AND IT
CAME TO PASS
Few women have had the
distinction of being the daughter of the founder of one town and the mother of
the founder of another town. Furthermore, many romantic novels have been written
about Southern belles falling in love with Yankee soldiers; such a true
love story was enacted right in the heart of Thomasville at the close of
the Civil War.
Jennie Thomas was the
youngest daughter of John W. Thomas, the
founder of Thomasville, who lived in "a grand mansion" in the center of town,
across the street from the town commons. The house was far back from the
street and surrounded by oaks, cedars, some cherry trees, and an iron picket
fence. Jennie had been born in the Thomas house at Fair Grove. After the family
moved to town and her father bought Glen Anna Seminary and moved it into town,
Jennie was a member of the first graduating class. At the same time she was an
assistant teacher.
When the Civil War ended,
Jennie was a lively young lady, tired of the dark years of sorrow and restricted
pleasures. This is her love story as it appeared in ~ Chairtown ~
of July 28, 1921. She had written it several years earlier as a part of her
story about the early days of the town.
At the close of the war the
wounded fr'om the
Battle of Bentonville were
brought here and filled
the Methodist and Baptist
churches and the Pinnix
tobacco factory. The
commissary stores were here
in the care of Dr. Baker, and
the people threatened
to raid
the 'tithes' that had been collected, so he
called for a guard, and Mr.
Cramer's company from
Greensboro was sent here.
Their tents were in front
of where we now live (corner
of Main and Cramer
Streets) and the officers
took their meals in (what
is now) my room. There was a
great flag raising
here and Jack Leland's
celebrated band from Cleveland,
Ohio, with many high officers
of the Northern army
came down from Greensboro. My
father, who always
made the best of everything,
invited them to stop at
his house and no one knows to
this day how Mr. Cramer
managed to get himself
invited with them, but that
was the beginning of our
romantic courtship.
One day a train load of soldiers on their way north
stopped in front of my father's, and piled out and
ran to some red, ripe cherry trees. The officers at
the quarters saw them and Mr. Cramer with sword and
red silk sash came dashing up and the soldiers flew
for the train. But one fellow
more bold had come to
the front porch where Pat
Lewis and I were standing,
and began taunting us with
being whipped, which we
stoutly denied and 'sassed'
him good fashion. By
this time Mr. Cramer with two
of his orderlies had
gotten up the walk and in
stentorian tones said,
'What are you doing here,
sir?' So he (the soldier)
slunk away amid the peals of
laughter of the other
soldiers. Of course I had to
write a note of thanks
after that, and then he must
call, and kept calling,
and that is the way the world
goes. ..
In November, 1865, Captain
John T. Cramer returned to Thomasville to claim Jennie for his bride. In the
list of marriages in the Thomas family Bible, there is an odd entry, "And it
came to pass--Jennie Thomas to J. T. Cramer." This entry does not begin to
express the feelings of most Southern families against the Yankees at that time.
But Captain Cramer stayed on in Thomasville. They bought the old Lewis Thomas
Hotel at the corner of present East Main and Cramer Streets and remodeled it. He
looked after their farms, engaged in local politics, was a State Senator in 1872
and a City Councilman later. In 1915 they celebrated their Golden Wedding
anniversary.
The Cramers were the parents
of two daughters, Carrie and Nellie, and one son, Stuart Warren Cramer. Carrie
married Dr. C. A. Julian who was for years a leading physician in the town.
They first built a house
designed by Stuart Cramer and located on the corner of School and East Main
Streets. After they sold this house to the John W. Lambeths, they built an
impressive Colonial residence on the west corner of Crimer and East Main Streets
and there reared their family. Nellie married Bernard Brooks, an attorney in
Greensboro, but lived only about a year. The Cramers gave an organ to Main
Street Methodist Church in her memory.
Stuart Warren Cramer was
educated at Professor I. L. Wright's School at Fair Grove and at the United
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. After graduating there, he resigned
from the Navy and spent a year as a post graduate at the School of Mines,
Columbia University. Soon thereafter, he was appointed Assayer in charge of the
United States Assay Office at Charlotte, where he lived for many years. He later
went into business for himself as a mill engineer and contractor, designing and
equipping nearly one-third of the cotton mills in the South from l895 to
1918. His was a long list of
accomplishments in the engineering field. There were many inventions, some sixty
patents being granted him by the United States and foreign countries. One of his
greatest contributions to cotton mill work was his invention of a system of air
conditioning. He also wrote and distributed free the noted Handbook £!.
Useful Information Cotton Manufacturers, three volumes and over 1300
pages.
His most important
contribution to the industrial development of Thomasville was the building of
Cramer Furniture Factory No. 1 in 1901 and the purchase of Factory No.2, which
were by 1913 considered the "largest and most thriving factories in the South."
His father was president, he was vice president and John R. Myers was secretary
and treasurer. Perhaps he was best known over the State as founder of Cramerton,
North Carolina. He was married three times: in 1889 to Bertha Hobart Berry of
Portland, Maine,
who died in 1895 leaving two
children; to Kate Stanwood Berry, who lived only a few months; and to Rebecca
Warren Tinkham of Boston, Massachusetts, by whom he had one son. After Cramerton
was founded, they lived in a residence on a high hill overlooking the town until
his death in L939.
Jennie Thomas Cramer thus is
unique in the history of Thomasville. It is still recalled by older residents
that she was a favorite hostess of the town's social set. When they went calling
on her, as children with their mothers or grandmothers, she al- ways served
refreshments. Sometimes she played the organ at Main Street Methodist Church. At
other times, when she entered the church on the arm of the Captain, she was
always beautifully dressed even though the materials were sometimes not costly.
But they say that she was a pretty, petite brunette, knew how to emphasize her
good points and had excellent taste. In her later years she had a fine black
taffeta dress brought to her from Liverpool by her husband.
No novels or songs have been
written about Mrs. Cramer. Few pictures of her can be located in Thomasville.
But as long as Thomasville and Cramerton stand they will serve as monuments to
the names she bore.
-M.
Jewell
Sink
Transcribed by Levi
Hutchens
Proofread
by Ruth Ann Copley
Thomasville
Library
Davidson
County Public Library System