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Don S. Matheson

Don S. Matheson was Orange County's farm agent for about thirty-four years, from the late 1920s until he retired in the summer of 1963. In the 1930s he spoke regularly at the county's eight Granges and visited member farms. In 1948 he helped Schley Grange plan the community projects that won a national prize and paid for its brick hall. After he retired, public gifts founded a 4-H fund in his honor.

Source: State of North Carolina

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Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

StorylineThe New Deal in Orange County, 1933–19361933–1936 · 25 events · Families asking relief in Orange County peaked at 900 in March 1933; from that summer federal programs reached the county, which had to share their cost. George H. Lawrence ran Civil Works projects that by December 1 employed more than 200 men, and 851 Orange farmers were under federal AAA contracts. Cuts in relief money halted work projects in 1934 and 1935, and Orange was merged into a five-county relief district run from Durham. The Works Progress Administration then gave jobs to all but 24 of the families on the old relief list. By December 1936 Lawrence said any able-bodied man who tried could get work, and the need that remained was among widows, orphans, the old and the sick. StorylineThe Rural Progress Program and its successors, 1951–19591951–1959 · 21 events · Orange County joined the state Rural Progress campaign in September 1951, aiming to add $1,000 to each farm family's income and to improve every home and community. County workers enlisted more than 100 white neighborhood leaders and Black captains to survey farm families, and Lincoln High's agriculture department began the program among Black families around Chapel Hill. Separate prize nights for white and Black farm families followed each year. Orange was named the state's County of the Year in December 1953 and won the division for Black families in February 1954. Successor programs followed in 1955 and 1957, and Cedar Grove won the silver loving cup for Black families in 1957 and 1958.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 127 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Don S. Matheson becomes Orange County's full-time farm agent After years of on-and-off support for extension work, the county hired Matheson full time. Over the next quarter century he moved farmers from soil-depleting row crops toward grass and livestock. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 213 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1928, p. 1
  2. County agent Don Matheson holds a terracing school for Orange farmers In January 1929 Orange County's new farm agent, Don S. Matheson, called the county agricultural board together in Hillsborough, where 18 of its 21 members heard E. C. Branson, and then with W. T. Holman held a terracing school for 25 farmers, ending with a field demonstration of running terrace lines with a level. People: Eugene Cunningham Branson Place: Hillsborough · Also named: W. T. HolmanSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 18, 1929, p. 3
  3. Five Grange chapters organize in Orange County County agent Don Matheson reported five new Grange chapters in Orange County: Orange Grove, Schley, White Cross, Gravelly Hill and Fairfield. Schley and Fairfield made their meeting halls out of abandoned schoolhouses, and the chapters met every two weeks with women and children as members. People: Gilbert W. Ray, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange Grove, Schley, White Cross, Gravelly Hill and Fairfield, Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 25, 1931, p. 1
  4. One hundred ninety-five Orange County farmers borrow $26,595 from the federal seed loan fund The loans ran from $12 to $400 and averaged $136, most of them in the northern part of the county; borrowers had to promise to cut their tobacco and cotton acreage at least 35 percent from 1931 and plant enough food and feed for their families and stock. County agent Don S. Matheson said only about a tenth went to diversified livestock farmers. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 20, 1932, p. 3
  5. County relief requires farm families on aid to grow their own food About 200 farmers met welfare officer George H. Lawrence and farm agent Don Matheson at McDade's store in Cedar Grove township to hear the new rule that every farm family seeking federal, state or county aid must sign up to raise corn, potatoes, peas, beans and other food for the coming winter. The government and landlords were to supply seed and some fertilizer, and C. P. Whitfield was hired as field supervisor. People: George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: McDade's store, Cedar Grove township · Also named: C. P. WhitfieldSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 10, 1933, p. 1
  6. Relief families of Chapel Hill and Carrboro are told to grow gardens About 200 men and women of both races from Chapel Hill and Carrboro met in the Old Methodist church to hear that the relief organization would now require every family asking for aid to raise its own food. Seventy-five town families had already signed up, with seed from the national and state governments, and Lawrence was arranging plowing for those who could not do it themselves. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: Old Methodist church, Chapel HillSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 17, 1933, p. 1
  7. Farmers' Production Credit Association for Orange County is organized at Hillsboro Under county farm agent Don Matheson, the Orange County Production Credit Association was organized under the Farm Credit Act of 1933, with headquarters in Hillsboro, to lend to farmers on crop and livestock security in place of the old government seed loans. Farm agents of Orange, Alamance, Durham, Chatham, Person and Caswell met in Matheson's Hillsboro office on December 15 to plan the associations. People: Don S. Matheson Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 22, 1933, p. 1
  8. Orange County's tobacco crop brings its best prices in years County farm agent Don Matheson estimated the 1933 crop at about four million pounds selling at 18 to 20 cents on average, some growers getting around 30 cents, for roughly $700,000. He credited the Agricultural Adjustment Administration with about 7 cents a pound, said nearly all government seed loans had been repaid, and noted a rural carrier whose daily-paper deliveries rose from 16 farms to 62. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 15, 1933, p. 1
  9. A three-mile rural power line from Chapel Hill to Calvander is built with federal money Built in the winter of 1933-34 as a Civil Works Administration project, the line ran about three miles out the Hillsboro road from Chapel Hill to Calvander, connected at Carrboro to the University Consolidated Service Plants, which supplied part of the material. Henry Hogan, who farmed near Calvander with his brother, and his friends gave the cedar trees for its 107 poles, and the book says the Hogan brothers supplied the poles when funds ran short. In late February 1934 the Chapel Hill Weekly expected current to reach 22 families within about a month. The book says it was the first rural electric line in the United States built with federal funds. People: George H. Lawrence, Henry S. Hogan, Don S. Matheson Place: Calvander · Also named: Henry HoganSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 249 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, February 23, 1934, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, July 13, 1934, p. 4; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1934, p. 2; Chapel Hill Weekly, February 12, 1937, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, November 3, 1939, p. 4
  10. Farm agent Don Matheson reports 851 Orange farmers under crop-control contracts Reporting to the county commissioners, Matheson said 851 Orange farmers had signed AAA contracts (511 tobacco, 259 cotton, 53 wheat, 28 corn-hog) and first payments of about $33,000 were mostly paid. To make a required tobacco cut fairly, the county posted growers' contracted acreage in country stores and let growers report doubtful contracts by secret ballot, which cut the reduction from 19 to 10 per cent. People: Don S. Matheson Place: County commissioners' meeting, Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 8, 1934, p. 3
