The following article appeared in "The Concord Daily Tribune" on August 16, 1912, and in "The Concord Times" on August 19, 1912, and can be found on microfilm at Cannon Memorial Library in Concord, NC. The article has been transcribed by Janet Morrison. All spelling, punctuation and capitalization have been retained as they appear in the original. Items in square brackets [] have been added by the transcriber.

Thursday was the day with the big D at Rocky River. The day dawned clear and at an early hour the men, women and children of this section began to "get ready" to go to Rocky River. The preparations and the public roads suggested the big crowds that used to attend Poplar Tent. And the crowd came. Charlotte was there in hundreds, and Concord was there in full-force. Many surrounding towns, such as Albemarle, Mooresville, Salisbury, and others were well represented. From Fort Mill, S.C., came Mrs. Dr. J.B. Mack and daughter, Mrs. E.M. Belk, and Mrs. R.F. Grier. From Florida came Mrs. Dr. Claywell, a sister of Mrs. J. Caldwell Query; from Memphis, Tenn., Mrs. Dr. Craig and Miss Pharr, a niece of the late Dr. Walter W. Pharr; from Virginia came Dr. Paul B. Barringer, the distinguished educator. A register of those visitors was kept by two young ladies, but this reporter was unable to get a look at it, as it was always crowded. By 10:30 a.m., the hour set for the opening exercises, a crowd of 2,000 people had assembled in the grove about the church. On the brow of the hill and in the edge of the grove stood the tents of our enterprising citizen, Henry G. Ritz, happy and ready as he ever is to minister to the wants of his fellows. Mr. Lacy Cochran was there taking photographs of the old church and the grove full of horses. The Veterans’ Choir, Cabarrus Camp No. 212, were there in Mr. Geo. L. Fisher’s big four-horse band wagon and it may be truly said that this choir was the "chief attraction of the day" at the Home Coming, whereas, according to Dixon the near-poet of other days, at Poplar Tent fair:

"The chief attraction of the day,
Was Martin’s bull and H.M. Gray."

Fortunately, among the speakers of the day no J.M. Gray was present, although many had predicted that the programme was too long. Promptly at 10:30 by the big clock on the walls of the church, Mr. Morrison Caldwell, who had been chosen to preside, arose and stated that no formal address of welcome was necessary inasmuch as they were all sons and daughters of old Rocky River coming back home. Nearly a thousand arose at his request while Dr. Jno. G. Anderson, of Gainesville, Fla., invoked God’s blessing upon the great assemblage. The invocation was appropriate and fervent. Dr. D.H. Hill, president of A. & M. College, at Raleigh was then introduced, not only as a son of Gen. D.H. Hill of the Confederate army, but a grandson of Rev. Robert Hall Morrison, who was one of eight grandsons of Robert Morrison, of Rocky River, who became Presbyterian ministers. Robert Morrison being a son of James Morrison, [correction: Robert Morrison was actually the brother of James Morrison] the pioneer who settled in Rocky River in 1764, whose descendants in Cabarrus are numbered by hundreds. Dr. Hill’s subject, "The Characteristics of the Pioneers of Rocky River," was handled in a masterly manner. His pleasing personality won the favor of his audience at the outset and he held their interest by the thoughts that he uttered. Then came the first song by Concord’s Veteran’s choir and it is needless to say that the hundreds on the outside of the church tried to break in then in order to hear the music better. Rev. Daniel Penick Junkin, of Piedmont, S.C., a grandson of Rev. Daniel Penick, the beloved pastor of Rocky River for 35 years, then paid a noble tribute to Dr. John McKamie Wilson, who served Rocky River form 1801 to 1831, and who is buried in the present churchyard. Of this great and good man it was noted that he sent twenty-five young men into the ministry, and that he was a great peace maker, so much so that in thirty years, few if any lawsuits ever went up from Rocky River. Many of his descendants were present, among them Mr. J.E. Dorton, assistant postmaster of Salisbury. Mr. Caldwell then stated that Dr. John McKamie Wilson was succeeded as pastor by Rev. Daniel Lindley, who was pastor from 1831 to 1833. In that brief time he received into the church 250 people and organized a temperance society in the congregation with 500 members; that he then went as missionary to South Africa, where he spent forty years. Soon after going to Africa Rev. Lindley baptized Paul Kruger, the old hero that held England at bay. He also stated that Maj. Denson Caldwell, who sat in front of the pulpit, had the distinction of having also been baptized by Daniel Lindley. Dr. E.P. Davis, of Georgeville, a first cousin of our worthy countyman, J. Will Davis, of Harrisburg, then paid a glowing tribute to Rev. Daniel Penick, known to hundreds of older citizens as "Father Penick."

One of the finest tributes of the day was to Dr. J.B. Mack by his friend, Rev. A. Walker White, who was induced by Dr. Mack to enter the ministry while at Rocky River. Eight thousand persons were converted during the long ministry of Dr. Mack.

The following letter from Dr. William Mack, of New York, a son of the late Dr. J.B. Mack, was read by Mr. Morrison Caldwell:

Mr. Morrison H. Caldwell, Concord, N.C.

