,
The summer land where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,
Here's to 'Down Home', the Old North State!

Written by Mrs. Leonora Monteiro Martin and first recited on May 20, 1904 at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Society of Richmond, Virginia, the toast quickly became popular.  North Carolina newspapers reported its use all across the state and it soon began to appear on penny postcards and other souvenir items.  The toast first received official recognition in 1933 when the North Carolina House of Representatives adopted a resolution declaring Mrs. Martin's toast, along with music composed for the toast by Mrs. Mary Burke Kerr, to be the state toast of North Carolina.  Further recognition came from the legislature in 1957 when "An Act Establishing an Official Toast to the State of North Carolina" was adopted. 

Postcard, ca. 1940. Private collection

Considering that North Carolinians tend to be expansive in their praise of their native state, it should  surprise no one that there are actually three more verses to the toast.  Here they are as Mrs. Martin wrote them and as they appeared in 1907 in the Library of Southern Literature, Edwin Anderson Alderman and Joel Chandler Harris, editors. 

Text of The Old North State, from Edwin Anderson Alderman and Joel Chandler Harris, eds., Library of Southern Literature (Atlanta: The Martin and Hoyt Company, 1907)

William Gaston and the Swiss Bell Ringers

or, how North Carolina got its state song

by John B. Green III

William Gaston (1778-1844) - native New Bernian, prominent attorney, U.S. Congressman, North Carolina Supreme Court justice, champion of religious freedom - accomplished much during his lifetime by which he might be remembered today. Yet the average North Carolinian, if asked to identify Gaston, would probably either draw a blank or, after some thought, declare him to be the author of the state song. They might not know the words or the tune, but somewhere, probably in elementary school, they were taught that Gaston wrote The Old North State. 

Engraved portrait of William Gaston, mid-19th century.

The origin of the North Carolina state song, with slight variations, is as follows.  About the year 1835, a troupe of Swiss Bell Ringers, or in some versions, Tyrolean Singers, gave a concert in Raleigh. The tune of one of the songs presented proved very popular with the audience. William Gaston was living and working in Raleigh at that time while serving on the state supreme court. Gaston became familiar with the tune, liked it, and at some point decided to write lyrics for the song that would honor North Carolina and might serve as a state anthem. The tune, with Gaston's lyrics, quickly became popular as The Old North State and was sung and enjoyed by generations of North Carolinians.  The title, by the way, refers to North Carolina's status as the northern-most of the two Carolinas and probably dates to early 19th century.

William Gaston's law office in Raleigh, NC, where he is said to have composed The Old North State. From Mrs. E.E. Randolph, "The Old North State" A Study Lesson on the State Song, Raleigh, NC: State Superintendent of Public Instruction, n.d.

The Old North State was published numerous times over the years but never received any official sanction as the state song until 1927. In that year the North Carolina legislature, responding to a request from the North Carolina Daughters of the Confederacy, passed an act which ordered that William Gaston's song "known as 'The Old North State,' as hereinafter written, be and the same is hereby adopted and declared to be the official song of the State of North Carolina."

The Old North State, a Patriotic Song, written by the late Wm. Gaston of North Carolina, Philadelphia: George Willig, 1844.  Sheet music published in the year that William Gaston died.

The lyrics of the first verse and chorus, essentially as Gaston wrote them, and codified by the legislature, follow:

Carolina! Carolina! Heaven's blessings attend her!

While we live we will cherish, protect and defend her;

Though the scorner may sneer at and witlings defame her,

Our hearts swell with gladness whenever we name her.

Chorus:

Hurrah! Hurrah! The Old North State forever!

Hurrah! Hurrah!, the good Old North State!