Correll ~ Rowan County, NC

Early mention of the Correll surname in Rowan County, North Carolina ~

History of the German Reformed Church in North Carolina
Welker, George Wm. (George William), 1817-1894
Volume 08, Pages 727-757

The Mt. Zion Church (Savitz's Church ) is about ten miles south of Salisbury, on the line of the North Carolina Railroad, near China Grove Station. This was, in its foundation, known as the “Savitz” Church, which was a union church, the joint property of the Reformed and Lutheran people. No doubt a rude place of worship was established here long before a regular ministry was obtainable, and an organization followed in the time of Suther or Loretz, about 1761. Already in 1745-'50 all this region was peopled by the flood of immigration from Pennsylvania, as was that on Dutch, Buffalo and Second creeks.

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INFO ABOUT MT. ZION ~

Mount Zion Reformed Church in southwest Rowan County traces its roots to a German Settlement in the area dating back to the mid 1700's. Historical records show a congregation, first known as Savitz's Church was meeting for worship in 1755. The first crude log structure used for worship was later replaced with a larger, log building painted red.

Tradition has it that an overly emotional person, wanted to rid the church of evil spirits symbolized by the red structure, set fire to this building. Shortly after the fire a more suitable building was erected through a joint venture of Lutheran and Reformed members. This building was used jointly until 1836 when the Lutheran members moved a few hundred yards away and constructed their own building.

The Reformed members continued to use the building until 1844 when they purchased a four-acre tract of land and constructed a more modern brick building that served them until 1876. In that year this building was demolished to make room for a larger facility. As this building got underway, hard times set in, delaying the completion of this project. The congregation had been given an eighty-five acre tract of land in 1846 to be used for a parsonage. This land had to be sacrificed to meet the obligations of the new building. Members and friends joined in to hand-make the bricks, and the new building was made ready for occupancy by 1881, when Dr. Paul Barringer became the pastor.

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About 1845 the old log Savitz Church became both too small and uncomfortable, when the two congregations removed each a short distance and erected brick houses of worship, having the railroad and the old grave-yard between them. Within the last few years the Reformed Church becoming too straight for the worshipper's comfort, has been taken down and a new one built in its stead, and is now, perhaps, the finest country church in Western Carolina; and here the children of the Reformed, under a succession of men of God, have kept the Reformed faith.

The Bechlers, Deihls, Corihers, Corrells, Yosts, Schuppings, Caspers, (German Immigrants)with others, revere the memory of their forefathers. After Loretz and Boger, the early pastors, followed Lerch, Lantz, Ingold, Fetzer, Cecil, Ingle, Trexler, and now there comes Barringer, who has already had need to rebuild two churches and make them larger. In the cemetery near the Mount Zion Church is the last resting-place of one of its beloved pastors, Rev. Samuel J. Fetzer, whose memory is precious to those who enjoyed his ministrations. Another congregation was represented on the floor of Classis at its last meeting, an offshoot of Mount Zion and Mount Gilead, that had been organized at Enochville, and is now under the oversight of the Rev. Paul Barringer, the pastor of the Western Rowan charge.

The German immigration to America grew out of the fearful results of the thirty years' war that had desolated their native land and made existence there intolerable. After this came the French invasion of the Rhine territory. By this the grand home of the Palatines, who were Protestants, was made a houseless waste. For these sufferers the new world opened an asylum. William Penn gave the heartiest and freest invitation to his colony. Queen Anne of England offered a refuge and means of succour. Thousands left their native land by way of England to reach a home in the wilderness. Most of these were aided to reach the colony of Pennsylvania, which for a time seemed to become largely Germanized. Among them were also Huguenots (French Protestants), who on the revocation of the edict of Nantes had fled to Germany and now came with their co-religionists to America.

This influx of Germans, Swiss and French into Pennsylvania began about 1707. Many had come over previous to this and as early as 1682. During the period from 1727 to 1775 the archives of the colony of Pennsylvania record the names of more than 30,000 persons who landed at the port of Philadelphia. It is from this colony that the German immigrants to North Carolina to a great extent came.

A colony of Palatines and Swiss founded New Berne in 1710, whose history may be had in any North Carolina history. We shall confine ourselves to the immigrants from the colony of Pennsylvania to the Carolinas. The most valuable lands in Pennsylvania east of the Alleghanies were taken up. The Proprietors of Carolina offered very advantageous terms to settlers. The resources of salubrious climate and unrivalled fertility of soil, that made it a very paradise, soon attracted these industrious people hither. At this time one-third of the population of the Province of Pennsylvania were Germans.

Their overflow into North Carolina was so profuse, that in 1785 the Germans from Pennsylvania alone numbered upwards of 15,000. Of the 30,000 names given in the State archives of Pennsylvania, a very large number can be found to-day among the Germans of North Carolina, and one who goes from the region populated by the Germans in North Carolina to Eastern Pennsylvania will find almost every familiar name in the counties of Berks, Schuylkill, Northampton, Lebanon, Dauphin, etc., in that State.

~ Now, if only we can connect our line of Corrells to the earliest German settlers in Rowan County, North Carolina.....Back to the researching, folks!

Maybe a road trip is on the horizon.....

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Fried Green Tomatoes ~ Grandma's Way

My Grandmother could cook and cook well. Nothing tasted like it did at Grandma's.

She would take green tomatoes right off the vine, right out of her garden patch.

She would slice those tomatoes thinly and coat with a mixture of corn meal, flour, and salt and pepper. She had her cast iron skillet hot and piping, always at just the right temperature. She used enough oil to coat the pan, but not enough that it covered the tomatoes. A couple of spoons of bacon drippings were added to the pan.

How she knew she had it the right temperature, I cannot tell you, there was never any water droplets dropped into her pan to test for readiness, I can tell you that!

