of an early 19 th century grist mill (Pickard Mill). Meanwhile I continue to practice clinical psychology with children, adolescents, and families par

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1 This is McCauley Blog Six. It has been a long time coming, and as the pace of events quickens, more events are collapsed into a smaller narrative. Bill Burlingame encourages responses and comments. These blogs are not copyrighted and a wider distribution is encouraged, particularly among McCauley descendants and fans of history regarding UNC, Chapel Hill, Orange County, and North Carolina. There is a link to the earlier blogs on the home page of the Chapel Hill Historical Society. Sometimes I wonder if I am afflicted with an addiction, specifically, an addiction to history. As a psychologist I know there is a critical criterion for the presence of a true addiction: the addict experiences physiological withdrawal when he/she is deprived of the craved object. True, I don t have those symptoms there are no chills, no headache, no perspiration, and no physical craving. There is, however, a sense of emptiness, intellectual boredom, and sometimes an absence of passion. However, when the latest publications of American Archeology, Biblical Archeological Review, or even Smithsonian arrive, I get my fix and I am gone for the evening and the weekend. Any one of a number of topics can seize my interest and consciousness and serve to transcend whatever other residue from the day may be competing for space in my head. I can camp for hours at the computer devouring more information and further elaboration, all of which begin to alleviate the cognitive itch. I guess the best simple portrayal of my addiction to history is an intense preoccupation, a desire to know more, and the wish to revel in fantasy regarding the circumstances of the now beloved subject. In my life, there may be several of these operating simultaneously. The pursuit of Maya culture and civilization has been prepossessing now for several years and I have traveled extensively and climbed pyramids in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, and Honduras in search of experiences which assuage that itch. When Tom Jepsen, the treasurer of the Chapel Hill Historical Society, mentioned the Facebook posting by the McCauley descendant about the deteriorated condition of the McCauley Cemetery, I knew I was vulnerable and could be hooked. It s not that my life is absent other such enchantment and excitement: I am writing a book about Alaska and the Eskimo-Inuit culture, I am committed to a major essay on Guemes Island in the San Juan Islands in the state of Washington where I grew up, and I want to create a history of my Orange County property (part of a 1757 Lord Granville land grant to THE Thomas Lloyd), property which has the remains 1

2 of an early 19 th century grist mill (Pickard Mill). Meanwhile I continue to practice clinical psychology with children, adolescents, and families part-time out of my office in Chapel Hill. Nevertheless, the McCauleys and the Cemetery grabbed hold of me ferociously over six months ago and they have been unrelenting ever since. For me it is the history which is captivating. But, in order to maintain the history and to elaborate upon it, it is necessary to stabilize and conserve the site both to enshrine the past and to ensure the future. I learned long ago that part of the process for me is to document and share, and to infect others with the enthusiasm and zeal which I feel. I think I sometimes bore my friends, but they tolerate and indulge me and allow me to take them to visit the site. When I am alone at the Cemetery, I imagine what it might have been like in 1939 (I was less than a year old) when there was a major event: the Daughters of the American Revolution hosted this celebration and officiated, young girls placed flowers on Martha s and Matthew s graves, a minister opened and closed the service, the Boy Scouts assisted, and Frank Porter Graham (president of the University) orated and praised the McCauley families for their contributions to the founding of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There were also decades of neglect, such that two trees grew inside this small family Cemetery, one reaching a foot in diameter. And, there were other burials, now mostly lost to the mists of time. In 1972, Beatrice Doak platted the Cemetery (See Blog One). She seemed to know where about a half dozen other burials occurred as marked by field stones, both headstones and footstones. More recently, it appears as if caretakers have removed most of those stones to the perimeters to allow for mowing. I would so urge that we eventually secure ground penetrating radar to identify the other grave sites and restore the stones even if we don t know whose graves they mark. In fantasy, I imagine Matthew s burial in In those days his earthly remains would have been wrapped in a shroud and placed in a relatively shallow grave, given the rocky promontory on which the graveyard is placed. Perhaps matters would have advanced enough that this wealthy man would have been ensconced in a simple pine coffin as had become a later custom. Presumably he died at his historic home place down the slope and less than half a mile away near his mill and Morgan Creek. One wonders if the minister of the Damascus Congregational Christian Church presided, the church which Matthew took the leadership in founding in This church must have a fascinating history such that it later merged with the Congregational Christian denomination of Puritan 2