  11. The Hillsboro Production Credit Association reports crop loans to 441 farmers The recently organized Hillsboro Production Credit Association, serving Orange, Durham, Caswell, Alamance, Person and Chatham counties, reported loans or loan approvals to 441 farmers and stockmen for crops and livestock, with about $71,000 already paid out; county agent Don Matheson's report to the commissioners that week put its loans in Orange County at $6,030. Secretary-treasurer George C. Neal said budget loans at 5 percent let farmers draw money as needed and save on interest. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Hillsborough · Also named: George C. NealSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), June 7, 1934, p. 1 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 8, 1934, p. 4; Chapel Hill Weekly, October 5, 1934, p. 4
  12. Orange County commissioners order a study of power lines for farm homes After the success of the Civil Works power line to Calvander, the commissioners asked farm agent Don Matheson, county accountant G. W. Ray and relief administrator George H. Lawrence to study a network of rural power lines with D. S. Weaver of State College. The officials ruled out a Public Works loan, judging that so few customers could not carry the debt, and hoped for direct federal aid. People: George H. Lawrence, Gilbert W. Ray, W. P. Berry, John Hodge Hanner, Henry S. Hogan, Carl T. Durham, Don S. Matheson Place: County commissioners' meeting, Hillsborough · Also named: D. S. WeaverThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 6, 1934, p. 1
Show all 127 dated events
  1. Farmers at an Orange Grove Grange gathering form committees to bring electricity to their homes At the Orange County Grange assembly at Orange Grove, D. S. Weaver of the governor's rural electrification committee told farmers that Orange and Hoke were the only counties with a CWA power line and that Orange might be chosen as the state's demonstration county. The farmers pledged to cooperate and formed local committees to map routes and estimate use; by late July thirteen committees were at work. People: George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange Grove · Also named: D. S. WeaverThe Chapel Hill Weekly, July 20, 1934, p. 1
  2. Federal relief engineers weigh Orange as the state's test county for rural electrification Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt, consulting engineer for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration in the Southeast, met in Chapel Hill with state and county leaders on August 21, 1934, to advance a plan to make Orange the demonstration county for rural electrification as a relief project. Thirteen farmers' committees organized a few weeks before had canvassed thirteen proposed routes house to house, recording each home's size, whether owner or tenant lived there, and the likely uses of current. People: Joseph Hyde Pratt, George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: Chapel HillThe Chapel Hill Weekly, August 24, 1934, p. 1
  3. Rural electrification surveyors for fourteen counties are trained in Chapel Hill FERA field agents assigned to survey the demand for electric lines in fourteen north-central counties, Orange among them, met in Chapel Hill on August 28, 1934, for instructions from D. S. Weaver of State College, the state director of the inquiry. They were to map the homes along every proposed line and report which routes could justify construction with relief aid; the Weekly said North Carolina was the first state to attempt such an extension of electric lines as a relief enterprise. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: D. S. WeaverThe Chapel Hill Weekly, August 31, 1934, p. 1
  4. Orange tobacco growers sign up under the federal crop-reduction contracts By October 1934, 525 Orange County farmers had signed the federal tobacco reduction contracts, and county agent Don Matheson won a 10,000-pound increase in the county's tax-free allotment and signed up all 117 non-signers for 130,000 pounds more under the Kerr-Smith law. He expected the 1934 crop to bring about $800,000, against $459,000 for 1933. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, October 12, 1934, p. 1
  5. Orange commissioners approve the county's rural electrification plan On November 5, 1934, the Orange County commissioners approved the rural electrification plan that George H. Lawrence, the county relief administrator, had prepared, and a visiting district engineer approved it the same week before it went to Washington. The farm agent's year-end report said 125 miles of proposed line had been surveyed and the project was pending there. People: George H. Lawrence, Don S. Matheson Place: Court house, HillsboroughThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 9, 1934, p. 3
  6. Dairymen selling to Durham form the Durham Milk Shed Cooperative Association The farm agent reported that dairymen selling milk in Durham, Orange County farmers among them, had formed and incorporated the Durham Milk Shed Cooperative Association during 1934. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County and DurhamSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1934, p. 2
  7. The farm agent reports Orange crop income nearly four times that of 1932 County farm agent Don Matheson told the commissioners in December 1934 that the gross income from Orange County crops would be about $1,245,160 for the year, against $329,616 in 1932, and gave much of the credit to the AAA crop programs. Rental and parity payments of $75,922 went to 525 tobacco, 259 cotton, 55 wheat and 28 corn-and-hog farmers, 283 emergency seed loans came to $25,060, and twenty local surveyors measured about 3,000 contracted fields. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 21, 1934, p. 1
  8. Rural power lines reach four more Orange County communities During 1935 about 30 miles of rural electric lines were built into four Orange communities, bringing current within reach of more than 100 families, who bought more than 25 electric refrigerators and other appliances, county farm agent Don Matheson reported. He cited the state director of rural electrification for the claim that the 10-mile Orange Grove line, built by the FERA and its consumers together, was the first so financed in the United States. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Rural Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1935, p. 1
  9. Federal relief approves $165,000 for rural electric lines in Orange County The Emergency Relief Administration approved an allotment of $165,000 to build rural electric lines in Orange County, to be spent once Congress voted new work-relief money. The plan rested on a county canvass of farmers sent to Raleigh on November 1, 1934; the lines were to be repaid from the sale of current over as long as 35 years, with the county buying power from the Southern (Duke) Power Company and reselling it to farmers. People: George H. Lawrence, Joseph Hyde Pratt, Gilbert W. Ray, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 15, 1935, p. 1
  10. Orange County commissioners back the purchase of a terracing outfit for farmers To fight soil erosion, the commissioners unanimously underwrote the purchase of a terracing unit that farmers could rent for $3 an hour, after Commissioners J. H. Hanner and W. P. Berry studied similar outfits in Guilford and Alamance. Farmers had already signed up 2,300 acres, and the farm agent said Orange was the eleventh county in the state to adopt the plan. People: W. P. Berry, John Hodge Hanner, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 21, 1935, p. 5
  11. Orange commissioners buy Diesel terracing equipment to fight soil erosion With the federal Soil Erosion Service estimating that erosion had cost Orange the value of 26,300 acres, the county commissioners bought a Diesel-powered terracing outfit in July and rented it to farmers on a self-liquidating basis. By the end of October it had terraced 836 acres on 54 farms, county farm agent Don Matheson reported. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1935, p. 1
