JONESVILLE'S DUKE LEGEND

BRANTLEY YORK—JONESVILLE’S DUKE CONNECTION

Among legends from Jonesville of long ago is one about Duke University. There is an element of truth to the Duke legend—but somehow through the years, it has gotten jumbled up.

Some people will still tell you that it is all true.

The legend can be traced at least as far back as 1914 when an article appeared in an Elkin newspaper. The article stated that that Duke University probably got its start in Jonesville.

The true story is that the man who organized the school that became Duke once lived in Jonesville. But he did not live in Jonesville until several years after he organized the school that became Duke.

It was in Randolph County in 1838 that he organized the school that became become Duke. It grew quickly and became widely known as was Union Collegiate Institute. Years later it was renamed Trinity College. Eventually, Trinity was moved to Durham and was renamed again-- Duke University.

The man who organized the school that became Duke was Brantley York, a Methodist preacher who was also a teacher. His portrait hangs in the University’s gallery of presidents in the main library on the Duke campus. His portrait also hangs in the narthex of Jonesville First United Methodist Church, which stands on the site of the Jonesville Academy.

 The pulpit from which he preached is on display in the church’s fellowship hall.

York established a 200-mile lecture circuit and selected Jonesville as its center. At that time, Jonesville was one of the busiest towns west of Raleigh. He was attracted to Jonesville because of its central location, its climate, its outstanding academy… and its good mineral spring water.

While in Jonesville, York frequently lectured at the Jonesville Academy.

When on tours, it would take him two weeks to cover his circuit.

Even after he was totally blind, Brantley York continued lecturing and preaching, traveling by buggy, stage coach or train, all over the state, usually with his wife or a son as a companion… and sometimes alone.

Union Collegiate Institute was under Brantley York’s guidance for five years…until he began to lose his eye sight. He attributed his failing eyes to spending long hours at night preparing for his students… by candlelight.

When his eyes grew worse, he decided that it was best to give up classroom work and to turn to lecturing and preaching… from memory. Brantley York—Jonesville’s Duke connection.

                                                                                      --CHARLES GRAY MATHIS

Source: The Autobiography of Brantley York, Amanuensis Two Edition
               The Elkin Tribune
              The Little Church In Jonesville: A Bicentennial Account
                     of Jonesville First United Methodist Church
               duke.edu/brantley york 

                                                                        

Out Behind The Worm-Tub

Twelve years of my boyhood were spent at the old homestead on Bush Creek. Like other boys, I was fond of sport. During the warm sesason, I spent much time fishing with the bow and arrow and, during the cold season, hunting for birds.

For several years, I was much afflicted with erysipelas, then called St. Anthony's fire. The principal remedy resorted to was blood-letting, which in my case was so frequent that the very thought to my mind was horrifying. I have never been entirely free from this feeling and the use of any surgical instrument to me is still the object of much dread.

An incident occurred that came very near to terminating my life when I was about five or six years old. My mother sent an older brother and me to call my father to breakfast. When we reached the still-house, we found that he was just starting what is called "a doubling" and could not leave.

In the meantime, I got behind the worm-tub and with a spoon I found between the hoop and stave, I commenced catching the liquor, as it issued from the worm, and drinking it.

I loved the taste. I suppose I was like other babies--drenched by means of a teaspoon.

As soon as my father discovered what I was doing, he sent us both home, which was some three or four hundred yards distance. Well did the wise man say, "Wine is a mocker!" It made me believe I was what I was not, and that I could do what I could not. I began to believe that I could pull up any tree in the forest by the root, and so foolish was I that I actually tried it.

After much stumbling and falling, I finally reached within twenty-five or thirty yards of home and there I fell again, and from that time until morning of the next day, I was as unconscious of everything around me as if I were dead.

If mothers were aware of the danger of a drinking habit being formed, they would be extremely cautious in either giving their children ardent spirits as a beverage or as a medicine; for perhaps, in every case of this kind, the remedy is worse than the disease.

At this time, in the year of our Lord, 1876, it may be thought strange that any member of the church should follow the distillation of ardent spirits as a livelihood, but the view entertained by even good people back in those days was very different; drunkenness only was regarded as a sin--even by ministers.

