Home Sweet Home!

Our travel day back home was today. Since our flight wasn't until 4:30p EST we took our time in Atlanta, and did some shopping and went out to eat. We made it back an hour ago, and it is really good to be home! A few final thoughts - It was an awesome trip, and one that I will remember for the rest of my life. Though, I wouldn't recommend doing it on a regular basis. It was both expensive and exhausting towards the end, especially with moving every night, and having seven pieces of luggage. I wouldn't mind going back to individual places for more of a visit, but doing pretty much the whole east coast and being on the road for a couple weeks was a once in a lifetime experience. I am really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, which I will be doing shortly!

Thanks to everyone that took time to see us as we drove near thier locations. There was at least one couple that drove almost two hours to see us. Also, thank you to everyone that followed along on this blog. I hope at least some of you were able to live vicariously though our travels. Speaking of blogs, Gary, the Emory University Historian wrote his blog about our visit there yesterday. If you would like to read it, you can view it here. 

Thats all folks! Thank you for giving me a "Few" more minutes of your time. Until our next adventure!  

A Few stops along the way - Part 4

We had fun today. We only had one more stop before we laid up in Atlanta for the night. However, the time changed last night and we technically should have gained an hour of sleep. This was not the case, William decided that he didn't care and we made it out of our hotel in Augusta by 8:30am this morning. This was out of the ordinary, because all through this trip we have never left a hotel until after 10:00am. So, today we had some time to kill, as our first appointment wasn't until 1:30pm. We made a quick but required stop at the grave site of none other than William Few Jr. The Constitution signer. He was originally buried in a church graveyard in New York State, but in the 19 70's Georgia wanted him back. With the help of none other than Jimmy Carter, William's remains were moved to their current location at the St. Pauls Episcopal Church in Augusta, GA. You don't need to search for his place of rest either. It is the biggest and most prominent headstone on the lot!

Sons of the American Revolution medal.

Here is the official portrait in the library of Congress. There is no doubt that Few's are related. Looks like my dad!

Here is a picture that was hanging in the church of William Few. Likely a young portrait.

After we paid our respects, we decided to go to The Cracker Barrel for breakfast. This was dangerous, as they have their store that you can look through while you wait for your table. We somehow made it through with only buying a post card...this time.

After breakfast, we still had lots of time, so rather than take the direct route to our next Few stop, we decided to go north a bit to Winfield, GA to make a pass through the Few lands that were here. By the  early to mid 1800's the Few family had acquired over 45,000 acres of land in the area. That is over the 70 square miles of land for comparison! The main estate was named Mount Carmel, after the hill in the area of the same name. I say hill, because I was unable to see it over the towering trees that line the current properties so that you cannot see past them. So I took a screenshot of the Google Maps satellite imagery. This is probably only a 5 mile square view of the Mount Carmel portion of the land. Now expand that by nine times. Another example would be, They owned all of the land be tween half the distance from Augusta to Atlanta, and the same distance to the north and south. That is how much the Few family owned prior to the Civil War.

During the Civil War, the Few family fought on both sides of the conflict, and sold the land to help fund the cause for whichever side they were on. This of course depleted the land and the assets associated with them. That so ended the golden age of the Few's. Not before our next friend, Ignatius A. Few came along though.

Thanks to Ignatius, we have pretty good descriptions of what the Few family characteristics were like and a personal look into the lives and families of the era. Additionally, Ignatius was an integral part of starting Emory University, which had its beginnings in Oxford, GA and has since moved to Atlanta. This was our next and final stop Few related stop on this trip. A couple of months ago, I contacted the Dean of Campus Life on the Oxford campus (where all of the Few history is) just to get permission to visit the campus and take some pictures. I was quite surprised to get a response back letting me know that they would be happy to let us stop by and even give us a tour and history lesson! Also, an additional member of the Emory historian team was going to drive 45 minutes from Atlanta to give us the rundown of the place.

