First Posted: 1/15/2009
I grew up with tales and wonder of the land left to our family by Berry Godwin. He was my great, great-grandfather, born Oct. 1, 1826 in Selma, Johnston County. He came to Robeson County in 1855 after marrying Martha Faulk in 1854. Martha was a very stern looking woman with a roundish face and was reported to be an excellent seamstress. They had one daughter, Edna, and also briefly cared for a niece Nora. When his brother Iredell died in 1893. Berry insisted that Iredell's wife Mary let him take Nora to his home and educate her.
Her Aunt Pat Godwin (Martha) sewed bridal and ball dresses, silks and satins for the society in Lumberton. Nora helped her aunt sew fancy clothes. Her life with her aunt and uncle was almost like a fairy tale. She had nothing to do but sew since they had maids to do all the housework. Her aunt let her take in her own sewing after she learned to sew well and have her own money. She made beautiful wedding clothes. Nora later married Luther Caldwell of Lumberton in the Berry Godwin house.
Land acquisition
Berry Godwin started accumulating land around the county, partly for his turpentine business in St. Pauls township, his Cotton Oil & Ginning Co., in Lumberton and also for farming, real estate and other business enterprises. One account told of a mill located north of the railroad between two main streets where children went to get “chewing rosin” and the neighborhood to get kindling from the mill waste.
Once he had to pay twice for a tract of land he was acquiring from the Blount family. This interesting story about the purchase of 4,000 acres for $18,000 from the administrator of the Blount family was published in The Robesonian, July 14, 1991. Godwin agreed to pay half the purchase price and then make installments in 1863, 1864 and 1865. The deal was made in Confederate dollars that depreciated during the Civil War. After the war the Blount family brought suit against the estate management and won its case, thereby declaring that Godwin would have to pay in U.S. money. He was able to make his payment and retain the 4,000 acres in northeast Lumberton known as the Meadows. In it today are the extensive business and residential developments along the Fayetteville Road and Barker-Ten Mile Road, including Wycliffe and Forest Acres. He also acquired many lots in the town of Lumberton.
Frugal, generous
Godwin was a frugal man. A story was told about a visit he had with his future father-in-law, Hinnant Faulk, when courting Miss Mattie Lee Faulk. Berry found a new nail in the yard, handed it to Faulk and remarked that it might come in handy some day. Faulk was so impressed with the young man's thrift it “nailed” the acceptance of him as a son-in-law.
He helped his adopted hometown of Lumberton in varied capacities such as acquiring land for the jail site, acquiring a bell for the courthouse, and overseeing the repair of Raft Swamp Bridge as documented in courthouse records.
Berry demonstrated quiet acts of charity and acts of private bounty to relatives, strangers and the community. He preferred to be modest and unassuming. He was a loyal deacon in the First Baptist Church. He was responsible for donating the site and more than half of the building cost for the Baptist Church on Walnut and Fourth Street until another was erected in 1910. And for nearly half a century the work of the Baptist Church was supported largely at his expense. He generously supported the elementary school by donating an entire town block and helped to maintain it. He also gave the land for the Meadow Brook Cemetery located on Pine and 24th Street and, living to the age of 79, he was the first person reported to have been buried there.
Except for his property gifts, all the land that Berry Godwin acquired was passed on through his only daughter Edna, who married James McD. French of Wilmington in June of 1877, and their two children, Margaret and George. In 1904 Margaret married A.W. McLean who became governor of North Carolina in 1925. George married Annie Lee Morrison in 1904.
Saving the farm
George and Annie Lee had three children but one, Martha Lee, died in infancy. George died at the early age of 35. Later, when son Berry was attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill he did not get to graduate with the class of 1931. During the Great Depression he had to cut his education short to go home to “save the farm.” At a young age the burden of taking care of his mother and sister Margaret fell on his shoulders.