--BRANTLEY YORK

The above passage, written in 1876, is about an incident that occurred around 1810 when enjoying a drink of liquor, even if you were a minister, was no sin. The sin was in getting drunk. The passage is taken with permission from The Autobiography of Brantley York, Amanuensis Two Edition, copyrighted by Charles Mathis 1977 and 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Brantley York 'Lives' Again

In 1845, Brantley York moved to Jonesville, then the home of a famous school called the Jonesville Academy. The academy is long-gone, but its history is being remembered in 2011 as Jonesville celebrates its 200th birthday.

The academy attracted students from throughout the South.

Jonesville became one of the largest towns west of Raleigh and the center of Brantley York’s 200-mile lecture and preaching circuit. York taught and preached at the Jonesville Academy, where Jennie Speer from Boonville became one of his students.

On December 2, 1845, Jennie recorded in her diary that she was “engaged in the delightful task” of improving her mind under the instruction of the Rev. Brantley York. A 19th century authority on English, mathematics, Latin and elocution. He was the author of several textbooks on English grammar and one on mathematics.

In an essay on the harmony in nature, Jennie concluded that “nothing short of Omnipotent Power could have projected worlds of almost inconceivable magnitude into empty space and established laws by which their motions have been uniformly regulated for thousands of years.”

On March 29, 1847, Jennie wrote in her diary: “Last night was the happiest time I ever experienced. Brother York preached an excellent sermon…. The power of the Lord came down, and four professed religion; one was my little sister.”

Jennie’s little sister was Ann Speer.

On October 8, 1846, Jennie wrote that she had the pleasure today of accompanying Rev. York to Center Methodist where one of the classes on his 200-mile circuit was put to the test. “The scholars underwent an honorable examination, and thus clearly proving the value of the systems invented and practiced by him.”

Asbury Speer, an older brother of Jennie and Ann, also attended the academy and later became superintendent of the tannery located on the branch behind the academy campus. Asbury joined the militia of Yadkin County during the Civil War and obtained the rank of colonel in the Confederate Army.

Jennie, Ann and Asbury, dead now for more than a century, "lived again” at 7 p.m. on March 5, 2011, when their great great nephew, Allen Paul Speer III and his wife, Janet Barton Speer, brought them back to life in a Readers Theatre production at Jonesville First United Methodist Church.

Brantley York, too, was "present" once more.

The drama is entitled, Divided Loyalties.

The church stands on the site of the Jonesville Academy.

Eight years before establishing his residence in Jonesville, the Rev. Dr. Brantley York founded a little school in Randolph County and named it Union Collegiate Institute. He remained head of the institute for five years. When his eyesight began to fail, he resigned. But before going totally blind, he organized Clemmonsville High School and later established his residence in Jonesville to be in the center of his 200-mile lecturing and preaching circuit. Union Institute grew into Trinity College and eventually was moved to Durham and re-named Duke University.

In the church fellowship hall was an exhibit on the history of the academy, the town, and the Civil War, which began 150 years ago.

The Jonesville Academy’s Silver Dollar Bell rang again.

Allen Speer, who grew up in Boonville where the Speer family has lived for 10 generations, is author of three books on his ancestors. Allen’s great aunt, Miss Mary Speer, taught mathematics at Jonesville High School in the 1950s. His books were made possible by the papers and diaries found preserved in the Speer attic. Allen, who is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Lees-McRae College, refers to his three books together as “The Voices Trilogy.” The books are Voices From Cemetery Hill, Sisters of Providence and From Banner Elk To Boonville. Each book is winner of the Robert Bruce Cooke Family History Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians. Voices From Cemetery Hill was also winner of the society’s Willie Parker Peace History Book Award.

--CHARLES GRAY MATHIS
Sources
Voices From Cemetery Hill (Allen Paul Speer)
Sisters of Providence (Allen Paul Speer with Janet Barton Speer)
From Banner Elk To Boonville (Allen Paul Speer)
The Autobiography of Brantley York (Amanuensis Two Edition)
Jonesville, North Carolina: Historical Notes (W. H. Dyar)
Civil War Trail Marker, Jonesville, N.C.

From a History of Jonesville, NC

Brantley York (1805-1891), a Methodist circuit preacher and lecturer at the Jonesville Academy, established his headquarters in Jonesville. From here, York rode a bi-weekly two-hundred mile circuit throughout the region. He is credited with starting the Olin Institute at Union Grove, York Institute at Hiddenite and the Union Institute at Trinity, near High Point. The Trinity-Union Institute was moved to Durham (later to be re-named Duke University). York opened numerous high schools in North Carolina, including Clemmonsville High School. His autobiography is edited by Jonesville's Charles Mathis.

-- Notable Citizens