Today was that big day, we arrived on campus and Gary, the Atlanta based historian and his wife met us in the parking lot. Joe, from the Oxford campus met us shortly, and we started in front of Few Hall. One of the older buildings on campus. It was once the building the "Few Society" used (did I mention Ignatius Few was the grand master of the Free Mason chapter in the area?) There was also a competing society that I don't remember the name of that was housed on the other side of campus. Few Hall is now a performing arts building.

Few Hall

We were unable to go inside, but just to stand outside of it was pretty cool. Maybe on the next trip! Our next stop was the center of campus, but not before getting a history lesson about the other buildings on campus. Apparently the school was shut down during the Civil War and many of the buildings were used for housing and hospitalizing soldiers from both sides. There are actually grave yards designated for Confederate and Union troops.

 In center campus, stands a monument to Ignatius A Few, of course you can see the Masonic influences. A number of years ago a tree fell pretty close to the monument after some rains and knocked the cap stone ajar. It was repaired, but it was also found to be a bit of a time capsule. The items were left, and the capstone repaired.

Few Monument on Emory Oxford Campus

After touring a couple more buildings and the library we headed off campus to an old church that was original to the area. You see, The property the town and school sit on were originally bought together. The town is set up so that all the roads point to the campus. Students originally would live in town with willing families and faculty members as they attended school. The church had a history of its own. Specifically as it applied to slavery. I will not put the whole story here, but it was not a good situation, and in fact the school later apologized for the things that happened during that time.

"Old Church"

Our next stop off campus was that of the Presidents House. The house was build for Ignatius A. Few, and while it under went some expansions and renovations along the way it remains largely original. Again, we were not able to go inside, as the current resident was away, but it was still good to see the house. It no longer is the residence of the University President, as the main campus moved to Atlanta, but it still is occupied by the Head Dean of the Oxford campus, and is still on a large tract of land.

Presidents House, where Ignatius A. Few lived.

Our last stop was to the graveyard where Ignatius was buried. Thankfully, there were a group of Boy Scouts going around the grave yard placing flags at all the graves for the veterans in memorial of any and all wars. They had a map, and we found the grave rather quickly. Ignatius fought in the War of 1812 and held the rank of Colonel. It was cool to be there as a little flag was placed.

It was fun to meet the historian team for Emory University. We were able to even exchange books. Gary gave me a book he wrote on Emory history, and I gave him a copy of the first few chapters I made of the Few family book I spoke of at the beginning of the blog. History is pretty interesting in and of itself, but even more so if you have ancestors that are a part of it. This time we did get a picture! Thanks to Gary, his wife, and Joe for spending some time with us today. It was great meeting you all! They even said William was a shoe-in to attend the University. We will see what he has to say about that in oh, 17 more years. :)

We are now getting ready to head back home tomorrow. It has been fun, but I am looking forward to getting back into a rhythm and not having to move every few days. Unfortunately, the Holidays are now upon us. Means work will be busy and, you guessed it. more travel! We have had fun, lets see what our last day of travel adventures will bring!

P.S. If you would like to learn more about Emory University history visit this URL: http://emoryhistory.emory.edu/index.html Keep an eye on the "Historians Blog" in the Historians Corner section. I hear we are soon to make the front page!

A Few stops along the way - Part 3

Today we left Charlotte, NC and headed through South Carolina to Augusta, GA. One thing I forgot to mention last night is that we stayed at the Tryon Park Hotel in Charlotte. Months ago, when we were planning this trip we booked our hotels using Priceline and their Express Deal option. This let us have a bit of an adventure as we wouldn't know where we were staying until we purchased the room, and we wouldn't know the room until we arrived. Well, we ended up at the Tryon Park Hotel. Its a really nice hotel, however, it is named after the British Governor that ordered the hanging of James Few, who was at the battle of Alamance. Governor Tryon then went and ransacked and burned the family lands. That is one of the reasons they moved on to Georgia. Not going to lie, I had a fleeting thought about burning the place to the ground for good measure... ;) Luckily they had comfortable beds!

