My dad Ernest Wells a good man descended from good people, Grew up near Kings Mountain Battleground, Later settled near Guilford Courthouse Battleground, Ancestors were Quakers
My dad, Ernest Wells, was a good man who was raised by good people and descended from good people.
As it turns out, we are descended from Quakers who settled in Alamance County NC, a few miles from where I was raised and who helped found the Cane Creek Meeting.
My dad was raised near the Kings Mountain Battlefield on land subdivided from the hundreds of acres owned by John Wells, born in 1741, a signer of the Tryon Resolves in August 1775 and participant in the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780.
I have told friends for many years that I was surrounded by good people. My parents, neighbors, school teachers, people in the city and in my church. Not everyone is so fortunate.
Race relations in the south (Greensboro NC is barely southern) have been missportrayed for years as being a monolithic white vs black scenario. This was not so. There were problems and blacks were definitely mistreated.
Here are three stories involving my dad that provide some insights.
- My dad told me that when he was young, they played with black children and didn’t think a thing about it.
- They were not allowed to use the “N” word. I got later confirmation of that from my dad’s siblings.
- I was 6 or 7 years old and riding a city bus in Greensboro, NC in the fifties. At that time blacks were supposed to ride in the back of the bus, something I thought was bizarre and still do. We were sitting near the front. An older black woman got on the bus, holding packages. My dad got up and gave her his seat. I have never forgotten that noble deed. What better lesson to give your children. He passed in 2005 and I still miss him much.
Was it because we had the Quaker heritage? Possibly. To my knowledge, my dad was not aware of it.
We were surrounded by good people.
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