  12. About fifty Orange farmers plow under tobacco planted beyond their AAA allotments After an Agricultural Adjustment Administration check of acreage, about 50 Orange County farmers plowed under tobacco planted in excess of their allotments. County agent Don Matheson then put the crop at about $800,000; by late October he expected it to bring somewhat less than in 1934, at an average of 20 or 21 cents a pound, and said farmers were far better off than before the AAA. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Tobacco farms, Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 16, 1935, p. 1
  13. About a thousand Orange farms sign up under the federal soil conservation program County agent Don Matheson reported that about 1,000 Orange County farms had signed under the federal soil conservation program, each tobacco or cotton farm taking a cut from its base, and that the required soil-building crops would leave a surplus of hay. He called the corn crop the best in five years and expected only half a cotton crop. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Orange County farmsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 21, 1936, p. 1
  14. Rural power lines in Orange County reach 111 miles and about 425 farm families A survey by county farm agent Don Matheson found that rural electric lines outside the towns had grown from 28 miles before 1933 to 111 miles built or under construction, serving about 425 farm families, with the Duke Power Company building most of the new mileage. New lines ran along route 64 from the Alamance line to White Cross and on to Antioch church and Chapel Hill, from Hillsboro along route 14 to Calvander, and from Cedar Grove to Efland, the last serving the county home; when the approved lines were done, every public school in the county but one would have power. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 20, 1936, p. 1
  15. Orange County farmers sign erosion-control agreements and terrace with a county machine Matheson reported that owners of 35 farms covering 7,500 acres had signed five-year erosion-control agreements with the federal government, with soils mapped and crop rotations and terraces laid out for each. The county-owned terracing unit, a diesel tractor and terrace grader, had worked 121 farms and terraced 1,306 acres with more than 100 requests still waiting, and compliance supervisors had inspected 10,000 fields for soil conservation benefit payments. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County farmsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 11, 1936, p. 1
  16. Orange County's tobacco and corn crops bring in more than $1,000,000 Farm agent Don Matheson told the county commissioners that the year's tobacco and corn crops were worth more than $1,000,000 and that all crops together were worth more than in any year since 1929. The tobacco crop came to about 3,000,000 pounds at an average of 25 cents, with some leaf from the sandy soils of Cedar Grove township bringing 70 cents and more, and the corn crop of about 340,000 bushels was the largest in ten years. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Court house, Hillsborough (report); Orange County farmsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 11, 1936, p. 1
  17. Orange County farm sales for 1937 reach $1,055,000 County agent Don Matheson's annual report to the commissioners valued the year's farm output above home needs at $1,055,000: $700,000 in tobacco, $300,000 in hogs, cattle, poultry and dairy products, and little cotton. He reported 1,125 of the county's 1,956 farms in the soil conservation program and a record corn yield. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 10, 1937, p. 1
  18. Duke Power agrees to bring electricity to Caldwell School The Duke Power Company decided in February 1937 to build a line to Caldwell School, the last rural consolidated school in Orange County without electricity; in 1933 none had been on a power line. The county then had about 140 miles of rural lines built or authorized, serving more than 500 families, and Duke Power had agreed to build the whole 30-mile system proposed for a cooperative between Hillsboro and Chapel Hill and around White Cross, not just its better miles. People: Don S. Matheson, Carl T. Durham Place: Caldwell School, Little River TownshipThe Chapel Hill Weekly, February 12, 1937, p. 1
  19. Orange County farmers earn about $40,000 in federal soil conservation payments for 1938 County farm agent Don Matheson reported that about 2,000 Orange County farmers in the federal conservation association would receive some $40,000 for holding down cotton and tobacco acreage and conserving soil in 1938. They planted about 20,000 acres in soil-building crops, spread 1,000 tons of limestone and terraced 2,000 acres, and the county's rented diesel terracing unit worked about 100 farms and 25 miles of farm roads. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, January 27, 1939, p. 1
  20. The Rural Electrification Administration approves $200,000 for about 150 more miles of rural lines in Orange and neighboring counties The REA approved an allotment of $200,000 for rural lines in Orange, Caswell and Alamance counties, assuring Orange about 150 more miles of line to be built in 1939 through the newly formed Piedmont Electric Membership Cooperative. County farm agent Don Matheson told the commissioners that the county would then have about 300 miles of rural lines and be one of the most completely electrified rural counties in the South. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 20, 1939, p. 1
  21. Orange County's commercial dairymen sell about $150,000 a year in milk, cream and butter The state agriculture department's latest report put the sales of Orange's commercial dairymen at about $150,000 a year, a rise the Weekly laid to better cattle, modern methods and new markets; 1,500 of the county's 3,120 milk cows were in commercial dairies. County agent Don Matheson put poultry sales at $75,000 to $100,000 a year, and the survey counted 2,090 farms with 3,970 acres of tobacco, 16,350 of corn, 7,590 of wheat and 1,140 of cotton in 1938. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 11, 1939, p. 1
  22. Orange County counts 1,157 rural electric customers on 282 miles of line A Raleigh News and Observer article reprinted in the Weekly credited farm agent Don Matheson for Orange County's progress: 282 miles of rural power line built or nearly finished, 150 of them for the Piedmont Mutual Electric Corporation, and 1,157 rural customers where 47 farm homes had electricity in 1935. The county ranked 23rd in the state in rural electrification and in tractors (275 in use), and its terracing unit had terraced 6,000 acres on 400 farms since July 1935. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, November 3, 1939, p. 4
  23. Orange County's 1939 tobacco crop brings growers about $750,000 County farm agent Don Matheson estimated in December 1939 that Orange tobacco growers would get at least $750,000 for a crop of about 5,500 acres yielding 850 to 900 pounds an acre at 17 cents a pound, a crop saved, he said, by the federal AAA plan to finance the tobacco British buyers had stopped taking. Cotton had fallen from 4,500 acres in 1929 to 1,000, the loss made up by dairying and poultry, and farmers would receive about $50,000 in soil conservation payments. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 15, 1939, p. 1
  24. Orange County's social agencies organize a council in Hillsboro Meeting in the Agricultural Building in Hillsboro, the county's social agencies, among them the extension service, soil conservation, Farm Security, the health and welfare departments, Social Security and the employment service, formed the Orange County Council of Social Agencies to study one another's programs and coordinate their work. R. L. Mohler of the soil conservation service was elected president and county agent Don S. Matheson vice-president. People: Don S. Matheson, Robert L. Mohler Place: Agricultural Building, HillsboroughSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, February 23, 1940, p. 6