Anyway, back to our trip today. I was contacted during our trip by a Few that I made acquaintance with on Facebook. You know how your parents told you not to talk to strangers on the internet? Well, its ok if you are related, even if it is your cousin 8x+ removed. We decided to pick the busiest Starbucks in the county to meet at. While waiting for our drinks we had a good time talking about our families and the trip we are on. Even though she lives in the area, she has not been around to see the Few history. Much the same, she was not aware that they existed until recently, much like me, after having done some ancestry research. Once again, I failed at getting a picture, even though I was thinking about it when I woke up this morning. Too busy flapping my gums I guess! It was nice meeting Evelyn and her daughter. Nice folks, I wouldn't expect any less from fellow Few's!

Our next stop was Few's Chapel in Greer, SC. Now this is where we started noticing the change in accent. You want the real deal take the backroads into the middle of nowhere! There are lots of churches spattered out here. Back in the day they were built to secret the local estates as it was often a long ways to the nearest city or town. That is more or less still the case today. Few's Chapel is one of those churches, this one of the Methodist variety. Fews started in the New World as Quakers, but eventually ended up as Methodists. One thing I have found in my research is that the Few ancestors were in to only a few things - law, politics and religion in no particular order.

There is a cemetery on the property as well, and while I was expecting to find Few's buried there, I didn't find as many as I would have thought. Some of them rather recent in the last decade. Other families have used the plots as well. The oldest gravestone that I found of a Few's was born in the mid 1800's and died in the early 1900's. No one I recognized though. Many of the early Fews were buried on their own estates in family plots. Some of these still exist, but I have not had time to find them, and many are on private property. Apparently there is another Few specific cemetery over in Tennessee. Will have to check that one out some day.

Just a "few" of the graves.

Nearby we found a couple of roads named after the Few family as well as a bridge named after one of the William Few's. (there were several, and one sleeping in this room as I type this). It was fun to do a bit of exploring about the area.

Not a lot of bridges out there have a stone placard explaining why the bridge is named.

The picture above notes that decedents should still live here. I wish I had time to go to that church during services and see if there are any Fews still attending.

Another hour and a half drive and we ended up in Greenville, SC where we met up with a friend from college who now lives in the area. The world is sure small isn't it. Especially when you go to a college and make friends from across the country. It was good to spend a short lunch with them in a hole in the wall restaurant. At least Becca remembered to take a picture!

We are now in Augusta, GA before making our last driving leg of our journey tomorrow. We have a couple pretty special Few stops tomorrow and then we will be heading back home on Monday. Its been a fun trip, but I am getting pretty close to wanting my own bed, and some home made food. My body will thank me!

A Few stops along the way - Part 2

This morning we headed over to Duke University to check it out. Especially since a Few was one of the founding fathers of the campus. I knew that William Preston Few was interned in the Duke University Chapel, I just didn't know where. So off we went! The chapel was built in the 1930's which meant Few would have overseen its construction. He was president until his death in 1940. The building itself is reminiscent of old cathedrals. I believe they call it Gothic styling. There are actually many people in the crypt in the chapel, including many of the Duke family. Few, however, has the designation of being the fist person placed there.

The spires stretch over 200 feet high.

The chapel was very interesting to look at.

So was the inside.

The pipes for the organ.

William Preston Few's resting place.

After leaving Duke University, we headed for the old Few homestead at Eno State park. This is where the Few's would have had their land in North Carolina according to my research. Hints in the area pointed toward this as well. I mean, there is not a lot of places out there named for the Few family, but there are a lot more than I had ever known!

The Fews settled in the Eno River area in the mid-1700's looking for more fertile lands for growing. North Carolina was much better than the Baltimore area. This area is where they were during the Regulator movement, in which James Few, William Few Jr's brother was heavily involved. More on that in a bit.