3 New England. John Morrow, a much later descendant of Matthew, studied that history and he may have documented the birth of the church, the merger, and its later circumstances. Surely, the Damascus Church, whose first minister was a dissident Methodist pastor, was allied in doctrine with the Congregationalists who asserted that the choice of clergy was to be determined by the congregations and not by bishops and an overriding church bureaucracy. It was John Morrow s family, specifically his widow Mary, who funded and hosted the 1992 restoration and reunion which drew a hundred or more McCauleys from across the nation. When I reflect on Matthew s burial and the sign we need to place demarking the Cemetery, I am tempted to post the year as 1821, presuming that Matthew was the first to be interred. However, even that is uncertain. Matthew and Martha had ten children, most of whose names were entered in the family bible. Martha was illiterate but she shared the bible s documentation in Matthew s handwriting with the justice of the peace who came to take her declaration when she applied for the pension to which she, as Matthew s widow, was entitled. Of the ten children, Polly was the seventh and was born on January 2 nd, 1797, at which time the family was surely residing near their mill on Morgan Creek. Only the other nine children are listed in Matthew s will which he drafted in If Polly were alive she would have been 15 years old. One wonders if Polly died in childhood and was buried in our Cemetery years before Matthew. By the time of Martha s death and burial in 1848 at age 88, three of their sons were also deceased. Might not they have been buried on site as well? There is so much yet to learn about both Matthew and William, and we have only the barest of caricatures of each. We know that Matthew had enormous antipathy toward the British and the Loyalists in the Carolinas. But we have no knowledge of his family life. We know that he probably was a jokester and that he and also William must have participated in the boy-in-the-barrel ruse and some of the other traditions of the McCauley family. If Professor Battle, UNC s historian, is correct, and if Matthew was indeed known jocularly as Bung (teasingly referring to the hole in the barrel through which he was supposedly fed), then that ruse was quite long standing. By age 60 (when he drafted his will), he was certainly a most propertied man, with over 1500 acres to his name, properties which included many Orange County estates and plantations. We know almost nothing about his blacksmithing, his foundry, and his grist mill which were likely the sources of his fortune. His military service history is well documented as to the events and the time line. There appears to have been 3

4 much valor and perseverance, particularly given the struggle to reach General George Washington s encampment at Valley Forge by Matthew s North Carolina troops in the winter of We have only a few details. Regarding, William we know even less. We know of his conspicuous public service as an elected official, and although his opinion regarding the first draft of the U.S. Constitution can be inferred (he voted against it perhaps because there was no bill of rights), what he might have contemplated personally goes unspoken. We are not even certain of the simple details of his several marriages and the location of his plantation and his burial. The locations of their respective residences in Orange County before the emergence of the brothers plantations on the Eno and Morgan Creek seem to be lost. They were indeed slave owners but their views on enslavement are unclear although there are tantalizing clues vis-à-vis William. There is so much to learn. It is certainly possible that McCauley descendants have investigated some or all of these issues, but if so, we are unaware of their findings. The brothers were highly regarded in their roles as members of the Eagle Lodge of the Masonic Order in Hillsborough, but we do not know what might exist in those records. And, historians are so encumbered by the many losses of records due to fires and similar events. Early Orange County court records were buried to save them from the British and have never been recovered. The earliest records from the Eagle Lodge, the Cane Creek Baptist Church, The Bethel Baptist Church, and the New Hope Presbyterian Church were all lost to fires in the early years of the 19 th century. And so, even if we do not presently experience the rush from new discoveries about the lives of the first McCauleys in Orange County, or even their histories and their families histories in Northern Ireland and lowland Scotland, we can be pleased that significant progress is occurring in restoring the historic cemetery. Since Rod McCauley s expose, four separate clean-ups of the site have been undertaken two by Tom Bythell, UNC s arborist, and two by Ken Loflin s OWASA crews. It was Mr. Bythell s crew which responded within 24 hours to the call from Jane Slater of the DAR. The fallen trees, the debris, and some of the offending Leyland Cypress branches were removed. It was Ken Loflin of OWASA, with the awesome title of Water Supply and Treatment Manager, and a crew led by Johnny Riley, who undertook a substantial clean-up of the hillside which had been literally littered for decades with abandoned coolers, barbeque grills, cans and bottles, and miscellaneous trash, following my somewhat scathing blog and photographs. We learned that Ed Kerwin, OWASA CEO, Ken Loflin, and other 4

