Historic Webster is a newsletter of the Webster Historical Society, Inc., created at the Society’s founding in 1974. The publication helped to serve the Society's mission of collecting and preserving the history of Webster, North Carolina. Webster, established in 1851, was the original county seat for Jackson County.

• Contributor
  • Webster Historical Society (Webster, N.C.)
• Format
  • Newsletters
  • Periodicals
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1983
  • Date digitized: 2017-01
• Extent
  • Dimension: 15" x 11"
  • Pages: 4 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Webster (N.C.) -- History -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • Historic Webster
• Identifier
  • HistoricWebster1983_Vol09_No04
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library

HISTORIC~ 11 r w :, I e: t e 1 o f 1 tv; Web s 1 e 1 H 1s t o 1 1 c a I Soc 1 e t y 1 n c V-O-LU-ME- I-X, -NU-M-BE-R -4 --W-E-BS-TE-R, ~NO~RT~H CAROLINA WINTER, 1983 Edith Moore Hall, Mountain Lady David McKee and Edith Moore Hall were in Webster when this photograph was made. They were married in 1915 and moved to Sylva where Hall was in business. The Webster School and the Courthouse are in the background. By Hannah Lou Rawlson On a frosty morning , February 18, 1898, Edith Enloe Moore was born at 25 Oak Street, Asheville, the first born of Frederick and Lelanora Enloe Moore. In the following years she was joined by Frederick, Jr ., Margaret Hooker, William Enloe, and Daniel Killian Moore. When she was ten her father passed away. His dying wish was for the family to move to Dillsboro, to be near her mother's family. Following a year in Dillsboro, Lela Enloe Moore decided to move her family to Webster because of the excellent school there. And when Edith was eleven years old they moved into the Terrell house. Soon though they mov­ed to the Hedden home. During her years in Webster she studied art and music under the able direction of Mrs. Robert Lee Madison. To­day you can see the results of her art classes on the walls of her home in Sylva. There are various pastoral scenes and a number of Gibson Girl portraits. One of her fondest memories is of the Christmas season. First, there was the opening of gifts under the Christmas tree at their home, then on to the Lewis Broyles for Christmas breakfast. She says she can still taste Aunt Lily Broyles' delicious boiled custard and pound cakes. At night there was the sumptuous Christmas dinner at the home of Scroup Enloe, Edith 's uncle, in Dillsboro where all the family gathered. While living in Webster she met and fell in love with David McKee Hall, the eldest son of L. C. and Hannah McKee Hall. They were married Monday, May 31st, 1915. To this union were born five children. The first was Margaret Moore Hall (Mrs. Joe Dowdle who now lives in Continued on page 2 Edith Enloe Moore was born in Asheville in 1898. She was eight months old when this Taylor photograph was made. After her father's death, the family moved to Webster and was a school girl when this photograph was taken. In 1981 the portrait of Edith Moore Hall was painted by Laura Shuford, an Asheville artist. Page 2, HISTORIC WEBSTER, Winter, 1983 Edith Hall inspires the family and COl Continued from page 1 Asheville). David McKee Hall, Jr., came next and at his death was a member of the United States Congress. Carolyn Hall was next in line but she lived only four years. Robert Cromwell Hall was number four. He is now vice-president of North Carolina National Bank in Asheville. Lela Moore Hall was the baby of the fami­ly and at her retirement was head of the Welfare Depart­ment of New Hanover County in Wilmington. Following the marriage Edith and David moved to Sylva where David was in business. He owned and operated the Sylva Supply Store which is still an impor­tant store in the town. They lived first in the old Commer­cial Hotel, which does not ex­ist today. They next moved in­to the J ames McKee home (James McKee was an uncle of David's) where they stayed until moving into the home on Keener Street where she lives today. In September, 1938, death claimed her husband and left her with three children to put through college and a son who was crippled with osteomyeli­tis. In 1944 Mrs. Carrie Bryson, the house mother of Moore Dormitory (named for Edith's uncle Judge Walter E. Moore) at Western Carolina Teachers College, was leaving her posi­tion to become the dietician and manager of the college dining room. Dr. H. T. Hunter, president, and Ralph Sutton, business manager of the col­lege came to see Edith and asked her to take the job of house mother. She