Tag Archive for: #vancecountyhistoricalsociety

HV Chamber Of Commerce Member Spotlight: Vance County Historical Society

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The Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce recognized the Vance County Historical Society as its most recent Member Spotlight recipient.

Representing the group at the recent presentation was Vice President Tem Blackburn, a dedicated leader and local historian who is widely recognized for his commitment to documenting and interpreting Vance County’s past.

Blackburn continues to play a key role in historical preservation efforts, public history projects and community programs that highlight the people, places, and events that have shaped our county. The Vance County Historical Society continues to inspire appreciation for local history while fostering a stronger connection between the community and its heritage. Stop by the second floor of Perry Memorial Library located at 205 Breckenridge St. to experience its impressive collection of historical artifacts.

Vance County Historical Society To Install Memorial Book At Meeting On Monday, July 6

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The Vance County Historical Society will meet Monday, July 6, 2026 at 5 p.m. to officially install the Vance County Memorial Book that contains the names of Vance County citizens who have died in service to their country.

This meeting is open to the public, and will include a program that will discuss the biographies of some of those who are remembered in the book. The book contains the names of those service members who died in military service since the county was established in 1881.

The meeting will be held in the Farm Bureau Meeting Room of Perry Memorial Library.

Photo Search: Armed Forces Members Killed In Action Since Formation Of Vance County

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Originally posted TUESDAY, JAN. 20, 2026

A subcommittee of Vance County’s America 250 group is in the process of collecting photos and information for the 124 individuals who hailed from Vance County and were killed in action in service to their country.

The plan is to have banners placed throughout the downtown area by Memorial Day this year. So far, everything is going along on schedule, but the committee is enlisting the help of the community as it continues to search for photos of the fallen heroes.

To date, 58 photos have been obtained, leaving 66 yet to be located. Each banner will feature the name and photo of the individual, as well as a QR code to learn more information about each person.

Barbara Harrison, who serves as chair of the county’s America 250 committee, also is heading up the subcommittee to find photos of those killed in action.

The America 250 committee is working with the Vance County Historical Society, Perry Memorial Library and others to get the word out about the banners and the photo search.

Below you can access the names of the men from Vance County who were killed in action since the county was established in 1881.

There are 10 names that remain under review to confirm that they were from Vance County, Tem Blackburn said, president of the Vance County Historical Society. Those names under review leaves a possibility that the final list could grow to as many as 134.

The banners will have a QR code on them, that, when scanned, a viewer will gain access to additional information about the individual. The library is the hosting website for the information that the QR code will access.

Blackburn expressed thanks to Patty McAnally and Monica Alston at Perry Memorial Library for their help with the project.

Visit https://www.perrylibrary.org/home and click on the tab ‘America’s 250’ to see the full list, or scroll down in this post.

He said that Tracy Madigan will coordinate with city employees to make sure the QR code on the installed banners can be accessed from street level.

“She going to investigate and do a test run,” Blackburn explained.

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Originally posted MONDAY, JAN. 19, 2026; Submitted by Tem Blackburn, President, Vance County Historical Society

The Vance County Historical Society is seeking assistance in locating the best available photographs of members of the armed forces who died in armed conflicts since formation of Vance County in 1881 (VCKIA). The photos will be used on street banners and memorial book pages honoring these men.

The street banners will be deployed beginning on Memorial Day 2026 and each year thereafter on Memorial Day. The Memorial Book will be on permanent display at the entrance to the Society’s Historical Museum on the second floor of Perry Memorial Library. A QR code on each banner will link to the Memorial Book page for the VCKIA service member shown on the banner.

The street banners and memorial book initiatives are joint projects of Vance County Historical Society, the Vance County Committee for America’s 250th anniversary celebration and Perry Memorial Library. Both initiatives are being funded by the John William Pope Foundation.

A joint committee of VCHS, VCA250, and PML, chaired by Barbara Harrison, is conducting the photograph search. She also Chairs the Vance A250 Committee and is Regent of the John Penn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In announcing the search, Mrs. Harrison said: “We are all excited about this project to honor the sacrifice of local service members since Vance County was formed in 1881. The memorial pages will present information that, in many cases, has not been known about their service and sacrifice, even to family members. The death notices and obituaries frequently provided no more information than the statement that the fallen warrior died ‘in France’ or ‘at sea.’ We now have access to a great deal more information about the specific locations, battles and conditions in which these men gave the last full measure of devotion to our country. The memorial book will formally inscribe them in our county’s memory.”

Perry Memorial Library has created a website hosting an online gallery of photographs of VCKIA located to date and a list of names of the fallen service members for whom no photographs have been located to date. The public, and especially VCKIA family members, are requested to provide photographs of VCKIA for whom no photographs have been located to date. These photos should preferably show the service members in uniform. In addition, anyone with a photograph of one of the VCKIA that is in better condition than those shown in the online gallery on the PML website should also contact the photo search committee using the PML website contact information for the VCKIA Photo Project.

The website can be accessed at: https://www.perrylibrary.org/americas-250/america-250-banners.

The members of the armed forces from Vance County who died in armed conflicts since formation of Vance County in 1881 are listed below. Further details about them can be found on the Perry Memorial Library website.