The Fews had a mill in the area, as well as a crossing called Few's Ford to get to the other areas of their property. The original trails and roads are still in use today. Eventually they moved on to Georgia, and the lands in the area changed several hands before becoming a state park. It was one of the few places on our trip that didn't require us to pay anything, not even for parking. I like free things. Especially when I get to actually walk a bit of the land my descendants did.

When you find a Few street sign, you need to take a picture.

Trail sign leading to Few's Ford, among others.

The original road they would have used to cross to get to the Mill on the other bank.

Not many can say they have a placard in a state park overviewing their family history!

Few Mill oad through the woods.

This is a depiction of what it might have looked like prior to the 1890's

Another owners house, but it might have been the site of the Few homestead.

If you look closely you can see musket ball holes in the chimney bricks. Wonder what happened here during the Revolution after the Fews had left the area.

After running away from large mosquitos, something I don't usually do in November in South Dakota, we headed for Alamance Battleground. The Few family were heavily involved in this conflict, which stemmed from British corruption and the illegal Stamp Act that was imposed on the colonists and back woodsmen of the area. Eventually things came to a head and a battle was had. Many men died in what is often called a pre-cursor to the Revolutionary War. At least, that is what the "Sons of Liberty called it once word got out that the battle occurred.

We stepped into the visitor center and Crista mentioned that we were Fews. Well, that started a conversion, because James "The Regulator" Few was captured and hung for treason on the battlefield with no trial. So we were able to exchange a bit of information. I had found out things in my research which they didn't know. For example, common teaching is that James Few was a "crazy person" who they just wanted to be rid of. However, many references point to the idea that James Few was pretty smart, if he was anything like his brothers. James was the 2nd oldest in the Few family, and as he died when he was 25ish, not much is known, other than that he fathered twins, and his great-great grandson went on to start Duke University.

If you would like to learn more about the Battle of Alamance, I would recommend watching the documentary which can be found on Amazon. James Few is even briefly mentioned. I also hear that the battle is mentioned in the Outlander books as well as a season of the TV series holding the same title. At the end of that stop I was able to purchase a "Alamance Battle Descendent" t-shirt. Yes they had those. They get many of those apparently, though the employees there had not met a Few that they were aware of during their tenures there.

An enactment of the attire and tools that were used in the period.

Up on the ridge is where the Regulators would have been posted 

Looking down from the ridge.

It is said that a few soldiers took cover behind this literal one rock in the area. Including a sharp shooter which took out 15 of the enemy by having his friends preload several rifles.

All about the battle.

Map of the battle.

Unfortunately, I don't think I took enough time to explore the battlefield more. We had places to be and people to meet. One of my superiors who I work with at Applause lives in the area and we met at a park so William could play a bit. He hasn't done much besides put up with being in his carseat or stroller for hours. So it was nice to be able to let him play a bit and to do one of his favorite things, sliding down the slide. It was also good to finally meet Lucas after all these years. I have worked at Applause. The guy will quite literally give you the shirt off of his back! Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to take pictures with all of these people I meet along the way...

We are safely in Charlotte, NC. Our next resting stop is in Augusta, GA tomorrow, but not before making a Few stops along the way!

A Few stops along the way - Part 1

Today was more of a travel day for us. Not before meeting some of our good friends that we had back in Minnesota, however. How did that work, you ask? Well, I used to be one of the boy's deans for a high school level boarding school just west of Minneapolis, MN. I was the first one to leave and get married and eventually run off to South Dakota. Ryan and his family, left a couple of years later and is now a boy's dean at a sister school in Virginia. They met us at the Childrens Discovery Museum there in Charlottesville. That was a pretty cool place! All sorts of fun science activities for kids of all ages to do. William had lots of fun until he looked like he was about ready to fall over from exhaustion. It was great to spend a couple of hours catching up with the A-team!

Once we got William strapped in, we headed south through the Virginia countryside towards Durham, NC. The east coast forests are quite a bit different to what I am used to. Out west we have tons of pine trees with a few deciduous trees spattered throughout. Out here it is quite the opposite - tons of deciduous trees with pine trees spattered throughout. It was quite enjoyable to drive through the Virginia countryside. with little to no traffic outside of the big cities.