Dear Morrison: I have put off answering your letter till now, hoping that business matters might so adjust themselves as to enable me to accept your cordial invitation. It will be impossible for me to be with you at the Home Coming. The disappointment tome is keen, for Rocky River was the home of my boyhood, and the birthplace of two sisters and a brother.

"How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood.
When fond recollections present them to view --"

Fond recollections always spring up when Rocky River is mentioned; but at the news of the Home Coming

" ‘Round the heart came memories clustering,
Memories that shall never fade --"

Memories of childhood: of fishing and swimming; of learning to ride horse-back and carrying "grist" to the mill; of church and Sunday school and "protracted" meetings of singing schools in the good old Summer time, when the crops were laid by; of apples and cherries and peaches and pears and other good things to eat; of papaws, and pawpaw whips and watermelons; of first pants and "galluses"; and a thousand and one other things, that make children laugh, grow fat and keep hungry.

Looking back through the vista of the years, I marvel that there lived such people as the Alexanders, the Blairs, the Caldwells, the Morrisons, the Parkses, the Harrisses, the Porters, the Pharrs, the Irvins, the Stuarts, the Querys, the Whites, the Penicks, the Phifers, the Flowes, and others whose names I do not now recall.

It was a wonderful thing that so many people had the same names; indeed the Harrises, the Pharrs, and Morrisons seemed to be legion; then Sams, for instance, "Church Sam," one "River Sam," and "Crooked-Neck Sam."

My first Rocky River recollection is of getting off the train at Harris Depot (now Harrisburg) and going in the dark to the home of Uncle Solomon Harris. There we met Ed. and "Little Jim" Marris (to distinguish him from "Big Jim", the son of Mr. McKamie Harris). Uncle Solomon had the biggest fire-place I ever saw; it seemed as big as a barn door.

Shortly afterwards we went to Pioneer Mills, to live in Mr. Robert Morrison’s house. There we met the first Morrison boys and girls, Baker, Mary, Tom and Maggie; the Flowes, the Penicks, the Stuarts, and the Barnhardt boys and girls, John, Mollie, Laura, Tom, Gene and Nannie. There, too, was the old Gold mine, Barnhardt’s store and McAnulty’s shoemaker shop. There I first went to school with Tom and Gene, and Nannie Barnhardt, and Maggie Morrison, as schoolmates. While there I decided to become either a merchant or shoemaker, for Barnhardt’s store and McAnulty’s shop kindled young ambitions; better to "keep store" or "mend shoes," than as a preacher’s son to be moving around from place to place.

But Pioneer Mills was "no place for a preacher’s son." Soon we moved again; this time to the brand new red brick parsonage, close by the church. We used to go to church in a big closed carriage drawn by two mules; now, every Sunday, we walked to church, going down a steep hill, across a branch, and through the grove to the famous old house of worship. Here we went to school again; first in the log cabin half way between the church and the parsonage; and later in the building on the edge of the church grove near Elder Pharr’s house. Nearby were Reedy creek and Back creek, in which we fished and paddled and waded, sometimes with our parents’ permission, and sometimes without that permission -- when without the permission always with a subsequent "licking" administered by the parson incumbent, who would rather strip an entire peach orchard of its tender branches than to spoil a single child. The school at the church was good school, for those days. We had lots of scholars, and one teacher. We had two recesses of fifteen minutes every day, and one big intermission. We played "base" and "mumble-peg" at recess, and town-ball at intermission. The girls were better at town-ball for they caught the balls in their dresses, but the boys were better at "base" and "mumble-peg," for they could run faster and knew more about handling pocket knives. "Readin’, ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic," comprised the curriculum, some of us getting "the hang of the thing" and some of us not. Of my schoolmates I remember among the girls: Lizzie Campbell, Luke, Mary and Anna Blair, Lizzie and Fannie Pharr, Mamie Fuqua, Maggie Harris, Willie Johnosn, Leila Howie, a pretty little McEachern girl, Floyd Alexander’s sister, and "Bud" Porter’s sister; and among the boys: Jim Pharr, Ed. Harris, "Big" Jim and "Little" Jim Harris, Sam Harris, Willie Harris, Dick Pharr, Ed. Irvin, Mott and Frank Blair, "Bud" Hooie, "Bud" Porter, Floyd Alexander, and Willie Alexander (Squire Jack’s son). Sally McClelland and Patty and Ella Pharr played with us, but did not, as I remember, go to school with us.