A story told by my father, Berry Godwin French, references a man in Wilmington who had given him credit when no one else would and kept them from losing the farm. My stepfather later told me he thought the man was Ben Washburn of Swift Fertilizer Co. Not long after this in 1936 that Berry Godwin French married Elizabeth (Betty) Churchill Tuttle. They had three children, B.G. Jr., Virginia Lee and me.
As it turned out my father was quite an exceptional and determined businessman. During the Great Depression he and a friend organized a business to help pay taxes on inherited farmland. It prospered and farmland became more valuable both for farming and residential real estate. He organized other businesses like the French-Allen Fuel Co. and Lumber River Real Estate, which was formed with friends Erwin Williams and Will Lennon. He worked tirelessly to bring business to Lumberton such as Goodrich, Vel-Cord, Jones Knitting, Alamac and Lumbee Corporation. He brought talented people here such as Joe Sandlin who became president of Southern National Bank and who helped turn a small town bank into a multibillion-dollar institution.
Mover and shaker
Berry French (often called B.G.) was one of the original members of the board of trustees of the hospital corporation, Southeastern Regional Medical Center as it is now called, serving several terms as a member of the board and as president. My father was a favored fund raiser of several organizations. After raising funds for a new public library, John P. Stedman said of him “he is the most outstanding money raiser in Eastern North Carolina.”
He served also on the board of education and was “responsible for the city having a site for the high school,” as well as Robeson Technical Institute. He donated French Park in the Mayfair community to Lumberton Recreation Department when Bill Sapp was director. He was honored with the Silver Beaver Award for his support of the Boy Scouts. My father, Joe Sandlin and Bob Hughes helped create Robeson House for kids whose parents had been incarcerated and needed care. It is still in operation. Sandlin said of him “he was a true philanthropist.”
Rev. Sam Shumate of the First Presbyterian Church said, “He was a loyal member, ruling elder, and trustee for them. He promoted and exemplified the spirit of generosity in the congregation.” The Robesonian described him as “an entrepreneur, a hearty, outspoken man, a mover and a shakerwho got results. He gave a helping hand to those in need, and aided other men in business careers of their own. The results of a lifetime of activity are evident in the pattern of growth of the city, which he had a hand in shaping, and the business and industries which he helped to establish here.”
Legacy continued
This legacy of land management, and generosity is being carried on by B.G. French Jr. through Lumber River Real Estate. B.G. is continuing to promote quality developments like Oakridge, the Oaks professional office park, Mayfair, Amberdale, and the Grand Oaks. My little brother as I call him, although he is the tallest and oldest of my sister and me, has an easygoing, peaceful demeanor about him. He has always struck me as having the uncanny ability to lure you into some chore or task he is doing, like Tom Sawyer, and somehow contagiously infect you with a joyful spirit of work.
He also picked up the frugalness of Berry Godwin and I think also of the Tuttle side of our family. An example of this was given in a story when he and his wife Nancy were investigating the purchase of an oriental rug in Eden. The sales person was explaining to them about the various prices of the rugs. Seeing the discouraged look on B.G.'s face, she proceeded to show them “seconds” of lesser price. Upon asking B.G. what he thought, he replied “Have you got any?”
B.G. is a very active and devoted member of the First Presbyterian Church where he serves as elder, a member of various committees, also displaying examples of generosity and having a humble servant's heart.
It is clear that the Lord has blessed our family through the accumulation of land by Berry Godwin. It is clear that Berry Godwin and his namesake grandsons have left a lasting legacy that has had a positive influence in the times they lived, a legacy of which family and community can be proud.
Credits
My gratitude to Margaret “Bushie” McLean Shepherd and Hector MacLean for all the time and family information they gave me; my husband Jack Broadhurst; The Robesonian; James A. Woodall and wife, Haywood Elizabeth Whitley Woodall Family by Delia W. Sanders, copy of manuscript given me by Margaret Shepherd; “Berry Godwin: quiet philanthropist,” R.C. Lawrence, manuscript presented by the author to B.G. French Sr. in 1938.