  25. Soil Conservation Service reports on erosion in the University Lake watershed The federal Soil Conservation Service released a report on the soils, farming and erosion of the University Lake watershed, warning that silt settling on the lake bottom was cutting the storage of the reservoir that supplied Chapel Hill and Carrboro and urging soil conservation and reforestation. It was to go free, with a large-scale soil and slope map, to every farmer in the watershed. People: Don S. Matheson Place: University Lake watershed · Also mentions: University Lake watershedThe Chapel Hill Weekly, May 10, 1940, p. 1
  26. Drought cuts Orange County's tobacco and hay crops County agent Don S. Matheson told the Weekly on August 14 that the summer drought had cut Orange County's tobacco yield by 20 to 25 per cent, to about 700 pounds an acre against some 900 the year before, and its hay, mostly lespedeza, by a third to a half; the rain then falling came too late for the tobacco. In October the Community Club and the King's Daughters said many families' gardens had failed, leaving little canned food for the winter. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, August 16, 1940, p. 1
  27. Orange County's 1940 tobacco crop is estimated at $496,256 under crop control Farm agent Don Matheson estimated the county's 1940 tobacco crop at $496,256, thirty percent below 1939, because acreage fell from 5,143 to 3,877 under crop control and drought cut the yield. He said prices held only because of the acreage cut, which most farmers had voted for, and only one Orange farmer overplanted his allotment. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 13, 1940, p. 1
  28. A spring drought scorches Orange County crops until early June rains A drought of several weeks, with the temperature in the 90s on eight of the nine days from May 20 to 28 and a high of 99.5 on May 28, burned gardens and killed tobacco plants in the fields. County farm agent Don Matheson said the steady rain that came at the start of June saved the tobacco crop, though small grains were hurt somewhat. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, June 6, 1941, p. 1
  29. Forest fire burns more than a thousand acres near University Station A forest fire burned over more than a thousand acres near University Station on December 1, in a week when three large fires were reported on one Sunday alone. County farm agent Don Matheson credited the thirty-man crew from the Black CCC camp near Chapel Hill, which worked till midnight on it, after the state withheld the money it had been expected to put beside the county's $900 fire-protection appropriation. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Near University Station, Orange County · Also mentions: University StationSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 5, 1941, p. 1
  30. Orange County's 1941 tobacco crop brings farmers about $900,000 County farm agent Don Matheson estimated the 1941 tobacco crop at $900,000, about $400,000 more than the year before, from 3,212 acres planted by 669 farmers averaging 800 pounds an acre at about 35 cents a pound. He added that Orange farmers had pledged 1942 food increases well past the federal goals, among them 477,000 more gallons of milk and 319,000 more dozen eggs. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 19, 1941, p. 1
  31. Woodward Byars serves as Orange County's home demonstration agent In 1942 Miss Woodward Byars was Orange County's home demonstration agent, alongside farm agent Don S. Matheson and assistant agent Joe N. Howard. She handled publicity for edible soybeans, worked the wartime programs through the home demonstration clubs and wrote on the new crop for the county papers. People: Don S. Matheson, Woodward Byars Place: Orange County · Also named: Joe N. HowardSearch the index · U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service, Orange and Lee Counties, North Carolina, Demonstrate How Neighborhood Leaders Can Help in Securing Participation of Rural Families in Agriculture's Wartime Programs, Extension Service Circular 387 (1942), scan p. 4 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, March 8, 1940, p. 6; Chapel Hill Weekly, March 13, 1942, p. 1
  32. Farmers meeting at Hillsboro prepares for families displaced by the new Army camp At a defense meeting of farmers in the Hillsboro court house on January 7, presided over by county defense chairman A. H. Graham, county agent Don Matheson said that of the 1,250 to 1,500 farm families to be moved for the Army camp in Durham, Granville and Person counties, perhaps 300 would settle in Orange and bring their tobacco allotments with them. He asked farmers to survey their neighborhoods for land the newcomers could buy or rent; the draft, tire rationing and defense bonds were also discussed. People: Alexander H. "Sandy" Graham, Don S. Matheson Place: Court house, HillsboroughThe Chapel Hill Weekly, January 9, 1942, p. 1
  33. Orange County's neighborhood leaders meet at the Hillsborough courthouse to launch the wartime test The county-wide training meeting on the afternoon of April 28, 1942, drew 265 people, among them 149 of the 195 white and 66 of the 77 Black neighborhood leaders. A. H. Graham, general chairman of Orange County defense, spoke after a chorus from the Black high school sang; other speakers took up war bonds, the Farmers Exchange's "Buy a Bond Pig" offer, salvage, gardens and edible soybeans, which the crowd tasted afterward. People: Alexander H. "Sandy" Graham, Don S. Matheson, W. E. Thompson Place: Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroughSearch the index · U.S. Department of Agriculture Extension Service, Orange and Lee Counties, North Carolina, Demonstrate How Neighborhood Leaders Can Help in Securing Participation of Rural Families in Agriculture's Wartime Programs, Extension Service Circular 387 (1942), scan p. 10 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, May 1, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, May 8, 1942, p. 1
  34. Orange County farm neighborhoods collect 357,000 pounds of scrap iron County farm agent Don Matheson reported that farmers in the county's 40 neighborhood groups had gathered 357,000 pounds of scrap iron since December 1, with a scrap yard named in each neighborhood, and that several neighborhoods were giving their salvage money to the Red Cross. Farmers were also selling about 1,000 more gallons of milk a day for manufacture, gathered by seven trucks. People: Clyde Roberts, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, April 10, 1942, p. 1
  35. The Orange County Farmers' War Planning Board directs the county's farm war programs The Weekly reported that a Farmers' War Planning Board, chaired by James S. Compton with farm agent Don S. Matheson as secretary, was directing the farm programs brought by the war and advising the neighborhood committees and the farm agencies. Its members included both men and women farm leaders. People: Don S. Matheson, James S. Compton Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, May 8, 1942, p. 7
  36. Three hundred Orange County farmers sell milk for manufacturing at $100,000 a year County farm agent Don Matheson reported that some 300 farmers who had begun producing milk for ice cream, canned milk and powders less than a year before were selling 1,500 gallons a day, about $100,000 a year, to plants in Durham, Burlington and Lexington at a net of about 16 cents a gallon, mostly from cows they had raised themselves. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 17, 1942, p. 1
  37. Orange County farmers sign war production plans well above the county's goals Signed war production plans showed Orange County farmers intending to beat the goals set for the county, among them 27,562 bushels of corn against 16,000, 701 sows against 450, and 2,382,720 dozen eggs against 1,237,000. County agent Don Matheson credited the neighborhood committees set up the year before. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountyThe Chapel Hill Weekly, March 19, 1943, p. 1