insisted that she was not capable of do­ing the job. They told her that they would be the judge of that and if she would take the job they would both shout. She said she would do it if for no other reason than to hear them shout. She remained at the col­lege and university for twenty­three years where she was also Assistant Dean of Women. During the 1960's a favorite prank of the men students was a panty raid on the girls' dor­mitories. When Moore Dor­mitory's time came Edith Hall met them at the back parlor door as they were sneaking in­side. She slapped the first boy who came through the door in the face. She said, "There is not one gentleman in this crowd or you would not be ac­ting like hoodlums." Unable to get past Edith the panty raid was a failure. To the best of anyone's knowledge, this was the only panty raid in the United States that was stopped by a house mother. In 1959 she was honored by the State of North Carolina as Mother of the Year. When Edith retired, the girls in her dormitory donated money to have her portrait painted. This picture was to remain in the lobby of Helder Dormitory. This was given in love and appreciation for her many years of service and devotion to her job and to The Moore children, Edith, William, Dan, F re( house. Western Carolina University. David Hall: farmer, businessman Following her retirement she did not sit back and take things easy however. She has been very active in the Sylva United Methodist Church, president of the C. J. Harris Hospital Auxiliary, an officer in Daughters of American Col­onists local chapter and the Twentieth Century Club, and on the board of the American Cancer Society whose job was to raise funds. By Joe P. Rhinehart Though a business and civic leader in Jackson County, David McKee Hall seems to have had as his first love, his land, his farm. He was suc­cessful in business, and as a young man, twenty six years old, he took over the Sylva Supply Company, and with his business ability, he made it in­to Jackson county's best known store. He later engaged in other business ventures - the Sylva Supply Market, the Mercantile Supply, the Pure Oil Company - but farming was his life. Born in Webster at Sun­nybrook Farm in 1887, the son of L. Coleman and Hannah McKee.Hall, David attended the Webster and Cullowhee schools. He then left Jackson County to attend North Carolina State University in Raleigh where he studied agriculture. The Jackson County Journal said that he was "born and bred on the farm." He was "especially interested in the farms and farmers of the county, and endeavored in many ways to better condi­tions on the farms and to pro­mote better agricultural methods, both in production and in marketing. The results of his labors along this line will be felt in the county for many years. He believed in good farms , good homes, good crops, good stock , good marketing, and hard in­telligent and telling work, and that in them lay the future pro­sperity of the county, for he realized the independence of all the people of the town and county." David Hall married Edith Moore in Webster in 1915, and they became the parents of five children, Margaret, David, Carolyn, Robert, and Lela Moore. They moved to Sylva where he managed the Sylva Supply. Mr. Hall passed away in Sylva on September 30, 1938, a respected farmer, businessman, and civic leader. David McKee Hall was a direct descendant of the Reverend Joshua and Sara Sellers Hall who came to this area in the early 1800's. Their oldest son, Joshua Hall, Jr., was married to Mary Jane (Jennie) Queen in 1807. David Fonzie Hall was their first child, born on Savannah. Following his marriage to Rachel Wilson they made their home in Webster. To this union were born three children, Lucius Coleman, Mary Jane (Molly), and Laura. Lucius Coleman married Magdelean Angeline Allison. They had one child, Florence. After the death of Magdelean Angeline, L. C. Hall married Hannah Margaret McKee. To this union were born three children, Rachel Grace, David McKee, and Lucius Coleman. David McKee Hall married Edith Moore in 1915. Young David McKee Hall David McKee Hall became the hus­band of Edith Enloe Moore in 1915. It was in 1959 that Edith Hall was named North Carolina 's Mother of the Year. It is true that Mrs. Hall has presided over nearly every club and organization, civic and religious and patriotic, in Jackson county, but becoming Mother of the Year is her greatest honor and her most natural one. She and David Hall had five children. Carolyn, their second daughter, died at fou r . Margaret married and lived in Franklin until she moved to Asheville to teach at