Jim Pharr was my brother Al’s favorite. He was the character of "our set." He chewed tobacco, and caught more fish and rabbits than all of us put together. Modern comptometers could not compute the number of rabbits Jim caught in the old stone wall around the grave-yard, not counting those he caught in "rabbit gums." Had Jim only known it then he might have made a fortune selling left hind feet of rabbits for luck, for old Sol Spears, one of Aunt Sally Pharr’s negroes, and once a slave of Mr. Morrison, used to tell us, when he was our cook and nurse, that it was good luck to keep in your pocket "the left hind foot of a grave yard rabbit, caught in the dark of the moon." At our church home, too, I learned my first law, except the law of Moses and the prophets, daily expounded by father from earliest infancy. The knowledge was imparted by Constable Russell, who was also the local butcher. He was constable to ‘Squire Jack Alexander, and by keeping ears open and mouth shut I heard a good deal about petty offenses and current misdemeanors. Had I paid less attention to matters of mundane law and more to the laws of heaven -- the twig growing as it is bent -- I might have become a preacher instead of a lawyer, and thereby escaped the anathema of Luke, chapter XI, verse 52.

Those were happy years; happy in springtime with its apply blossoms, song birds, morning-glories and Tish McKinley’s Sassafras tea; happy in the summertime, with its blackberries and plums, its bob-whites in the wheat fields, its lightning and thunder storms, its bare-footed boys and girls, and its bitter quinine to keep off third-day chills; happy in the autumntime, with its white fields of unpicked cotton and its beautiful trees with leaves of myriad hues; and happy in the wintertime, with its snows, its big hickory back-logs, its boys in boots red-topped and toes brass-tipped, its red-cheeked girls in wraps and "choke rags," and its Christmas Holidays and turkeys.

"In those happy days (just after the war by the way) father was doing the sermon preaching, Elder Pharr was doing the Bible class teaching, Doctor Blair was giving calomel and quinine, the session was passing upon current vices such as dancing and card playing, and Mr. Henry White was leading the singing, the congregation following the voices ranging from deepest base to highest tenor.

About this time, however, the preacher got "a call"; he heard it; and we went away to South Carolina whence we had originally come. We children did not want to go, and my recollection is that we cried about it; and why not? Were we not leaving the best boys and girls on earth, the red brick parsonage, the little troughs stuck in the hillside from which the purest water poured, the old church and the grave-yard near by it? I was leaving Harris Depot, the going for the mail, and Elam Morrison, whom I loved because he gave me a pocket knife.

Thirty years and more have come and gone since then. Many I knew have gone, even unto the uttermost parts of the earth; some have died and were buried where they were born and lived; some in God’s own goodness are still living in the same sunshine and ‘neath the same clouds that smiled and frowned upon us so many years ago. I have tried to keep track of them. Now and then I meet one, and the handshake is always warmer and the greeting gentler because of a childhood lived together; their joys are mine, as so, too, are their sorrows.

Rocky River is a sacred place. Many of her treasures are laid up in heaven, and there her hearst must be also. She is a tree that has brought forth good fruit. She is a city set on a hill, and cannot be hid. She has let her light so shine before men that they have seen her good works. She has kept the faith and the world is better for it. May her children be the "salt of the earth" for generations to come, as have been their fathers and their fathers’ fathers before them for over an hundred years. May they always be able to say:

"And hopes shall brighten days to come,
And memory gild the past."

Sincerely yours,
William Mack
New York, August 1, 1912.

Rev. J.M. Harris, son of Mr. A N. Harris, then spoke of the life of Dr. J.M. Wharey, and related many incidents showing the noble nature and great influence of this beloved pastor.

The benediction was then pronounced by Rev. R.C. Morrison, of Kershaw, S.C. a brother of the late Walter W. Morrison.

Then came the dinner hour and the social feature of the occasion. In the afternoon Mr. Caldwell introduced Dr. Paul B. Barringer, son of General Rufus Barringer and grandson of Rev. R.H. Morrison, D.D. Dr. Barringer was born in Concord and his career as president of the University of Virginia and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has been watched with increasing interest by his many friends here. Dr. Barringer spoke of the influence of the Scotch-Irish as also affected by the sturdy German settlers of Cabarrus. Mingling the blood of both elements he spoke as one knowing his subject.

Short speeches of greeting and congratulations were made by Rev. Geo. Atkinson, of Albemarle, Rev. Albert Gillon, of Comeron, Texas, and Rev. Mr. Beatty, pastor of Mallard Creek. Rev. J.H. West, of Concord Central Methodist church extended the greeting of the Methodists of Cabarrus county. Dr. J.M. Grier spoke of the Reprint of Foote’s Sketches, which is being gotten out by him and two other gentlemen. He stated that they were taking orders at $2.25 the copy.

Rev. Jas. Lapsley was called to the chair and presided during the remainder of the exercises, which consister of discussions as to preservation of the historic graveyards and as to the publication of the "History of Rocky River and Her People," which Mr. Caldwell desires to issue in pamphlet form to retail at 25 cents the copy. A committee was appointed to obtain 500 subscriptions, with Mr. John Barnhardt as treasurer. A motion was made to thank Mr. Caldwell for his work in behalf of the Home Coming and it was adopted by a rising vote.

The Veterans’ Choir sang their farewell piece and the Rocky River choir led the audience in "God Be With you Till We Meet Again."

Thus ended a most successful and pleasant reunion of the clans.

Mr. Cochran, the photographer obtained some good views, which may be seen or bought at White-Morrison-Flowe Co.’s.

A feature was the old war songs in the grove. A crowd urged them on.