  38. Black 4-H club members show their own beef heifers at the Hillsborough calf show Five Black 4-H club members in Orange County who owned grade Hereford heifers entered them in the calf show at Hillsborough in November 1943, and their heifers took second prize. M. C. Burt, county agent for Black farm families, wrote that this put them among the first Black 4-H members in North Carolina to own grade beef heifers and made them the first to show beef heifers at a county show; he credited the county agent's office, the Farmers Mutual Exchange and the Farm Security Administration with placing the animals. People: Don S. Matheson, John P. Ballard, Moses Cimuel Burt Place: Calf show, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Farmers Mutual ExchangeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 8, 1944, p. 7
  39. Governor Broughton names county agent Don S. Matheson Orange's civilian defense representative At the request of Colonel William S. Pritchard of Fort Bragg, the state's internal security officer, and state civilian defense director R. L. McMillan, Governor J. Melville Broughton appointed Orange County farm agent Don S. Matheson the county's Civilian Defense representative, the liaison between its citizens and the Army on internal security. People: Don S. Matheson, J. Melville Broughton Place: Orange CountyThe News (Chapel Hill), February 17, 1944, p. 1
  40. Orange County's Farm Labor Advisory Board asks schoolchildren to sign up for farm work With many young farmers drafted and spring work held up by rain, the county Farm Labor Advisory Board met on Saturday, April 22, 1944, and decided to ask boys and girls over 12 to register with their school principals for paid farm work, full or part time. Chairman W. F. Lathan presided, and the school board agreed to plan short school days so that pupils could help. People: Don S. Matheson, William F. Lathan Place: Office of the county superintendent of schools, HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 27, 1944, p. 1
  41. Farm labor assistant A. K. McAdams places town boys on Orange County farms A. K. McAdams, farm labor assistant in the county agent's office, placed four town boys of high school age with farmers short of help, to board and work with them through the summer vacation. He said he could place eight more at once on dairy, poultry, tobacco and general farms. People: A. K. McAdams, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 1, 1944, p. 8 (County Agent's News and Views)
  42. Black farmers of the Carr and White Oak neighborhoods hold their first dairy heifer show The Carr and White Oak neighborhoods held their first dairy heifer show at the White Oak Grove neighborhood school, where nine 4-H members and six adult farmers showed 22 heifers, judged by State College dairy specialist J. A. Avery. County agent Don S. Matheson said the Black farmers of the section had helped the war effort by selling milk and adding cows. People: Don S. Matheson Place: White Oak Grove neighborhood school, Orange County · Also named: J. A. AverySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 21, 1944, p. 1
  43. The new Latta Co-operative Dairy begins marketing milk for fourteen Orange farmers Formed in November by dairyman H. F. Latta and others with $100,000 in authorized stock, the Latta Co-operative Dairy began collecting milk from 14 farmers near Hillsboro on December 1, processing it in Durham until its own plant could be built. Priorities had been secured for a 41-by-60-foot brick and tile plant across from the courthouse, with R. B. Todd as manager. People: Don S. Matheson, Gilbert W. Ray Place: Hillsboro · Also named: H. F. Latta, J. E. Latta, Milton Latta, R. B. ToddSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 7, 1944, p. 1
  44. Orange County goes over its overall Sixth War Loan quota By December 20 the county had passed its overall Sixth War Loan quota, though it was still short of its E bond goal; county agent Don S. Matheson wrote farmers that Orange had never failed a war drive and that its tobacco crop had brought almost $2,000,000. The National Munitions plant's workers alone bought $57,206.25 in bonds. People: Don S. Matheson, W. E. Thompson, S. A. Johnson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 21, 1944, p. 1
  45. Orange County's 1945 tobacco crop brings its farmers a record $2.1 million About 4,775 acres of tobacco made some 4,775,000 pounds that sold at an average of 45 cents, bringing an estimated $2,148,000, the most Orange tobacco farmers had ever received. Dairy and poultry sales added about $736,000. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 10, 1946, p. 1
  46. County agent Don S. Matheson reports Orange County's 1944 farm output Matheson's year-end report counted 4,360 acres of tobacco making about 4,360,000 pounds sold for some $1,962,000, more than half a million dollars in dairy sales, dairy cows up from 5,000 to 5,680, chickens up to 500,000, $285,000 in animals sold at the Hillsboro livestock market, and two new milk cooperatives planning plants in Chapel Hill and Hillsboro. Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 11, 1945, p. 1
  47. Woodward Byars reports on farm families' outlook meetings against inflation Home agent Woodward Byars told the county commissioners she was holding outlook meetings for farm families with farm agent Don Matheson, urging them to save against inflation, while the 4-H clubs worked on a program called "Planning Stretches the Dollar." People: Woodward Byars, Don S. Matheson Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 8, 1945, p. 1
  48. Late frosts kill Orange County's fruit crop Frosts in early April killed the county's whole fruit crop, according to farm agent Don S. Matheson, and badly damaged early vegetables, heading barley and the young lespedeza. Farmers began planning more soybeans and sudan grass for hay to make up the loss. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 12, 1945, p. 1
  49. Orange County opens the Seventh War Loan drive with a $574,000 quota The Seventh War Loan drive opened in Hillsboro and rural Orange on Monday, May 14, without a rally, carrying a county quota of $574,000, of which $458,000 was to come from E bonds. Hillsboro workers planned a house-to-house canvass, farm leaders mailed bond literature to every farmer, and Chapel Hill launched its part the same morning with a rally at the Carolina Theatre. People: Don S. Matheson, Gilbert W. Ray Place: Hillsboro and rural Orange County; Carolina Theatre, Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Carolina TheatreSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 17, 1945, p. 1
  50. German prisoners of war help harvest Orange County crops As many as 100 German prisoners of war a day worked in Orange County's harvest from July to November 1945, the county agent reported. Farm labor had grown scarcer again that year. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County farmsThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 10, 1946, p. 1
  51. The 1945 farm census shows Orange County poultry and dairy income far outrunning cotton Preliminary 1945 farm census figures, reported by county agent Don S. Matheson, showed that Orange County farmers sold $336,244 worth of poultry products in 1944, nearly three times the $131,947 of 1930 and about six times the county's cotton income. Dairy income was expected to reach about half a million dollars in 1945, against $155,244 in 1935, and the number of dairy and beef cattle had more than doubled since 1930. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 5, 1945, p. 1
  52. Orange County opens its United War Fund drive The county's United War Fund campaign began on October 1 with goals of $9,000 for Chapel Hill and Carrboro and $4,065 for Hillsborough and rural Orange. Two weeks in, leaders reported less than a third raised and said people were slower to give now that the war was over. People: Collier Cobb Jr., Don S. Matheson, S. A. Johnson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 4, 1945, p. 1
  53. The Chapel Hill Rotary Club gives its first pedigreed pigs to Orange farm boys The Rotary Club presented the first of ten registered gilts in a pig chain for Orange farm boys, two of them in the Mount Moriah section. Each boy was to breed his sow and return a gilt from the first litter so the chain could go on. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Mount Moriah section, Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 20, 1945, p. 1
