Broad River Genealogical Society will present local author, Robert Carpenter, at their regular meeting on Sunday, February 12, 2017.
Robert Carpenter was born and raised in Gaston County. He was educated in North Carolina and retired after 34 years in education in Gaston County including 27 years as a school principal. He currently serves Belmont Abbey as an adjunct professor and teaches genealogy classes at Gaston College. He was named Gaston County Principal of the Year and Regional Principal of the Year in 1994. In 2009 he received the prestigious honor, Order of the Long Leaf Pine, from the NC governor. He has authored several books including Carpenter's A Plenty.
Robert's latest book, Gaston County, North Carolina in the Civil War, is a unique study of Gaston County's war experiences of ordinary soldiers and their wives, mothers, children, slaves, farmers, merchants, Unionists and deserters - through the recently discovered 1863 Gaston County tax records. They provide an economic and social picture of a Southern community, recording taxpayers, what they owned, cataloged slaves by name, age and monetary value, and listing of luxury items. Diaries, letters and other previously unpublished documents, descriptions of cotton mill operations, the lives of slaves, political disagreements, rationales for soldiers' enlistments and desertions, and economic struggles on the home front help complete the picture of life in the South.
The Broad River Genealogical Society General Meeting will be held at the Neal Senior Center located at 100 T.R. Harris Dr., Shelby, NC on Sunday, February 12, 2017- 3:00. Park and enter at the rear of building. The event is open to all persons interested in local history and family lineages. Fellowship and Light Refreshments served after presentations.
Broad River Genealogical Society, Inc. is a non-profit corporation chartered in October 1980 by the State of NC and is classified as a Tax-Exempt Educational & Scientific Organization within the meaning of Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.