Reprinted with permission of the Mt. Olive Tribune and cannot be 
reproduced without permission. 

"Our Heritage"  

By Claude Moore

Four miles east of Faison is still standing the old home of the Hooks & 
Faison families in the ante-bellum glory of its past. It was originally 
built prior to 1830 by the Honorable Charles Hooks, a member of Congress. 
Later, it was remodeled by William Wright Faison (1810-1861) & much later 
restored by the late Nick Kalmar & is now owned by his widow, Claire Kalmar 
of Wilmington. 

This plantation was part of a large survey granted to William Taylor & in 
1770 Thomas Hooks of Bertie County purchased part of this tract & received 
a land grant himself.

Thomas Hooks married twice & had nine children. Among these children was a 
daughter, Mary (called Polly) who married Captain Ezekiel Slocumb & lived 
on a plantation called Pleasant Green on Brooks Swamp north of Mount Olive.

It was she who made the ride to Moore's Creek Bridge on the night of the 
battle on February 27, 1776. On February 27, 1976, we commemorated this 
ride at Mount Olive College in connection with the Bicentennial of the 
American Revolution. Some of Mary Slocumb's descendants were present.
Ezekiel & Mary Slocomb were originally buried at their plantation, but in 
1927 they were reintered at the Moore's Creek Battleground.

Charles Hooks (1768-1843), a son of Thomas Hooks married (1) Betsey Williams
(2) Kitty Dickson (3) Ann Hunter & he settled at the Hooks-Faison place. 
He served in the legislature & for four terms in the U. S. Congress. He had 
10 children. In 1826 he moved along with other Duplin families to Montgomery,
Alabama. A few weeks ago a descendant, Molton Williams & wife of Birmingham,
Alabama, came to see me & we visited a number of sites associated with his 
forebears.

William Wright Faison bought the Hooks plantation & completly rebuilt the 
house. The drawing accompanying this article is taken from a sketch of the 
house before present owners remodeled it & added the impressive portico.

Faison had married Elizabeth Ann Oates of Faison, a daughter of John Oates 
(1775-1826) & Susan Cogdell Oates (1786-1861). They had the following 
children: Mrs. Susan Almira Lanier who lived in Mount Olive; Mrs. Cordelia 
Ann Pearsall who lived in Mount Olive; Mrs. Augusta Brown who lived in 
Florida; Mrs. Frances Faison Fryar of Faison; Mrs. Sarah Faison of Faison;
Laura Faison Thomson (1848-1916), the wife of Willis Thomson, C.S.A. & they 
were the grand parents of J. Faison Thomson, Jr. of Goldsboro; Dr. Julian 
Faison of Bennetsville, S. C.; Wentworth Peirce Faison of Faison; Lilia 
Faison died young; & Eloise May Faison (1856-1897) who married Thomas 
Perrett & lived in Faison & they were the grandpharents of Mrs. Betty Ray
McCain of Wilson & Dr. Horace Ray of Warsaw. William Wright Faison owned 
much land & many servants.

In 1861, Faison died & after the War Between the States, his wife moved into 
Faison & in 1877 she was one of the founders of St. Gabriels Episcopal 
Church. The home was then occupied by her son, Wentworth Faison & his 
family. The plantation passed out of the Faison family in my lifetime.

The late Nick Kalmar & his wife, Claire, remodelled the old house & made it 
one of the show places of Duplin. On the plantation in the woods is a large 
slab making the grave of Eliza Jane Hooks (1799-1820), the wife of Lemuel 
Hatch. In a cemetery near by are the graves of William Wright Faison, his 
little daughter, Lilias; his mother-in-law, Susan Oates; & others.

Much history has transpired on this ancient plantation & on neighboring 
plantations.




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