  54. Farmers in the Bank of Chapel Hill corn contest average 76.6 bushels an acre Twenty-six farmers completed the county corn-growing contest that the Bank of Chapel Hill sponsored with $100 in prizes, averaging 76.6 bushels an acre against an old county yield of about 20. A 17-year-old Hebron schoolboy won with 92.4 bushels, and farm agent Don S. Matheson credited hybrid seed, early nitrogen and shallow cultivation, estimating that the county's corn crop rose by 75,000 bushels. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Bank of Chapel HillSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 19, 1946, p. 1
  55. Farmers organize an Orange County Farm Bureau with 300 members Orange County farmers organized a county Farm Bureau with 300 members in 1946, and a new Grange was begun at New Hope, according to the county agent's year-end report to the commissioners. The same report counted a record 6,237 tons of lime and 500 acres of alfalfa, ten new fish ponds and eleven dairies raised to grade A. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 9, 1947, p. 6
  56. The 1945 farm census finds fewer but larger farms in Orange County Preliminary 1945 federal farm census figures showed Orange County had 192 fewer farms than in 1940 but 6,849 more acres in farms, an average of 99.1 acres a farm, which the county agent read as small farms being combined. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 30, 1946, p. 6
  57. Harold F. Latta takes over as manager of the Latta Cooperative Dairy The cooperative's president, Harold F. Latta, became its manager in place of R. B. Todd, who resigned for his health after building the dairy into a $100,000 business. Latta had owned and run a dairy in Hillsboro for 20 years before the cooperative was formed. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Latta Cooperative Dairy, Hillsboro · Also named: Harold F. Latta, R. B. ToddSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 27, 1947, p. 1
  58. Two hail storms damage about $20,000 of tobacco in northern Orange County Two hail storms in a week struck the tobacco section of northern Orange County, the first east of Cedar Grove, where one 26-acre crop was nearly a total loss, and the second on July 14. County agent Don S. Matheson put the tobacco damage at about $20,000, with little harm to other crops. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Cedar Grove Township, northern Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 17, 1947, p. 1
  59. Black shank spreads to a third of the tobacco farms around Cedar Grove County agent Don S. Matheson reported that black shank had reached about a third of the tobacco farms in the Cedar Grove section and done about $10,000 in damage, as the resistant Oxford varieties lost some of their resistance. He pointed to Ralph Compton's rotation with small grain and lespedeza as the one sure control. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Cedar Grove · Also named: Ralph Compton · Also mentions: Cedar Grove sectionSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 28, 1947, p. 1
  60. The British buying halt shuts the tobacco markets with half of Orange's crop unsold The flue-cured markets closed when all British buyers withdrew, with only about half of Orange County's estimated 5,000,000-pound crop sold. Sales resumed on November 3 after the Commodity Credit Corporation agreed to buy about $25,000,000 of tobacco for the rest of the season. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County tobacco markets and farmsSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 30, 1947, p. 1
  61. Don S. Matheson receives the county agents' distinguished service award The National County Agents Association gave Orange County farm agent Don S. Matheson its distinguished service award at its convention banquet in Chicago. The account sent for the award credited him with the dairy growth that put Orange first among its neighbors in dairy cattle and with the Chapel Hill to Calvander line, which it called the first REA power line in the country. Place: Orange County (award given in Chicago)Search the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 11, 1947, p. 1
  62. Thousands watch a one-day conservation makeover of the Milton Latta farm near Schley Schley Grange No. 710 staged what was billed as North Carolina's first soil conservation field day on Milton Latta's 195-acre farm northeast of Hillsboro, where about 250 volunteers with 25 to 30 tractors, bulldozers and earth movers built terraces, a fish pond, pastures, strip crops and wildlife borders that would take an ordinary farmer three to five years. Estimates of the crowd ran from three thousand to ten thousand. People: Don S. Matheson, Robert L. Mohler, Henry S. Hogan Place: Milton Latta farm, Schley community, five miles northeast of Hillsboro · Also named: Milton A. Latta, Milton LattaSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 1, 1948, p. 1
  63. National judges tour the Schley community's Grange projects Judges of the National Grange community service contest flew to the Durham-Raleigh airport and toured the Schley community, North Carolina's winning Grange, seeing its new cooperative telephone line, the landscaped Mars Hill Baptist churchyard and the Milton Latta farm of the spring soil conservation field day before a barbecue at the Grange hall. People: Don S. Matheson, Robert L. Mohler Place: Schley community · Also named: Milton A. Latta, Milton LattaSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 11, 1948, p. 1
  64. Schley Grange brings telephones to fifty-one families and wins a national community award For a National Grange and Sears-Roebuck Foundation contest, Schley Grange members cleared right-of-way, cut cedar poles and strung three miles of wire so the telephone company could give service to 51 families; they also held a soil conservation workshop with the extension service. Schley won the national prize in November 1948, and the new brick Grange hall it paid for was dedicated on December 6, 1949 before about five hundred people. People: W. Kerr Scott, Don S. Matheson Place: SchleySearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Schley Grange Hall National Register nomination (OR3148)
  65. County agent reports a year of farm progress to the commissioners County agent Don S. Matheson told the commissioners that county corn yields had risen from at most 20 to 30 or 35 bushels an acre, 15 farmers had built Grade A dairy barns, an artificial breeding association had been started, 100 miles of rural electric line were finished or under way for 350 more families, 150 farm water systems had gone in, and the rebuilt Farmers Mutual livestock barn had sold $402,000 of livestock. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Courthouse, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 9, 1948, p. 1
  66. Blue mold leaves Orange tobacco growers short of plants County agent Don S. Matheson found blue mold damage so severe that about a fifth of the farms in Cedar Grove Township would need plants from other beds, and about a third of the plants set by late May came from eastern North Carolina. By late July the paper estimated that some 500 Orange farmers had made two or more trips east for plants, driving about 250,000 miles, though rains then brought the crop back to normal. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Cedar Grove Township and Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 12, 1949, p. 1
  67. County agents report Orange's 1950 tobacco crop brought $2,758,000, more than five times the 1940 crop In their annual report to the county commissioners, county agents Don S. Matheson and E. P. Barnes said Orange County's 1950 tobacco crop, 4,180 acres selling near 55 cents a pound, had brought about $2,758,000, against $504,000 for the 1940 crop, while farm wages had risen from $25 to $100 a month. They also counted 3,000 acres of new ladino clover pasture, about $800,000 in milk sales, 800 cows bred artificially and 535 mailboxes improved in a Grange campaign. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County · Also named: E. P. BarnesSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 7, 1950, p. 1