5 officials, along with Tom Bythell and UNC s Alex Ashton of the properties office, were caught unaware of the presence of the McCauley Cemetery. When Alex Ashton, UNC s property manager convened a meeting on site in July of this year, he outlined a plan which independently confirmed many of my findings and recommendations. All agreed that the collapsing barn needs to be removed, but that its foundation and site need further investigation in terms of its possible historicity. Steve Davis, Associate Director of the Research Laboratories of Archeology at UNC, met with us and will conduct archeological studies including securing cores in and around the barn. In addition, even though the perimeters of the Cemetery seem to be established, he and others wonder if they are accurate and if there could be additional burials nearby. He and his students will secure cores to determine the possibility of a larger scope to the Cemetery. For the archeological work to be accomplished, the Leyland Cypress trees which were obstructing needed to be removed. In late August, Mr. Blythel s crew removed more than a dozen Leyland Cypress trees each of which had grown to a foot in diameter and had totally blocked and smothered the Cemetery on three sides. On the fourth side, a monstrous elm or hackberry had grown for at least a hundred years and had shed a huge limb which had fractured and was poised and ready to topple the southeast pier. Ken s crew did not dare drop it, but Tom s folks, with high-end forestry equipment, brought it down and hauled it away, all 1500 pounds of it. And so, except for the noxious black plastic here and there around the Cemetery, plus the failing split rails, the site is pristine and ready for securing cores by augur. A recent exchange of s with Steve Davis revealed that the soil is presently too dry and that his schedule will leave him unable to augur until late in November. The archeological research at the Cemetery needs to be complete before we can consider a remedy for the split rails and stabilization of the headstones. It has been assumed for decades that OWASA s lease included the entire hillside and the Cemetery. Ken Loflin had never seen a plat of the leased area, and he thought to double check the specified acreage. The plat, as provided by Alex and secured by Ken, is featured as plat, the first attachment to this blog. To the surprise of all parties, whoever drafted the plat had carefully and intentionally carved out the Cemetery and probably the dump as well, and left these features in the jurisdiction of UNC. Thus, the administration of the Cemetery resides with UNC and UNC s properties office rather than OWASA. Ken s gracious and tentative offer on behalf of OWASA has been to contract out the removal of the 5

6 Leylands and the replacement of the split rails, and for OWASA to assume the care and maintenance of the site. In light of the cooperation and good will established and maintained between OWASA and the Chapel Hill Historical Society, this arrangement would certainly have been acceptable. However, at the moment it seems best to simply pause. OWASA is reconsidering whether to maintain the cottage as a residence and headquarters for a lake warden to provide security for University Lake or whether to seek electronic surveillance of the lakes it administers which supply water for southern Orange County. The respective parties hope to achieve resolution by the end of 2017, at which point OWASA may or may not seek to renew the lease for the hillside, with or without the Cemetery. The fruitful collaboration and cooperation we have experienced with all parties to this point makes it acceptable to me for either party to have jurisdiction. I will keep the McCauley descendants and the Board of the Chapel Hill Historical Society informed. If OWASA chooses not to renew the lease, then Alex and the properties office will likely seek to rent the cottage. In the meantime, we will maintain the current comfortable irony of crossing an OWASA lease to get to a UNC property (the Cemetery). I hope that UNC will consider the possibility of establishing a McCauley Park on the hillside as proposed in Blog One. If OWASA and UNC do not renew the lease, and the cottage is rented, for the first time in many years the respective parties will need to consider the uncomfortably close proximity of the Cemetery and the cottage, and will need to think through parking and trespass issues among many others (including the disposition of the dump behind the cottage). In the meantime, archeological and historical research will determine the fate of the barn and its foundation, and OWASA and UNC will secure bids on removing a 500 gallon underground fuel tank buried next to the cottage. DONATIONS AND CURRENT PROJECTS To this point the Chapel Hill Historical Society has received several important donations. With these limited funds and with ongoing donations we can proceed with projects which are not likely funded by UNC or OWASA. These involve the most intimate aspects of the Cemetery and those which are ordinarily underwritten by family, descendants, volunteers, and interested parties. First, as mentioned, both Martha s and Matthew s headstones were taken down by falling trees. They need to be professionally re-seated and stabilized which is a costly procedure. Secondly, to my knowledge, there has never been a suitable sign 6