The city we are staying in, Durham, NC, is important for a couple of reasons. This is where the Few family as a whole migrated to after Pennsylvania. More on that tomorrow, but this city is also the location of Duke University. Can you guess who the first president of Duke University was? You would be correct if you guessed a Few. :) William Preston Few worked with the Duke family to put together the first levels of the University that is here today. He worked at Duke which was formally known as Trinity College for 40+ years in various capacities cumulating in a long stent as president. He died of a heart attack in 1940. He was laid to rest in the Duke University Chapel. Yes, he made a more recent mark on Few history, but it is cool all the same!

On another note, we have had free water given to us at pretty much every hotel we have stayed at so far. Tonight was a bit different, we walked in to find a 20oz. Aquafina ($1 back home) with a tag on it that said $4. Meaning if we drank it, we would be charged $4 to our room! The joke on them though, the vending machine is right across the hall and the same size and brand of water can be bought for $2.50! Someone thought things through here... Oh well, off to the land of dreams!

Where our forefathers have trod - Part 2

Today we left Alexandria and headed for Charlottesville, VA and the estate of Monticello. The former home of Thomas Jefferson. Besides the fact that Jefferson is important in American history over all as he wrote the Declaration of Independence, and was our 3rd President, he was also a close personal friend of William Few. It was fun to tour the estate and once again to walk the halls where William may have visited from time to time when he was a US Senator. We weren't allowed to take interior pictures, but it was set up much like Mount Vernon. Had a foyer, guest rooms, and personal quarters with a study. Jefferson was quite intelligent, and even more of an experimenter than George Washington. He even succeeded in creating a micro climate on part of his estate and increased the growing season there by two months! A couple of other things I found interesting.

• Jefferson had a type of copy machine that used two pens that would copy what the writer would write.
• The house was one of the first US residential structures to employ skylights, and also double paned doors and windows. Something that we have today.
• Jefferson would share and exchange seeds from all over the world and see what would grow on his estate. He even had a greenhouse off of his personal study. Even the guys house garden was the length of three football fields!
• Side note, he would only share and exchange seeds with his closest family and friends. More on that a bit later.

West Lawn side of the mansion.

I can see why he chose a "Little Mountain" to put his house on.

This fish pond was used to preserve fish that were caught elsewhere for future use.

The following shows the first building on the property, and where Jefferson, his wife, and at least one of their children lived while the main house was being built. It was one room with a bed and a kitchen in the basement. Probably not much bigger than a dorm room.

View from the outside.

Beds for adults and one child, and a fireplace was all there was.

The kitchen in the basement.

The garden tour was probably the most interesting for me. I'm not much of a green-thumb, but seeing how things were things were set up to not only be useful, but good to look at as well. The tour guide mentioned that Jefferson loved his salads (he grew over thirty varieties of lettuce). In fact he enjoyed olive oil on his salads, but it was expensive to import, so he started growing benne plants (a close cousin to sesame) for their seeds to be pressed into oil. Its probably not well known, but I happen to know the guy that introduced that idea to Jefferson, ad his name is William Few! You see, in my research I found a series of letters written between Thomas Jefferson and William Few - they had nothing to do with politics. In fact, it was all about this wonder seed called Bene that, when processed, was almost the same as olive oil. I will leave the transcribed letters below.

Letter dated Sept. 26th, 1807 - From William Few to Thomas Jefferson:

"Sir,

I take the liberty of sending to you by Mr. Gallatin a little of salad oil. The first perhaps that has survived in the United States. It was purified from the seed of a plant which grows in the Southern States and is known there by the name of Bene (Benne) and is cultivated in those states by the negroes only for their own use. The pod which contains the seed before it is matured, I am told is the part which they use. 
I have not learned the Botanic term of the plant nor under what clase (class) or order it is arranged. 
The seed was sent to me from Georgia by Mr. (John) Milledge of the Senate of the United States whose Agricultural and scientific researches have rendered important services (end of 1st page) to that state. 
Six bushels of the feed produces about six gallons of cold drawn oil, of the quality I send, and about twelve gallons of warm drawn oil that is not quite so pure and well tasted, but it may be used as salad oil or for painting and lamps.
 
