John Craig House (1798)
Dr. Lewis Trotti House
Sara Trotti Farmer and Margaret Trotti House
Jay and Judy Eddins Oliver House
Craig House Before Renovations in 1946
Craig House Clearer View (Courtesy of Ginger Morton)
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY CIVIL WAR VETERANS AND THEIR WIVES AND DAUGHTERS. PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BEFORE 1917. THE ONES IDENTIFIED ARE: L-R FRONT ROW:1 BILLY TUCKER,2-H.D. TUCKER,7- EVIN OLIVER.L-R SECOND ROW:1 ANDREW LISENBY HENDRIX, DR. THOMAS LUCAS 4-DR. WILLIAM MARION PERRY, 6 JOHN LEMUEL WOODARD,THIRD ROW L-R 1DANIEL A. CAMPBELL 2-JOHN A THURMAN, 3 JAMES, SULLIVAN, 4 W.B. CRAIG,5-THOMAS CRAIG,7- W.G. SUTTON (Coutersy of Ginger Morton)
James W. Jenkins: Dr. Lewis Trotti, who once lived at 203 East Main Street, was a former mayor of Chesterfield. The Trottis also had a house on the east side of Craig Street near the center of the block. That house is no longer standing.
Elizabeth Ann Gaddy Rivers: Sara Farmer, and maybe also her sister, Margaret Trotti, ran a tearoom in this house. This was some time in the late 50's and early 60's. I remember going there for lunch in the summer of 1959 with Pat Garvin Oehlert just before she and Harvey moved to Florida. I can remember this date because it was the summer I got married.
Ginger Morton: NOTE : W. E. Craig and his Irish wife, Margaret P. Craig > My gg-grandmother and gg-grandfather...W.D. was my gg-uncle. ALL IN RED ARE MY ANCESTORS. On Sept. 3, 1925, an article in The Chesterfield Advertiser described W.D. Craig's first visit to Chesterfield during that time. It is reprinted herewith: "My first visit to Chesterfield was made November 12, 1845, the memorable famine year of this section of the 19th century. There was almost nothing made on the farms. they could get supplies enough for people and stock on account of the roads and vehicles for transportation so they sent everything that could walk or crawl to Virginia, where they had plenty, until time to plough the next spring. I could not walk or crawl so I extended my visit here. "The village contained about 50 whites and 250 Negroes. It was a manufacturing community, making nearly everything that was used by the surrounding country - all the farming implements, cotton gins, leather, shoes, harness, fur hats, wagons, buggies, carts, as well as all the cotton and linen clothing the community used. "When I first found myself I was stopping at the place now known as the Dr. Lucas house. It was then occupied by W. E. Craig and his Irish wife, Margaret P. Craig coming out in front of the house was a wide road then known as the Chatham Highway - at the time the front street of the town. On the opposite side of the road was General Hanna's residence. Coming on down the street to where S. M. Jackson now lives, we came to a big grove and an imposing two-story building, 40 by 50 feet, which was the village schoolhouse. "Next came the iron foundry a building 200 by 100 feet on the G. K. Laney lot, where I stopped sometimes to see melted iron running like a branch of water into the mould that changed the melted iron into waterwheels, plows, and irons and so forth. "Coming on down a little farther, about where Redfearn and Rivers' store now stands I could hear a number of wheels in motion, which was always attractive to me. When I went in, I found the house full of men and machinery making cotton gins complete except the saws. Just opposite this place was a fur hat factory and blacksmith shop. The latter made anything out of irons you called for. "Back of the courthouse was a large cabinet shop that made any and everything in that line. There is hardly house in this community that cannot show even today something which was made in that shop. Behind the old Craig house was a tannery, shoe and harness shop where all the hides were tanned and the shoes and harness made. "Just below T. P. Craig's residence were several big buildings, known as the Chapman Wheelwright Shop. There they made anything that ran on wheels from wheelbarrow to a fine carriage. "A good flour mill, grist mill and sawmill could be found where Craig's now stands and a ginnery, which took care of all the cotton made in this part of the country, stood where Porter's stables now are. When we sum up these industries we can see there was as much in the way of energy and enterprise displayed in our town between 1845 and 1850 as there had been at any time since." Chesterfield had become industrial by 1845. Local industry supplied almost all of the material needs of her citizens. Chesterfield could proudly boast of having her own iron foundry, where farm implements and irons, water wheels, and so forth were made out of the molten iron; fur hat factory; blacksmith shop; cabinet and furniture shop; harness and shoe shop, where all the shoes and harness for the town were made; wheelwright shop, that made anything that ran on wheels; and flour, grits, and sawmill. As one can see, a great deal of energy displayed in this small town of fifty whites and two hundred and fifty Negroes. During the 1850's the difference gap between the North and South grew wider and wider. The two geographical sections had very little in common. Neither, I think actually understood the other. The word secession was spoken in whispers among the people. Finally, action was taken. On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon. the War Between The States, as it was called in the South, begun. Chesterfield sent many of her men to fight for the Confederate cause - many never returned. Chesterfieldians were among those losing their lives at the famous Battle of Gettysburg. General W. T. Sherman, on his notorious "match to the sea," came to Chesterfield. Entering on March 2, 1865, Sherman and his men skirmished with Butler's Cavalry, which was soon defeated. While in Chesterfield, General Sherman chose the "Craig House" (then occupied by W. E. Craig) as his headquarters. When told by one of Sherman's men that the General would like to see the lady of the house, Margaret Parke Craig replied that she "would like to speak to the gentleman." She consented that her home could be used as headquarters; but, it is reported that she informed him that she had always been a lady and she would expect to be treated like one both by Sherman and his men. Each time Mrs. Craig started to leave the house with her baby, an orderly appeared to carry the child for her! Sherman and his men put the torch to many of the buildings of Chesterfield. Chesterfield County Courthouse, the place of the first secession meeting, was burned to the ground. All of the records were destroyed. Sherman's men entered the G. K. Laney house, then under construction and started a fire in the middle of the room. A faithful slave put the fire out. The scars from the fire still remain to be seen in the old house. The people of Chesterfield buried their silver and other valuables to keep the Northern forces from stealing them. One family buried their silver in the horse stable where the horses dug it up many years later. Sherman marched out of Chesterfield on March 3, 1865. He and his men forded Thompson Creek, asked a negro boy directions, and then marched on toward Cheraw. When Sherman left, he left the people with nothing. They destroyed almost everything. People lived on the corn that was dropped when the Yankee soldiers fed their horses. One Chesterfield family lived for weeks on apples!