7 designating this site as THE McCAULEY CEMETERY. I would hope to fund such a bronze or brass plate which is in keeping with the plaques which are already in place from the 1939 restoration and the 1992 Morrow Family restoration. These are not the sorts of signs available on state issue or at a typical sign shop. See attachment eight ( Swanson ) which suggests one attractive possibility for signage, and please respond with comments or opinions if you wish. The funding we have to date will allow us to begin these projects, although, as noted, no restoration of the headstones and the split rails can be considered until the archeological research is complete. An anonymous donor has stipulated that his/her donation is to be used to secure consultation with David Swanson, the landscape architect who crafted the 1992 restoration. I will meet with David very soon and secure his guidance in beginning these two projects. For the record, I, Bill Burlingame, am functioning totally as a volunteer. And, the Chapel Hill Historical Society is a volunteer organization. We are in no way financially reimbursed for our personal efforts in this project. There is absolutely no administrative overhead associated with donations coming to the Chapel Hill Historical Society. Whether you are a descendant or a family member or an interested and supporting party, please consider a donation to the McCauley Cemetery fund. To donate, please write a check to: The Chapel Hill Historical Society And mail it to: William Burlingame 2793 Pickard Mill Lane Hillsborough, NC wvb5@bellsouth.net I will see that it is placed in the McCauley Cemetery Fund and used exclusively for that purpose. Donations are a charitable income tax deduction. The Chapel Hill Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) entity. To date, the following are donors; this list is balanced between descendants and supporting individuals. ANONYMOUS ANONYMOUS, stipulated for David Swanson, landscape architect 7

8 TERESA AUSTIN WILLIAM BURLINGAME ROBERT EPTING SARAH GEER KELLEY-WEBB TRUST, administered by Robert Epting VIRGINIA LEMMOND ROD McCAULEY FUTURE PROJECTS The following are ongoing projects in some stage of initiation or contemplation as part of the larger enterprise involving the McCauley family history: seeking information from the Eagle Lodge of the Masonic Order as well as from the North Carolina Grand Lodge regarding the McCauleys and General Davie; securing impressions and information from descendants and others who have visited Northern Ireland and Scotland to learn about the McCauley heritage; determining the locations of William s and Matthew s original residences in Orange County; determining the location of William s plantation on the Eno; locating the site of William s burial; securing ground penetrating radar studies of the Cemetery and locating and marking the original graves; searching early periodicals for coverage of the McCauley family; interviewing parties who have oral history regarding the persons in servitude in both William s and Matthew s households; reviewing and publicizing the genealogical studies of the two enslaved persons from William s plantation as tracked by descendant Barrie Peterson; securing information about such artifacts as Matthew s pocket watch; making contact and involving descendants who participated in the 1992 reunion; scanning and donating the Morrow Papers to research libraries; creating a current roster with contact information for McCauley descendants; creating a book, possibly selfpublished, about the McCauleys; securing the research of others who have investigated McCauley affairs; investigating the remains of the McCauley Mill and residence on Morgan Creek; advocating for archeological research relative to the McCauley Mill and the original plantation; initiating the process to secure state historical markers for both William and Matthew; supporting those who are striving to complete genealogical research on branches of the families; determining the family s involvement in the McCauley Whetstone Quarry; collaborating with the UNC Chancellor s Task Force on UNC history; ensuring that whatever entity holds title to the Cemetery establishes a schedule and assures 8

9 routine maintenance; securing media coverage of the Cemetery restoration; identifying the other burials at the Cemetery; advertising in local newspapers and on the web to locate descendants; continuing the Blog series; investigating the early history of the Damascus Church; establishing a liaison with New Hope Presbyterian Church regarding McCauley involvement and burials; encouraging UNC to consider designating the Cemetery site and the hilltop as McCauley Park; examining and photographing William s Masonic apron and the candle stand from his estate, both at Wilson Library at UNC; examining and photographing the copy of William s apron at the Eagle Lodge in Hillsborough; ensuring coverage in the alumni periodical; an incorrect date of death for Matthew (1832 instead of 1821) is cited in countless documents (and on his headstone) and in many publications: beginning to correct these, especially at Wilson Library at UNC and at Cemetery Census; establishing William s death date: sometimes it goes unlisted and sometimes circa ATTACHMENTS Images which are attached include the following: 1 plat: the plat of the lease from UNC to OWASA, with significant features and the Cemetery identified. What is not leased to OWASA remains in the jurisdiction of UNC. 2 Ken: Ken Loflin, Water Supply and Treatment Manager at Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA). Ken has enormous responsibilities at OWASA. Despite the inordinate demands on his time and attention, he has been supportive, friendly, collaborative, and available for consultation from the very outset. The Cemetery issues were assigned to him by Executive Director Ed Kerwin and Ken has been focused, trusting, and engaged. If OWASA chooses not to renew the lease, Ken will be much missed. 3 Bob: Bob Epting, OWASA (and Chapel Hill) General Counsel, of Epting and Hackney, Attorneys at Law, in Chapel Hill and Carrboro for more than 40 years. Bob has been enthusiastic, supportive, and generous over the months from the very beginning. As an attorney, OWASA is always his client-- but history and culture reside in his soul. During what was at times a tense early meeting, OWASA s executive director turned to me, and pointed at Bob, and announced to the room that Bob was my advocate. Bob spoke eloquently to the issues of cultural preservation and the community s responsibility to protect its heritage. When I m excited by some new discovery, Bob shares the contagion as only another historian could do. 4 Cecelia: Dr. Cecelia Moore, UNC Historian and Project Manager for the Chancellor s Task Force on UNC history. In future blogs, 9