Oscar Allen Abbott
Ronnie Darnell Adcox
Clarence William Allgood
Huston Hammet Averette
Bennie Ayscue
John David Baker
Robert Lee Baker
George Armitage Ball
William Balthrop Jr.
Rex Baskerville
Robert Vernon Bennett Jr.
Clarence Ray “Billy” Brame Jr
Claude Hubert Breedlove
Lunsford Bernard Brown II
George T. Buchan
Edward W. Bullock Jr.
Thomas J. Bullock
Ernest Vance Bunn Jr
Robert Morrison Byrd
Joseph Cannady
Lee Andrew Cannady
Edward Fenner Capps
Grady Isaiah Carriker Jr.
Luther Monroe Chance
Simon Peter Christmas
Walter Christmas Jr
Charles Beacom Church
William Clifton Clay III
Hill Parham Cooper
Raymond B. Crabtree
George S. Debnam
Dalton James Dixon
Samuel Durham
Elon “Bud” Eastwood
George E. Edwards
Charles Duel Ellington
Warren Pershing Faucette
Ernest Kinnette Fleming
Floyd F. Fleming Jr.
Leon Floyd
Claiborne M. Fuller
Charlie T. Gardner
John Cleveland Greenway
Julian Thomas Greenway
Ellis Bailey Gregg
Edmond Gregory
Grover L. Griffin
Ernest W. Grissom
Thomas Jarvis Grissom Jr.
Sidney Alford Haithcock
Leo Edward Hamlin
Andrew Jackson Harris Jr.
James Clifton Harris
William Brown Harris
Walter Andrew Haskins
Harry Carlton Hedgepeth
Percy Lee Hedgepeth
Charles M. Hester
Carl Clinton Holbrook
Roger Edward Howard
Jessie Lee Huff
Emmett Fenner Hughes
Hugh Hunt
Charles Edward Ivey
Archie Jarrell
Norwood Thomas Jenkins
Clifton Cleo Jones
Fred O’Neal Jordan
Donald Arrington Joyner
Arthur Graham Kelly Jr.
Simon A. Kelly
Claiborne Field King
John Nathan King
Bill Brooks Knight
David Goode Langley
Eugene T. Lassiter
Henry Thomas Leonard
William Liles Jr
Morris Dabney Link
Robert E. Mabry
Henry Elmo Matthews
John H. Mimms
Russell Y. Mitchell
James Clifton Moore
James E. Moore
William Henry Moseley
Claude Edward Mustian
Luther Hammett Newton
Richard Turner Norvell
James Scott Norwood
Thomas Elmo Norwood
Edward Barney Parrish
Alvin W. Peace
Francis B. Peoples
Robert Lee Perry
John Lewis Poythress
Hamit N. Powell
Julius Donald Pritchett
Walter Pruitt
Jasper Davis Pulley
Charles N. Ranes Jr
Robert M. Rideout
Lawrence Jackson Rux Jr.
Graves Morgan Shotwell
James A. Steed
James D. Tarry
Chester Arthur Taylor
Phillip Earl Taylor
John Randolph Teague
William A. Teague II
William C. Vaughan
James Matthew Vernon
Jimmie Walker
Robert Dade Wall
Owen Ashley Wallace
Edwin Goode Watkins Jr.
James Tasker Weldon
Alpheus W. White
Freeman Whitfield Jr
Guy Wren
Wiley Lamon Wright

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Vance County Historical Society Annual Meeting Monday, Nov. 17

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The public is invited to the annual meeting of the Vance County Historical Society on Monday, Nov. 17, beginning at 5 p.m.

The meeting will be held in the Farm Bureau meeting room at Perry Memorial Library.

A program about Vance County native Morris Link and the Harlem Hellfighters of World War I will be presented before the business portion of the meeting.

The Harlem Hellfighters were the first African American regiment to see combat in World War I and spent 191 consecutive days in front-line combat, more than any other American unit.

 

Vance Historical Society Spearheading Fundraiser For Clopton Marker

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Gill Clopton gave his time, talent and energy to shine a positive light on his community. He scanned tens of thousands of photos, documents as a way to preserve those bits of history and memories, file by file.

But friends who remember Clopton, who died Monday at the age of 61, have memories of him dropping by with a single photo of interest, covering high school sports and ringing the bell by the Salvation Army kettle at Christmas.

A visitation for Clopton will be held at Sossamon Funeral Home tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by a funeral service Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Salvation Army on Ross Mill Road.

The Vance County Historical Society is collecting money to help purchase a marker for Clopton, according to Mark Pace, as a small way to show appreciation for all the work Clopton did on behalf of the historical society and for the genealogical society. Send checks or money orders made out to Vance County Historical Society, 11 E. Spring St., Oxford, NC 27565, with

“Memorial Fund for Gill Clopton” in the memo line. Or call 919.603.5182.

Pace said that he and Clopton both were Class of 1979 graduates of Vance Senior High School, and although their paths crossed when they lived and worked in Raleigh years ago, it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that the two discovered their shared enthusiasm for history.

“I’ve talked to him practically every day for the last ten years,” Pace said, recalling moments when they would ask each other obscure questions about local history.

Pace estimated that Clopton probably scanned as many as 60,000 photos, many from the local newspaper, but others from private sources and from other local agencies like the Henderson Police Department.

While talking on Thursday’s TownTalk, Pace and Bill Harris praised Clopton’s efforts and diligence to the ongoing archiving project.

“I feel very confident that the work he’s done…it will be out there and people can have access to it,” Pace said.

“Gill had the inclination to do it, he had the time to do it…and he had the meticulousness to want to sit there and want to do hours of work,” often tedious and monotonous.

“I can’t tell you how much people in the future will benefit from the work that Gill did,” Pace said.