the Eliada Home for Children. She has two children, Charles and Carolyn in Franklin. David, a Jackson county lawyer, lived in Webster until he was elected to the United States Congress and moved to Washington. He died in 1960. His wife, Sarah McCollum and their daughters Anne, Allison, and Hannah live in Virginia. Robert and Anne Osborne Hall live in Asheville where he is vice president of the North Carolina National Bank. Their children, Robert, Allen, and David are Asheville residents. Lela Moore Hall has retired as Director of Social Services for New Hanover County, Wilmington, and now lives in Sylva. Winter, 1983, HISTORIC WEBSTER, Page 3 nmunity with love and understanding !erick and Margaret, in front of their Asheville The Hall family home, Riverview, in Webster, sits on the banks of the Tuckaseigee River. Four children who are her monuments to motherhood plus all the hundreds of students she influenced at Western Carolina University plus the hundreds of children and their children who use the Jackson County Library where she instituted the Friends of the Library plus children whose futures she guided in PTA .. plus ... the list could just go on- a monu­ment to the mother. Her friends, neighbors, and relatives recognize Edith Moore Hall for all the things she is. "She is a devout Christian woman and mother embody­ing the Christian virture of love and service in the finest ways," wrote the Reverend Milford V. Thumm, the former minister of the Cullowhee United Methodist Church. Ann Enloe, her cousin in Dillsboro, says, "She is the proverbial 'Pillar of strength.' All my life the whole family has always been prone to 'call Edith' or 'send for Edith' or 'tell Edith' first in any family crisis." Mrs. Reid, former Western Carolina University presi­dent's wife, in her nomination of Mrs. Hall for Mother of the Year, said, " Mrs. Hall comes as close to being the idea mother as it is possible for anyone to be. She has inspired not only her own four children but all who know her because of her unfailing courage, her strength in the face of adver­sity, her calmness and her cheerfulness. Many of these qualities are hers because of a deep, abiding faith in God. She has been tested many times, some would feel that she has had more than her share of trials and tribulation, but her courage has never weakened, and she has given strength to those about her. Above all, Mrs. Hall enjoys life, and she makes life pleasant for all who come in contact with her. She has poise, charm, and warm friendliness. She loves people and understands them, and she is always ready to help them. In return people love her.'' Hannah Lou Brown Rawlson is a frequent contributor to Historic -Webster. She is a stu­dent of local and family history. The Hedden House in Webster, home for eleven years, and the Sylva Supply have been very important in Edith Hall's life. The Hall Children Carolyn Margaret Moore Robert Cromwell David McKee Lela Moore Page 4, HISTORIC WEBSTER, Winter, 1983 Reflections by Janice Monteith Blanton David McKee Hall, Jr. The David Halls were my " employers" during my teens in Webster. Come to think of it, many of my neighbors were my employers in one way or another as I grew up- I was a hairdresser for some, a clean­ing lady for others, and for the David Halls, a baby or " child" sitter, as I'm sure their three daughters would have preferred at the time I be called. On the nights or weekends when I stayed with the Hall girls, David (Mr. Hall as I called him) would always pick me up and take me home. He'd pull up in front of our house, usually on the way home from the office, in his big black Buick (I think it was a Buick), I'd jump in the car and away we'd "fly" down the Webster hill to his house. Being paralyzed from the waist down, David used a cane to accelerate and brake the car. This, added to the fact that he was a VERY fast driver, often served to raise the hair on my head as we sped down the hill. Many times, I silently wondered if we weren't going to end up in the Allman's living room at the deep curve above the River. Sometimes I suspected he gave me these ex­citing rides just to test my nerves or for the pure fun of it. himself. Rather, he appeared to me to be a man with very high goals and objectives which he was deter­mined to achieve. Family-wise, I believe David was a lucky man. He had an absolutely lovely wife and three beautiful, in­telligent daughters who thought their father was a great guy. In fact, his beautiful wife was one of his greatest assets and a great contributor to his achievements. Mrs. Hall was one of the most graceful and elegant women I've ever