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Lockmaster of the Dismal Swamp at South Mills, NC for 68 years. Retired March 31, 1944. He began working on the canal in 1867, then owned by the Lake Drummond Land and Water Company. He served that firm for 53 years until the government took over in 1929. Both of his parents were killed by lightning soon after his birth on April 9, 1862, at the Culpepper Locks, three miles from South Mills,NC.
Notes for BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FOREHAND: "The Daily Advance" Monday 28 February 1949
South Mills, Feb. 25 - When the Dismal Swamp Canal was being...
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Lockmaster of the Dismal Swamp at South Mills, NC for 68 years. Retired March 31, 1944. He began working on the canal in 1867, then owned by the Lake Drummond Land and Water Company. He served that firm for 53 years until the government took over in 1929. Both of his parents were killed by lightning soon after his birth on April 9, 1862, at the Culpepper Locks, three miles from South Mills,NC.
Notes for BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FOREHAND: "The Daily Advance" Monday 28 February 1949
South Mills, Feb. 25 - When the Dismal Swamp Canal was being dug in the years between 1793 when construction started and 1814 when it was opened to traffic a Forehand helped to dig it, and a Forehand has been connected with the canal in some sort of supervisory capacity ever since.
Authority for the foregoing statement is Ben F. Forehand, retired Lockmaster of the Dismal Swamp Canal at South Mills. "My grandfather helped to dig the canal and since the canal was dug by slave labor he must have been some sort of supervisor.
Aside from supervising traffic through the Dismal Swamp Canal as lockmasters at South Mills, supervising in general must run in the Forehand family. B. F. Forehand's father before him, William Forehand, was like his son, Lockman at the Culpepper Locks of the Dismal Swamp Canal. Today Ben Forehand has four sons, all of whom are supervisors of one sort or another.
One of the four, T. P. Forehand, went on the payroll at the Canal Locks at South Mills in 1940, succeeding his father as lockmaster when the latter retired at the age of 81 in 1943. Born April 9, 1862, Ben Forehand will be 87 on his next birthday.
The three other sons of Ben Forehand, brothers of T. P. Forehand, are:
Walter S. Forehand, supervisor of maintenance in the district office at Norfolk at the War Department Engineers.Hersey C. Forehand, Navy Engineer at Washington. Joe S. Forehand, Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad foreman at the freight depot at Newport News.
Getting back to the canal, four generations of Forehands have been connected with it, three of them as lockmasters, and there is a possibility that when T. P. Forehand now 46, born April 24,1903 comes to retirement age he may be succeeded by yet another Forehand. He has a son, T. P. Forehand Jr, born January 26, 1934, now in his first year in high school, who may succeed him: though at the moment the boy's chief interest is in drawing. A second interest, close to his interest in drawing, is his work as South Mills carrier for the Daily Advance.
Benjamin F. Forehand celebrated his 82nd birthday here on April 9, 1944, a little more than a week after he had been retired as lockmaster at South Mills with a government citation after 68 years of uninterrupted service on the canal.
In addition to the Government citation, Mr. Forehand on retirement was presented with an easy chair by the War Department, but instead of using it, he continued to help win the war by work in his victory garden, with his chickens and on the upkeep of his attractive home, which he shares with a widowed daughter, Mrs Mary Tyus of the Personnel Section of the Navy Administration Depot at Portsmouth.
Benjamin F. Forehand started work on the Dismal Swamp Canal in 1867, under the tutelage of the man who reared him, both his parents having been killed by lightning soon after his birth, at the old Culpepper Locks of the canal some three miles from South Mills. Originally there were five locks in the canal instead of the present two.
It was not until he was 20, however, that the name of Benjamin F. Forehand took its place on the canal company payroll. At that time the canal was owned by the Lake Drummond Land and Water Company, and Forehand worked for this company 53 years or until 1929, when the canal was purchased by the Government and placed under Federal control.
Sixty seven years old when the Government took took over, Forehand soon came up for retirement but through the influence of Lindsay C. Warren, then First District Congressman, strings were pulled in Washington that kept him on the job.
Ben Forehand saw his first illness at the age of 81 in the fall of 1943, but during all his period of employment on the canal he never lost a day's work because of illness.
Upon his retirement. Mr. Forehand received a lengthy letter of commendation from the War Department, signed by R. E. Cruse, Colonel Corps of Engineers, District Engineer, in which his "most commendable" and "unblemished" record of service was cited.
Mr. Forehand's wife, who bore him 11 children, died in 1935. Of 11
children nine survive. Besides the four sons and the one daughter already mentioned, there are three daughters, namely; Mrs. Kate Lee Walker, whose husband, Philip J. Walker is at the Coast Guard Station, Washington, NC; Mrs Annie Harrington of Ayden, whose husband, Jasper Harrington is a prominent Pitt County tobacco farmer; Mrs. Sue Sawyer of Currituck, whose husband, Lewis Sawyer, is a prominent Currituck farmer; and Mrs. Parthenia Jacobs, supervisor of the ammunition plant at Waterloo, New York, whose husband is Joe Jacobs.
Mrs. Tyus, in addition to making a home for her father, commutes daily to Portsmouth, where she has a position with the Portsmouth Section of the Navy Ammunition Depot there.
Like his father, T. P. Forehand has as his chief hobbies gardening and poultry raising. He has 24 young chickens coming along which he figures will be just about frying size for his birthday on April 24. His garden supplies vegetables for his table winter and summer.