  68. Orange Fire Protective Association elects T. C. Ellis its first president At its first general meeting, in the Hillsboro courthouse on February 26, the association formed to buy a fire truck for the country around Hillsboro elected Cedar Grove accountant T. C. Ellis president and voted to go ahead with the equipment after hearing that about 250 members had given $4,145. A southern Orange group led by S. H. Basnight asked that it be called No. 1 so a Chapel Hill-area company could be No. 2. People: Don S. Matheson, Sim Efland Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: T. C. Ellis, S. H. BasnightSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 1, 1951, p. 1
  69. Orange sets up a County Agricultural Mobilization Committee Under a national Agriculture Department mobilization order to coordinate its agencies at the county level, Orange's committee held its first meeting on March 21 with PMA chairman J. S. Compton as chairman and A. K. McAdams as secretary. Members came from the PMA, soil conservation, extension, the Farmers Home Administration and vocational agriculture. People: Don S. Matheson, A. K. McAdams, Robert L. Mohler, James S. Compton, Elmer R. Dowdy Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 29, 1951, p. 1
  70. County agent reports Orange farm income has tripled in ten years County agent Don Matheson told the Chapel Hill Rotary Club that Orange County farm income had grown from about $1.5 million to $5 million in a decade, led by tobacco, which sold for $504,000 in 1940 and $3 million in 1950. He counted 600 miles of rural power lines against 307 ten years before, about 2,000 family farms grossing some $2,500 each, and credited the Rotary Club pig chain, with Sears-Roebuck, for 7,400 breeding animals. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 23, 1951, p. 8
  71. Black shank disease costs Orange County tobacco growers $100,000 or more County agent Don Matheson told the commissioners that black shank had caused an estimated $100,000 to $150,000 loss in the 1951 tobacco crop despite resistant seed. Damage averaged ten percent around Cedar Grove, where some farmers lost half their crop, and Matheson said growers would have to rotate crops to avoid such losses. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Cedar Grove and tobacco sections of Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 9, 1951, p. 1
  72. Orange County farm leaders launch the Rural Progress campaign At a courthouse meeting, farm, civic and church leaders launched Orange County's part in the North Carolina Rural Progress campaign, aiming to add $1,000 to each farm family's income in 1952 and to improve homes and communities. Organizers put average gross cash income for the county's 2,000 farms at only $1,885. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Courthouse, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 20, 1951, p. 1
  73. The county farm agent reports Orange County's 1951 farm record Farm agent Don S. Matheson told the commissioners the 1951 tobacco crop sold for about $2,608,000 despite $100,000 lost to black shank, dairymen sold about $700,000 of milk, poultry brought over half a million dollars and the Farmers' Mutual marketed $1,214,000 of farm products. He also counted 44 new farm fish ponds, 2,000 acres of new ladino pasture and a new rural fire truck. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Court house, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 6, 1951, p. 8
  74. Blue mold appears in Orange County tobacco plant beds County agent Don S. Matheson found the disease on several beds in the Cedar Grove section and urged growers to keep fermate or another approved chemical on their plants, warning that recent weather had been ideal for its spread; a week later the News warned that the rains ending the dry spell favored it further. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Cedar Grove sectionSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 24, 1952, p. 1
  75. Heat and drought cost Orange County farmers close to a million dollars A dry, record-hot early summer in 1952, with only 2.28 inches of rain in July, burned tobacco in the fields, left corn without ears and dried up pastures across Orange County. On August 4 County Agent Don S. Matheson told the commissioners the loss would come to almost $1,000,000, about $600,000 of it in tobacco, with the northern tobacco communities from Walnut Grove to Carr hit hardest. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County, worst in the northern tobacco sections from Walnut Grove to CarrSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 7, 1952, p. 1
  76. Black farm families hold their Rural Progress Night at Cedar Grove School Several hundred people came to the Rural Progress Night of Orange County's Black farm families at the Cedar Grove School on November 13, 1952, to hear WDNC commentator Norfley Whitted and the year's reports. Jordan Grove won first place for community activities, ahead of Sunnyside, White Oak and Coolspring, and 4-H members received awards; later that month the county's Black program was named one of five state finalists. People: Don S. Matheson, Moses Cimuel Burt Place: Cedar Grove School, Cedar Grove · Also named: Norfley Whitted · Also mentions: SunnysideSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 20, 1952, p. 8
  77. School board names committees to plan Hillsboro's new elementary school and guard the Cameron Park trees Answering a Garden Club request, the county Board of Education named a building committee of Clarence D. Jones, Mrs. Don S. Matheson and E. J. Hamlin to work with Hillsboro on the design of the new elementary school at Cameron Park so it would fit the town's architecture, and a horticulture committee to protect the rare trees and shrubs of what the board called the Cameron Park Arboretum. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Cameron Park, Hillsboro · Also named: Clarence D. Jones, E. J. HamlinSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 6, 1952, p. 1
  78. County agents report a $722,000 fall in Orange tobacco income after the 1952 drought In their 1952 report to the commissioners on December 1, county agents Don S. Matheson and E. P. Barnes estimated Orange County's tobacco crop at about $2,598,000, $722,000 less than in 1951, after July heat and drought cut weight and quality and halved corn yields. They also counted 1,350 beef cattle, 140,000 laying hens, 115 Grade A dairies and about 200 farm ponds. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Courthouse, Hillsboro · Also named: E. P. BarnesSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 4, 1952, p. 1
  79. Drought cuts Orange County's tobacco crop to about $1.4 million The county farm agent's annual report put the value of Orange's 1953 tobacco crop at about $1,400,000, more than a million dollars below 1952 and less than half of 1951, chiefly because of the summer drought, which also cut the corn crop in half. The same report counted 117 Grade A dairymen paid about $1 million for milk and eight new Grade A dairies built. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 14, 1954, p. 1
  80. Orange County is declared a drought disaster area After a summer when rainfall ran 15 to 25 percent of normal and pastures and crops stood at about a tenth of normal, the county Agricultural Mobilization Committee asked on August 24 for disaster status, and Governor Umstead asked President Eisenhower on August 31 to include Orange among 15 counties. Once the designation came in mid-September, livestock farmers short of feed could apply at the PMA office for government corn, wheat, oats and cottonseed meal at reduced prices, while the county agent expected the tobacco crop to bring about a million dollars less than in 1952. People: Don S. Matheson, James S. Compton Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 24, 1953, p. 1
  81. Orange is named North Carolina's County of the Year in Rural Progress The North Carolina Board of Farm Organizations and Agencies named Orange its County of the Year in Rural Progress, with $500 as an area winner and $500 as state winner. The award capped a program in which 851 white farm families worked through a 16-point plan, with prizes from local merchants as incentives. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 17, 1953, p. 1