10 I ll elaborate on Cecelia s mission at Carolina and particularly on the mutual interests we share which bode well for the ongoing collaboration which is already under way. When there was recent discussion of how Chapel Hill was selected as the site for UNC in 1792, the McCauley traditions were remembered, i.e., General Davie, possibly fortified by McCauley Irish whiskey, napped under the poplar, and when he awoke he proclaimed to his companions that this was to be the location of the University. Cecelia wryly observed that General Davie was not even present at that important event. Some of us have become so steeped in McCauley myth-making that we remember the myth and not the reality. One wonders if the myth-making did not have a tongue-in-cheek aspect event in the 1700s. Dr. Moore has just published... 5 flyer: The cover of Federal Theatre Project in the American South: The Carolina Playmakers..., Lexington Press, Mary: This is Mary Morrow. Her husband, John Morrow, UNC Provost, Dean, Chair of Chemistry and Professor, is a direct descendant of Matthew. The planning was underway for a bicentennial celebration of the gifts of the McCauleys to Carolina when he passed away three years before the event. His wife, Mary, assumed leadership and with her committee organized the event and the reunion held at Damascus Church in The family funded the major restoration of the Cemetery at that time. I have created digital scans of her meticulous documentation of the events (three huge binders) and these scans will be placed with the relevant research libraries. Ms. Morrow will participate in ongoing work in locating McCauley descendants. I have read the scores of letters attesting to her gracious and effective leadership in bringing the 1992 event to fruition. 7 bill: Dr. William Burlingame. Bill Burlingame grew up in the San Juan Islands off the northwest coast of Washington state. His doctorate in psychology is from the University of Washington, and he taught at the Universities of Washington (Seattle), Michigan (Ann Arbor), and North Carolina (Chapel Hill). He retired from UNC after a lengthy career in which he served for 25 years as the director of the first psychiatric inpatient unit for adolescents in North Carolina. Since retirement he has busied himself in conservation and historical pursuits. He lives on a Triangle Land Conservancy-protected property which was a 1757 Lord Granville land grant to Thomas Lloyd and also the site of an early 19 th century grist mill (Pickard Mill). 8 swanson: An October 2017 image of the Cemetery, free of Leylands. In discussion with David Swanson we considered several options for signage. All are elegant but most are probably out of range financially (without a significant donation targeting signage). Initially, I suggested a tasteful brass/bronze plate, in keeping with the plaques from 1939 and 1992, to 10

11 be attached to the left pier of the gate. David concurred with placing the sign on the left pier but he feels that a plaque would compete with the Morrow plaque on the right pier. He recommended visible raised characters embedded in the rock as he portrayed them in this photograph. This form of signage has increasing appeal for me. I will also check with whatever references we have for the precise title of the Cemetery. I suspect the title should be: The McCauley Cemetery or The McCauley Family Cemetery. Please forward comments to me regarding these proposals if you wish. Mr. Swanson also suggested placement of cut flagstone outside the gate to define the entry in a subtle yet natural way. Thank you, Mr. Swanson, for your creativity and interest, not just presently, but in the distant past and the recent past. You have more longevity with this historic site than any of us. Bill Burlingame October 13,

12 the plat of the lease from UNC to OWASA, with significant features and the Cemetery identified 12

13 Ken Loflin, Water Supply and Treatment Manager at Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) Bob Epting, OWASA (and Chapel Hill) General Counsel, of Epting and Hackney, Attorneys at Law, in Chapel Hill & Carrboro 13

14 Dr. Cecelia Moore, UNC Historian and Project Manager for the Chancellor s Task Force on UNC history 14

15 The cover of Federal Theatre Project in the American South: The Carolina Playmakers..., Lexington Press,

16 Mary Morrow Dr. William Burlingame 16

17 October 2017 image of the Cemetery, free of Leylands, with proposed signage 17