Article from Raleigh News and Observer, Jan. 16, 1898

THE FASION FAMILY
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And the Kenan Family Honored by Duplin County.
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HISTORY OF FAMILIES
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DR. HUFHAM FALLS INTO THE SPIRIT OF “YE OLDEN TIME.”
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A GOLDEN WEDDING IN SAMPSON
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Which Carried Dr. Hufham, Rev. Colin Shaw and Other Venerables Back to the 
Spirit of the Old South.

To the Editor:  On the 6th of this present month, near the dividing line of Duplin and 
Sampson counties, there was a gathering which is worthy of a place in the annals 
of time.  It was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the marriage of William A. 
Faison and wife, Harriet Williams.

THE PLACE
The place is historic.  It is just a mile north of what, in my boyhood, was known as 
“Duplin old court house.”  This latter was the seat of justice for the whole region, now 
known as Duplin and Sampson counties until Sampson was set off as a separate 
county.  In childhood some of the old buildings were still standing, four miles west of 
Warsaw, on the left-hand side of the road which leads from Wilmington to Raleigh.  
Not far away there used to stand a chapel, built by funds from the public treasury in 
the days of the State-Church.  The building of such a church among the Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians of Duplin in the expectation that they would worship in it or submit 
patiently to be taxed for its support, is a striking illustration of the wisdom, or rather of
the un-wisdom of the colonial authorities of the time.  Of course, after a brief season 
of experiment it had to be sold by the Legislature, with the glebe which lay around it.

THE KENAN BROTHERS.

Mr. Faison’s plantation was settled by two of the Kenan brothers, Daniel and General 
Thomas Kenan, about the year 1736.  They were of the colony of splendid Scotch-Irish 
people who were brought in by McCulloch in the year already named.  The farms of the 
two brothers were divided by Turkey creek.  Daniel’s land was on the south side of the 
creek and he set up one of the first manufacturing enterprises in that part of the State: 
a fulling mill, of which the foundations and the dam still remain.  The home of Gen. 
Thomas Kenan, ancestor of Col. Thomas S. Kenan, the present courteous and efficient 
clerk of the Supreme court, was on the north side of the creek and there he was buried 
many years ago.  The memorial stone having disappeared, it was replaced by Col. Kenan 
last year.  No other family has been so honored by the people of Duplin county as these 
Kenans have been.  They were good soldiers in the Revolution and in the late_ war.  
Some of them have filled the office of sheriff, others have been members of the State 
Legislature, others have been members of the Federal House of Representatives and one 
of them, father of Col. Kenan, was a member of the Confederate Congress.  Some of them 
have also added high stations in Alabama and Florida.  The county seat is named for 
them, Kenansville.  The family record is without a stain; made luminous also by eminent 
service to the county and the State.

On the lands of Gen. Kenan, near the present site of Mr. Faison’s residence, the first 
Masonic lodge in the counties of Duplin and Sampson was built.  It was still standing 
within the memory of persons now living.  Near the same place the citizens who were 
patrolling the county during the excitement created by the insurrection of Nat. Turner, in 
Virginia, about 1832, had their redezvous.

Many years ago the lands of the Kenan brothers were purchased by the late William Faison, 
of Sampson county, and by him bequeathed to his son, the present owner.

THE FAISONS.

The Faisons were French Protestants who removed to Germany just before the massacree 
of St. Battholomew.  One of the family, Hemryk Faison, settled in York county, __n 1666, 
dying in 1693 and leaving two sons.  James, the younger of them, removed to Northampton 
county, where he died about 1750, leaving four sons.  One of them, Dixon by name, remained 
at Northampton.  James, Elias and Henry removed to Sampson county, where in 1773, the 
first-named bought land of Henry E. McCuloch.  The youngest son, Henry bought land, 1,000 
acres, near the present town of Faison.  It is still in the possession of his descendants.  From 
him the Duplin branch of the family have sprung.  James and Elias were officers in the 
American army during the Revolution and from them the family in Sampson county have 
descended.  For a hundred years and more it has been one of the most prominent and 
influential families in the county.  They were often chosen members of the State Legislature.  
Thomas D. Faison was in the Constitutional convention of 1835, and was the youngest 
member of the body.  For twenty-one years he was clerk of the county court and he died in 
1866 while serving as Senator from his native county.  The family was well represented in the 
armies of the Southern Confedracy.  Franklin J. Faison, lieutenant colonel 26th N.C. Infantry, 
was killed at the head of his regiment in the battle of Cold Harbor; Wesley and James Cromartie 
Faison were also killed in battle.  Others of the name performed meritorious service.  But the 
family was chiefly distinguished for their success as planters.  William Faison, who did about 
1857 or ’58, left an estate of several hundred thousand dollars.  He married a daughter of 
Matthew Mosely, who entered into the State from Virginia, just before the Revolution.  She 
was a sister of Hon. William D. Mosely, sev_____ t____ member of the State Legislature
and Speaker of the Senate and ______ Governor of Florida.

William A. Faison was the son of this union,  William Faison and Susan Mosely.  He was a 
graduate of the State University in the time of Pettigrew, ______, Dr. T. E. Skinner and others.  
Soon afterwards he married and settled on the plantation which is still his home.  Six children 
have blessed the union and all were present with six grandchildren to share the festivities of 
this Golden Wedding.

GOLDEN WEDDING

The ______ home was beautifully decorated throughout and everything had been prepared on 
the scale and in the spirit of the old South, to which the aged and beloved couple belonged.  
Members of the family were present from other States.  Among them Mrs. Haughton, daughter 
of Governor Mosely, of Palatka, and Mrs. Shine, of Tallahassee, Fla.; and Mrs. A. C. Dixon of 
New York.  The beauty and the chivalry of the region round about were well represented.  The 
tokens were many and beautiful, among them a considerable amount of gold coin.  On the 
piano of fifty years ago, Miss Lee, of Goldsboro played while she and others sang songs of the 
old Southern life.  Before going into dinner, Rev. Colin Shaw, probably the oldest Presbyterian 
preacher in the State, now eighty-six years old, and the present writer, made brief addresses.  
The pastor, Rev. Mr. McIntyre, read an original poem, “After Fifty Years.”  The charm and the 
sweetness of “ye olden time” settled to rest on the whole assembly.  It was a beautiful tribute 
to one of the noblest of men and one of the best of women, types of the finest civilization that 
the world has ever seen.

J.D. HUFHAM


Original Document





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