The tomato slices were coated well and dropped gingerly into that hot oil in the frying pan and the aroma would arise in the bubbling, that just about 'made your tongue slap out your brains', so to speak. GRIN.

They were fried up, to a perfect golden brown, crispy, crunchy, perfection, then they were ladled out to rest and cool on a platter. They were then sprinkled lightly with sugar, just enough to pinch together with your thumb and forefinger, and sprinkle over.

My goodness, the tastebuds are alive, just writing about this.

Savory. Crunchy. Tart. Tangy. Sweet. Salty.

That taste that gets you in your jaw area. Yes. That kind of taste.

All of that and more. Oh my.

Letting the tomatoes ripen is going to be hard for me this season....

Have you ever Scalded Your Lettuce?

I have.

Boy, it is wonderful.. LOL

My grandmother always had a vegetable garden and every summer we would pick veggies fresh from the garden and come inside and prepare them for the midday meal.

She grew leaf lettuce in a patch near the side yard and it always had the prettiest lettuce you ever saw.

We had a red fox that would come to eat the food scraps that she left for composting, so early mornings were spent with me peering out the back kitchen window, hoping for a glimpse of the fox.

Summer days spent at grandma's house were always interesting, to say the least.

Now, back to our story about the scalded lettuce..Let me say no lettuce was harmed during this operation.

The scalding refers to the melted butter, oh yes, melted butter, yum!, that we poured over the fresh lettuce.

She had wonderful, snappy, green onions growing, very near the lettuce patch, and we would gather them, as well, while we were out there.

The green onions were cleaned and sliced thinly over the lettuce leaves, after the lettuce was carefully, "looked" over, and washed. She would always say that it was better "without meat".
Which was a nice way of saying "no bugs"....grin.

Then the butter was melted and poured over this. Salt and pepper liberally. Then you toss lightly and enjoy quickly.

Man, what a taste that is.

I fell in love with her scalded lettuce in a heartbeat.

Only in the South would we drown perfectly healthy lettuce in butter..but it was GOOD EATING!

Looking Back Toward Home ~ Part II

One Correll's search has come full circle. He has located his Dad, and with that find, generations before him, have opened themselves up to him.

Lost memories, heartache, and forgotten years, have evolved into comfortable acceptance of just who he is, and where his roots lie. His roots lie in the mountains of Tennessee, they reach down deep into the heartland, and they also run up, into "the Crossroads of America." The place that he now calls home.



We are kindred spirits, not only in our blood, but more importantly, in our hearts.

He reached out and went "back toward home".



His Great grandfather, William Correll, and my Great grandmother, Isabell Correll, were brother and sister.

My cousin. My family.

Now, officially, we have 'another graveyard rabbit', on the loose.

Watch out for us, because folks, we are out there. Big Grin.

Tombstone Tuesday~ Unmarked Stones

While searching in old cemeteries, I occasionally find unmarked stones.

I wonder about those that are entombed there, with no etching to identify them.

These two stones are about two feet from each other, indicating, perhaps, a child's grave.

A sad loss. Sad parents and an abrupt end to a short life, as many children died from simple, curable today, illnesses.

These unmarked stone lies in silent testament to the life that once was.

Sweetly Scented Nighttime Air~

My cereus bloomed last night. The bloom happens in one night, awaiting a moth for pollenation. Then with the morning's first light, it is sadly gone, hanging it's once magnificent head.

Sometimes it is called "short lived love" because it is said to be paired with another bloom, once one bloom is plucked, the other shortly dies...

The fragrance is as beautiful as it's bloom.

Happy Valley History ~

Happy Valley's first permanent settler, Robert Rhea, arrived in the valley sometime around 1823. Rhea was a veteran of the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and sought the land as an ideal place to spend his waning years.

For nearly 40 years after Rhea's arrival, Happy Valley was known as Rhea's Valley.

In the 1830s, Cades Cove entrepreneur Daniel D. Foute financed the construction of a road connecting his iron forge in Cades Cove with his resort hotel at Montvale Springs. Known as the Cooper Road after its builder, Joe Cooper, the road followed Abrams Creek from Cades Cove into Happy Valley, crossed Chilhowee Mountain at Murray Gap (near Look Rock), and descended to Montvale Springs. Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, Cades Cove residents used this road to drive cattle back and forth between markets in Maryville and the grassy balds atop the western Smokies.

In the years following the American Civil War (1861-1865), a large number of settlers migrated from Carter County, Tennessee to Happy Valley.

The valley— which had been known as Rhea Valley— obtained the name "Happy Valley" around this time. The name might be rooted in another place named Happy Valley in Carter County, which was the original home of many of the post-Civil War migrants.

Scenes from the Happy Valley Area ~

Old Tallassee Store, Near Happy Valley ~



Blount County Book Mobile, Circa 1943 ~





Blount County, Courthouse ~

Entrance to Happy Valley, TN ~

Chilhowee Dam, Near Happy Valley, TN ~

Post Office, Relief, North Carolina ~ Peterson's Store

The center of the universe that was Relief NC. The Peterson's Store.  This is where the infamous cure-all elixor called Hart's Relief was sold.  That little bottle was a sure-fire remedy for anything that ailed you!

'Snake Oil' or medicine, you be the judge.  Hart's Relief put Relief,  N.C. on the map!

'Relief' is short for Hart's Relief, a popular medicine whose principal ingredient was alcohol. It was sold at Squire Peterson's Store in that community around 1870.

Dreaming Of That Mountain Air~

BearWallow ~

Our Ancestor, John Arrowood named this area because of the bears that 'wallowed in the mud'.

This road is near to impassable, but we made it up. There are homes all along the road in places you would never dream people would commute to on a daily basis.

The ruts in the road caused from rainpour made the ride something else!

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