Free school in Executors. in one lott, and not separated. Also Kitt and the three youngest children that she may have at the time of my decease to be sold in one lott and not separated. Old Tarisman is to be well treated by my executors and not let want for anything. The Negroes not herein named are to be sold separate to the highest bidder. The remaining part of my estate, consisting of Horses, Cattle, Hoggs and Sheep, Household and Kitchen furniture and Plantation Tools of every description and Kinds of Crop and Produce are to be sold in the same way as my other Property. The money arising from the said sales are to be collected by my executors when due as soon as may be. Should there be any money, Bonds or Notes, or accounts on hand at the time of my decease, my executors are to account for them and after paying out all expenditures that may have accrued heretofore, or may hereafter accrue, the neete proceeds are then to be kept and put by my executors to the use of a Free School or Schools for the Benefit of the Poor of Duplin County. Lastly. I hereby nominate and appoint my Nephew, John Dickson, son of my Brother Robert Dickson, deceased, living at Blockers Ferry, Cumberland County, and also my Nephew, Joseph McGowan, of Duplin County, son of William McGowan, deceased, my whole and sole executors of this my last Will and Testament. In Witness Whereof I the said Alexander Dickson, have hereunto set his hand and seal this nineteenth day of June Eighteen hundred and thirteen. ALEXANDER DICKSON, (Seal) Signed, sealed and delivered by the Testator to be his last Will and Testament, who hath in our presence signed the same and we at his request have signed the same as witnesses thereto. STEPHEN GRAHAM. State of North Carolina-Duplin County. July Term of the County Court of Please and Quarter Sessions for said County of Duplin. The within Will was Exhibited into Court and after Probate. being duly debated and discussed was admitted to probate and Record. And was duly proved in open Court by the oaths of Stephen Graham and William Mallard the subscribing witnesses thereto. And at the same time John Dickson and Joseph McGowan the Executors named in the said will came before the Court and Qualified as Executors thereto according to law. Ordered that letters issue accordingly. Test. WM. DICKSON, C. C. Across the back of said Will is the folowing endorse- Endorsement. ment: Alexander Dickson's Will Proved and Recorded July Term, 1814. Control of fund un On the 24th of January, 1817, the executors reported value of fund 1817. a settlement of the estate, showing a net balance on hand of $12,621.49. This fund has always been known as the "Dickson Charity Fund," and until after the Civil War was managed and controlled by the Clerk and Master in Equity and the income applied in various ways for edu-til after civil war. cational purposes. In recent years it has been managed by the Board of County Commissioners, and the income applied to the public school fund. But through years Fund mismanaged of mismanagement and ill-directed investments, it has almost come to naught, and, like most bequests of this kind, has not served the high purpose for which it was intended by the donor. -From Carr's Dickson Letters, MS. of Revised Edition. PRESENT INCOME DICKSON FUND. The County Treasurer of Duplin County for the year 1904-05, reported that he received $140.88 interest from the Dickson Fund. For the year 1905-06, he reported $140.89 from the same source. -From MS. Records, Office State Superintendent. Class distinction ought to be avoided. Plan ought to be 1. GOV. MILLER'S MESSAGE ON EDUCATION. Knowledge and virtue are the great supporters of free governments. ts. In a country like ours, nothing should be more carefully guarded against, than the establishment of anything like different orders in society. When the sources of information are confined to a few, it may have a tendency to introduce into society an order of men, who, valuing themselves upon their superior acquirements, are too apt to look upon those, who have been less fortunate, with a degree of supercillious contempt. They may be too apt to imbibe the idea, that the people were made for them and not they for the people. It is under the hand of Legislative patronage alone, deerememberote that the temple of science can be thrown open to all; and society. of All can not be educated except by it seems to me well worth the consideration of the Legislature, if some plan can not be devised by which every member of the community, no matter how circumscribed his situation, may have an opportunity of experiencing the benefits of education. The progress which has been made of late in the estabpublic patronage. lishment of seminaries for the education of youth evinces a spirit of genius in the people of this State for literary acquirements. But so long as these establishments are left to depend for support upon the individual exertion their beneficial effects must necessarily be partial. It is under the fostering hand of legislative patronage alone that the temple of science can be thrown open to all. -House Journal, 1815. |