Probably surpassing even this interest in his garden and his poultry flock, however, is his interest in South Mills High School. When Gene Brown, Daily Advance photographer, went to the Forehand home to get the picture of the three Forehand that appears with this story the boy was at school. His father went to the High School Building to get the boy just as school was being dismissed for the day and became so engrossed in watching the students come our of the building and form lines to go to their buses that he forgot his mission completely and T. P. Jr. got away from the school grounds and back to the Forehand home before his father could get up with him. From the lockmasters house the two went to the grandfather's home, where the picture on this page was made.
After the picture, talk drifted to hard times and good times and mention was made of the depression of the 1930's. Said Ben Forehand:
"Nobody knows anything about hard times unless he lived in the period following the War Between the States. "
An old logbook that recorded the passage of ships through the Canal Locks during the period from December 1, 1882 to] July 7, 1893, bears out in a measure Mr. Forehand's observations. One entry shows that Henry Spellman for labor 3 1/2 hours received 53 cents. Nat Morris for 1 1/2 hours labor received 25 cents.
Besides listing the name of the ship, the captain, the destination, and the date of the ship's passage, the record also lists the cargo, if any, carried by the vessel. Principal cargo on the canal in that era was corn, logs and finished lumber with a smattering of oysters in seasons.
Pencilled notes on the back and front cover throw interesting light on weather conditions observed at the lock and there is special mention of the Charleston earthquake: "August 3 1886, earthquake felt at South Mills at about 10 P.M. Great damage done at Charleston and Summerville, SC and other points. Damage estimated at ten million dollars and about 60 dead."
Another notation dated November 25, 1886 says: "Wind has been N-NE and E-NE and this morning near north. The locks very low. Middle 'mitre' clear out of water. I have only seen it so once before during the 24 years that I have lived at South Mills and 20 of those years have been spent as tender of these locks."
An item on Monday, March 28, 1887, reported "several severe thunder showers Tuesday, wind Northeast by North Northeast and intensely cold all day" affords warning that winter may lie ahead. In 1949 ,incidentally, Elizabeth City had a February thunder shower on the third Tuesday night in the month this year.
Another entry on March 5, 1884; "From three o'clock in the morning until 9 o'clock in tile morning snow fell and it rained the balance of the day."
Another notation "On April 16, 1883, thunder storm of unusual length and heavy rain from about 3:40 o'clock P.M. up to about three o'clock A.M. the next day. On April 17 it started raining at about seven or eight o'clock in the morning and continued through the day but not so heavy except at intervals. Water from the river rose to five feet four inches on middle sill in South Mills." Then the following paragraph:
"Thunder and rain very heavy on Sunday night April 22, commencing at about one o'clock and continuing up to one o'clock Monday the 23rd and then fine mist until late in the evening. Water from the river which had pretty much subsided again rose and had reached six foot four at nine o'clock Tuesday, the 24th. Rain again a part of the day. Water on sill No. seven at five o'clock P.M. on the 24th. Wednesday morning at six o'clock nearly seven feet deep"
Benjamin Forehand, Retired Camden Lockmaster, Passes
Benjamin F. Forehand, 93, died Wednesday morning at 4 o'clock in the Albemarle Hospital following an illness of several weeks.
He was the son of the late William and Mary Williams Forehand and husband of the late Parthenia Spence Forehand. He was a member of Trinity Methodist Church at South Mills where he served as superintendent of the Sunday School for a number of years. He also served as steward and trustee. He was a member of the Woodmen of the World of Elizabeth City.
Surviving are five daughters, Mrs. Philip J. Walker of Portsmouth, Va., Mrs. Jasper L. Harrington of Ayden, Mrs. Louis Sawyer of Shawboro, Mrs. J. W. Jacobs of Waterloo, NY, and Mrs. Mary F. Tyus of South Mills; four sons, Hersey C. Forehand of St. Petersburg, Fla., Walter S. Forehand of South Mills, Joe S. Forehand of Newport News, Va., and Thurman P. Forehand of South Mills; 23 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.
Mr. Forehand, believed to be the oldest living resident of Camden County, served as lockmaster of the Dismal Swamp Canal at South Mills for 68 years, being retired March 31, 1944. He began working on the canal in 1867, then owned by the Lake Drummond Land and Water Company. He served with that firm for 53 years until the government took over the canal in 1929. Both of his parents were killed by lightning soon after his birth on April 9, 1862, at the Culpepper Locks, three miles from South Mills. The body has been removed to the Twiford Funeral Home here pending completion of arrangements. Newspaper article Wednesday 15 Aug. 1955.
Funeral services for Benjamin F. Forehand of South Mills, who died early Wednesday morning, will be conducted Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock at Trinity Methodist Church at South Mills by the Rev. Key Taylor, pastor of Trinity Methodist Church. Burial will follow in the South Mills Cemetery. The body will lie in state at the church one hour prior to the service
From "The Daily Advance" Elizabeth City, NC, 18 Aug 1955
Funeral services for BENJAMIN F. FOREHAND who died Wednesday morning in the Albemarle Hospital, were conducted Friday afternoon at 3:00 o'clock in the Trinity Methodist Church at South Mills, REV. Key Taylor, pastor officiated, Rev. C. Freeman Heath District Superintendent and Rev. Jesse Parker pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church assisted.
Rock of Ages, In The Garden and The Christian's Goodnight, was sung by, Mrs. Horace Eason, Jones, Mrs. C.L. McPherson, Miss Gladys Norris, Jack Eason, J.W. Halstead, Rufus Benton and D. P. Medlin; Mrs. Irene Southerland accompanied at the organ.
The casket was covered with a pall of white carnations, red roses and fern.
Honorary pallbearers were members of the Trinity Sunday School Class.
Active pallbearers were Philip Forehand, E. G. Forehand, Kemp Forehand, Ray Harrington, Ben Jacobs and Tilmon Chauncey.
Burial followed in the South Mills Cemetery. |