seen. Tall with sparkling black hair and a very soft spoken voice and sweet smile, she was very much in control of herself and the Hall family arena. She was the "enabler" in the family- the one who made things happen. She was the organizing and stabilizing force of the fami­ly and a very strong and compassiona te woman. Child-sitting for the Halls meant that I saw very little of Mr. and Mrs. Hall themselves. However, I remember my teen-age interaction with that family and feel very proud to say, "I used to baby-sit for the Halls," because I admired the David Hall family very much and feel that families like this are what made Webster such a great place for me to grow up. Edith Hall's family recipe for pound cake By Edith Moore Hall This recipe was given to me by my great­grandmother, Mrs. Jack Allison, who got it from her mother, " Nanny" Bryson. POUND CAKE 1 pound butter 1 V. pounds white sugar 1 pound eggs ( 11) 1 pound flour 11h teaspoons vanilla 1'h teaspoons lemon 11! teaspoon salt Cream the butter and sugar well. Add the flour and eggs alternately, in small quantities, stirring con­stantly until all are added. Mix in vanilla, lemon, salt and beat well. Bake in a pan with a stem which has been buttered and floured at 350• for 11h hours or un­til done when tested with a broom straw. With this cake at Christmastime, we like to serve ambrosia. To one quart of orange sections, mem­brane removed, add one quart sliced bananas and one cup of freshly grated coconut. Sweeten to taste and chill before serving. I liked David and I certainly admired him. He was instinctively likeable, very kind and friendly to me, and my observation was that he thought a great deal of his family and they of him. Usually when I was there they were on their way somewhere so my op­portunity for observation was really minor, but the children's Jove and admiration for their parents came through in many ways in their absence. Once David was playing some kind of hand game with the children and they wanted him to try it with me. I ap­proached his wheelchair a little apprehensively and he grinned and asked me to close my hand into a fist. Then he pressed a spot on my wrist and asked me to open my hand - I couldn't do it! The girls got a great kick out of this. Edith Moore Hall provided home and support for family I admired David because, in spite of his handicap, he had in my opinion achieved considerable success, both materially, career-wise, and family-wise. Evidence of material success could be seen in the Hall house - a lovely old, and beautifully restored, house on the Tuckasegee River. Being a lover of history and particularly of old houses, I was delighted with the frequent opportunities for sitting at the Halls. To me, spending time there was a somewhat romantic experience and, I suppose, of­fered me opportunity to dream of the day when I'd Jive in such a home and setting myself. At times, the girls and I would go out to the shallow parts of the river and play and throw stones, and I would periodically glance back at the house and revel in its stately beauty. The house was essentially divided in­to the "back" and "front. " The back part of the house consisted of the den, kitchen, bath, and one bedroom, and this was the heated area of the house where the family Jived. The girls' rooms were in an upstairs attic-type section off the den. I would go up and turn on space heaters for them some time prior to their bedtime so their rooms would be warm when they went to bed. Being an adult who has to pay heating bills on a large two-story house, I can now unders­tand the practicality of this arrangement. Actually, the only other area of the house I ever saw in my periodic stays at the Halls was the living room and front foyer. I saw this area one Christmas when the girls took me to see their large Christmas tree located in the foyer. Now, you'd think that as in­trigued as I was with the house, I would have asked the girls to see the rest of it or slipped around and looked at the other rooms when they were asleep, but I didn't. I stayed there all those times dying to see the remainder of the house, but too conscientious to peep and too backward or self-conscious to ask! Career-wise, David, from all appearances had a successful law practice. Also, at the time I stayed with them he was a state senator; this perhaps precipitated many of their social engagements at the time. As a young person I was very impressed with his professional status and personal achievements because I surmised that to accomplish what he had with his handicap must have required a great deter­mination and "stick-tuitiveness" which many so­called normal people don't have. In my contact with David, I never heard him complain or feel sorry for By Dan K. Moore I could write a book about my relationship with David and Edith Hall, both one-time residents of Webster. The legal relationship, that of sister and brother-in-Jaw is only a foundation on which many years of Jove, assistance, and support have been built. My mother, Lela Enloe Moore, died while I was a freshman at the University of North Carolina. Since my father had died several years previously, thereafter, I made my home with my sister Margaret Council and her husband Jim and Edith and David - mostly with the Halls as Margaret and Jim fre­quently moved because of Jim's work. To say that the Halls furnished me a home is to tell only a small part of the story. David provided me with a job during vacation at the Sylva Supply or the Mercantile Supply, he endorsed my notes at the oid Tuckaseigee Bank so that I could complete my education at the University and its Law School, but equally important, both Edith and David always gave me the support, encouragement, and advice that every young person so badly needs. When I returned to Sylva to begin my career as a lawyer, I again had a home with the Halls plus their continued assistance in every way possible, and it was not until 1933, when Jeanelle and I were mar­ried and established our own home, that I left the Halls. To summarize, life as I knew it, would have been impossible without the Halls, otherwise, I might never have studied Jaw or followed the path which later took me from Sylva into different fields and op­portunities. To say that I will forever be grateful to the Halls is the biggest understatement of the cen­tury. Actually, words are insufficient to express this gratitude. By Margaret Moore Council Edith Moore Hall has been more than a sister to me since our father, Judge Frederick Moore, died when I was not quite six years old. She, the oldest of five children, helped our mother, Lela Enloe Moore, rear us. While we thought she was often pret­ty " bossy," as the years passed we reauze that this was part of the responsibility thrust upon her when she was only ten years old. When Edith married David McKee Hall and mov­ed to Sylva, she was greatly missed in our Webster home, but we soon realized that now we had two homes, as she and David always made us feel so welcome. Our mother, having moved to Sylva, died in February, 1924. After a brief attempt to keep her home open, we rented it and made the Hall home our headquarters. At that time my brother Fred was working in Lafayette, Georgia, Dan and Enloe were in school in Chapel Hill, and I was teaching in Brevard. My husband, James H. Council, and I were mar­ried in the Sylva Methodist Church and our wedding reception was given by the Halls in their home. Jim was immediately absorbed into the family and has loved and honored Edith and David as I have. Among our happiest memories are those holidays spent with them and their four children in their hospitable home. By Jeanelle C. Moore My experience involving a relationship with Edith and David Hall was one of the most rewarding and happiest of my life. In 1933 I came to Sylva as the bride of a handsome, young attorney Dan Moore, brother of Edith. And if I had been hand-picked and approved my first welcome into the wide, wonder­ful world of the Moore family could not have been more genuine and loving- a relationship which ex­ists today after fifty happy years of marriage to that lawyer. Edith became my sister, advisor only when I sought advice, and my friend. Perhaps I can best ex­plain how I felt about this wonderful lady by telling you that when our first child, a daughter, was born ·it was my expressed wish that she be named Edith. Need I say more. By James H. Council Margaret and I met in the fall of 1923. She was teaching in Brevard, and I was working for the Tran­sylvania County Road Commission. It was in the spring of 1924 that I first met Margaret's wonderful sister, Edith Moore Hall, and her husband David. Edith and David and their children were kind, and good, to me from the very beginning. I never had a sister, but when Margaret and I were married in 1925 Edith became my sister-in-law, and I am sure the most wonderful one in the world. David was a fine brother-in-Jaw too. They gave me a cordial welcome into Margaret's family, and I have loved them dearly from the beginning. David and I had some business relationships, which he managed until his death in 1938. After that Edith and I have continued the business partnership, and what a great partner she has been.