I am sir with sincere respect,
Your most ob. Servant, 
William Few"

Letter dated Jan. 3rd, 1808 - From Thomas Jefferson to William Few

"Sir,

I thank you for the specimen of Benni oil which you were so kind as to send me. I did not believe before that there existed so perfect a substitute for olive oil. I tried it at table with many companies & their guesses between two dishes of sallad dressed, the one with olive oil, the other with that of Beni, shewed the equality of the latter, in favor of which the greater number guessed. certainly I would prefer to have it always fresh from my own fields to the other brought across the Atlantic and exposed in hot warehouses. I am therefore determined to go into the culture of it for domestic use, and would be thankful to you for the process of expressing the oil from the seed in which you appear to have succeeded so perfectly. all the minutiae in new processes give aid towards perfecting them. Dr. Mitchell supposes the Benni is a sesamum.

Accept my salutations and assurances of great esteem and respect.

Th: Jefferson"

Letter dated Jan. 11th, 1808 - From William Few to Thomas Jefferson:

"Sir,

I have had the pleasure of viewing your letter of the 3d inst. relative to the process of expressing the oil from the Bene (Benne) seed. There is very little difficulty in the operation. The common flaxseed mill is the machine I used: great care must be taken to have it well cleansed. The method I pursued was in the first instance was to put the Bene (Benne) seed under press in its crude state without grinding or heating, and after pressing from it all the oil it would yield which appeared to be one third part of the oil the seed contained. 
The seed was then taken from the press and ground and heated and pressed again, but the oil of it produced was not quite too fine and pure. It tasted a little of the flaxseed but it may be used for the table. It does well for the lamp and would probably do in painting.

If I was to make another experiment and had a new mill or machine that was not impregnated with the flaxseed oil: I would first grind the seed and press it without heating and then grind it again and heat it and press it again. By this process I should expect to get more than two thirds of the oil from the seed then the first operation of pressing which would be pure and good salad oil.

(Page 2)

The second pressing after heating would produce inferior oil and perhaps in quantity about one third.

I have lately seen an extract from the transactions of the Bath Agricultural Society in England from which it appears that the poppy has been cultivated in France, Flanders, and Hollond for the purpose of making salad oil for table use, and it has been fully proved that the oil made from the seed of poppy is sweet, wholesome & nutritious and it does not in the least partake of the narcotic property of the plant. The whole poppy is preferred, but the blue guilds most seed and the oil is quite as good.

It is said that the oil is often mixed with the olive oil, and it is probable that a great proportion of the oil use in this country that mixed kind.

I am sir with sincere respect,

Your most ob. Servant,
William Few"

From what the tour guides said, Jefferson would only engage in this type of exchange with close personal friends. The fact that the letter from Jefferson states that he shared the sample with his guests seems to corroborate this. It is unclear if the letters continued or if there are others. The three mentioned above are in the library of Congress and appear to be the only surviving copies between the two. It is also fun to note that William Few appeared to be an experimenter himself, as he was figuring out, by trial and error, how to extract the oil to get the best quantity and quality.

Here are some pictures of the planting areas.

Jefferson liked trees, here is a deciduous pine tree.

Jeffersons estate once covered 6000 acres. That included the mountain (hill) in the background.

Looking back at Monticello from the tree farm.

This area was once covered with different types of trees that were not necessarily local.

The house garden was/is the length of three football fields.

Looking over the embankment to what would have been the orchard.

The vineyards.

Appeared to be a sewing platform over the garden. Quite the view!

Thats all for today. For the next few days we will be making short stops as we discover more about Few family history. Stay tuned!