  82. County of the Year prizes are presented to Orange farm leaders at the courthouse At an evening meeting in the courthouse the $1,000 and $500 checks for Orange County's two Rural Progress titles were handed to the leaders of the white and Black programs. The leaders gave $500 to the county for a plaque and the improvement of the courthouse grounds, and County Agent Don S. Matheson opened the 1954 program. People: Don S. Matheson, Robert O. Forrest Place: Courthouse, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 4, 1954, p. 1
  83. Armyworms destroy small grain fields in southwestern Orange County An outbreak of armyworms hit wheat, oats and other small grain in the southwestern part of the county, and County Agent Don S. Matheson reported some fields completely destroyed, with millions of worms present. He arranged airplane dusting with DDT or toxaphene from the Alamance airport at $4 to $6 an acre. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Southwestern Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 27, 1954, p. 1
  84. A month-long drought cuts Orange County's tobacco and corn by about a quarter After heavy rains in mid-June the county went about four weeks without rain; by mid-July the county agent put crop losses at 20 to 30 percent and rising, and farmers flooded the Hillsboro livestock market with its largest run ever on July 12. Rains in the third week of July broke the drought, leaving damage to most crops at about 25 percent and a tobacco crop worth about $2 million, $500,000 below a good year. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 22, 1954, p. 1
  85. A plaque honoring the county's 1953 Rural Progress award arrives for the old courthouse The plaque the county commissioners bought to honor Orange's farm people and agricultural workers for winning the 1953 state 'County of the Year in Rural Progress' award, and for giving the prize money toward beautifying the old courthouse grounds, arrived to be hung in the courthouse corridor. People: Don S. Matheson, Robert O. Forrest Place: Old Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 24, 1954, p. 1
  86. An outbreak of black leg kills cattle on farms in southern Orange County Black leg, a disease almost always fatal to cattle, struck herds on five or six farms near Chapel Hill and on the Antioch Road, killing at least 15 cows in a week. Veterinarians confirmed the disease and urged that all cattle within two miles be vaccinated. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Farms near Chapel Hill and on the Antioch Road, southern Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 23, 1954, p. 1
  87. Orange farm families close the 1954 Rural Progress program at Hillsboro Farm families overflowed the Hillsboro and Central school auditoriums and part of a gymnasium for the program's finale and a drawing for more than $3,000 in prizes given by county businesses; 771 white farm families had reported through 111 community leaders and 34 completed all 16 points. The year before, Orange had won first prize in the state Challenge program as County of the Year in Rural Progress. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Hillsboro School and Central School, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 25, 1954, p. 1
  88. Orange County's farm agents launch the Farm and Home Efficiency Program The county's farm and home agents replaced the four-year-old Rural Progress Program with a 1955 Farm and Home Efficiency Program stressing net profit over output, organized through community groups such as granges and home demonstration clubs. By early March community meetings had begun and separate meetings for Black farm families were scheduled; the Bank of Chapel Hill and the Hillsborough branch of Durham Bank and Trust paid for it. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Bank of Chapel HillSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 10, 1955, p. 1
  89. The county commissioners create an Orange County Agricultural and Industrial Development Commission On a resolution by Commissioner Edwin S. Lanier, the county board created the Orange County Agricultural and Industrial Development Commission to encourage new farm and industrial enterprises, help those already in the county expand, and build understanding of the need for growth, since the tax base was rising more slowly than the demand for public services. It was to have four representatives from each township, named for two-year terms, and no power to commit the county. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Don S. Matheson, Robert O. Forrest Place: Orange County commissioners meeting, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 5, 1955, p. 1
  90. About 100 tobacco growers see an irrigation demonstration at Cedar Grove County agents Don Matheson and Ed Barnes brought State College irrigation specialist Howard Ellis and four equipment dealers to the Robert Earl Hughes farm to promote irrigating tobacco, the county's chief cash crop. Twenty Orange tobacco farms had irrigation systems that summer, while about 1,500 growers still depended on rain. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Robert Earl Hughes farm, Cedar Grove · Also named: Ed Barnes, Howard EllisSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 14, 1955, p. 1
  91. Commissioners name a 28-member county agricultural and industrial development commission The county commissioners appointed four members from each township to the Orange County Agricultural and Industrial Development Commission, created on May 2 at Commissioner Edwin S. Lanier's urging to bring new industry and farm enterprises to the county. On September 19 they asked member Don Matheson to call its organizing meeting. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 8, 1955, p. 1
  92. Piedmont Electric Membership Corporation honors three long-serving directors At the cooperative's annual barbecue, County Agent Don Matheson gave gold watches to W. F. Shaw, J. G. Jobe and Clyde Roberts, each an unpaid director for 15 years or more. He said rural lines in Orange County had grown from 28 miles in 1932 and 140 in 1937 to about 600. People: Don S. Matheson, Clyde Roberts Place: Piedmont Electric Membership Corporation, Hillsborough · Also named: W. F. Shaw, J. G. JobeSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 22, 1955, p. 1
  93. Orange County's new Agricultural and Industrial Development Commission organizes with Don Matheson as chairman Twenty-five of the 28 members named to the county's new Agricultural and Industrial Development Commission, four from each township, met in Hillsboro and elected County Farm Agent Don S. Matheson their first chairman, with Bernice Ward of Chapel Hill as vice-chairman and Robert O. Forrest of Hillsboro as secretary. Commissioner Edwin S. Lanier, who had proposed the body that summer, told them to expect results only over the long pull. People: Edwin Sidney Lanier, Robert O. Forrest, Don S. Matheson Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 13, 1955, p. 1
  94. Orange County farm leaders draw up a five-year plan to raise farm income by $2 million Seventy-five farm men and women invited by the county's Agricultural and Industrial Development Commission worked with extension agents and State College specialists at two meetings to set 1960 goals for every major farm product. The plan aimed to add $2 million a year to gross farm income, led by $755,000 more from poultry, with more milk and feeder pigs, and with irrigation and aromatic tobacco to make up for a coming cut in flue-cured acreage. People: Don S. Matheson Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 24, 1955, p. 1
  95. Hillsboro businessmen move to build a new plant for Reverie Lingerie A group of Hillsboro business and professional men took the first steps toward a local development corporation to build a 26,000 square foot plant, about $150,000, for Reverie Lingerie, then running a pilot operation north of town. The firm had dropped plans to move to Durham and hoped to grow to 250 workers. People: Robert O. Forrest, Don S. Matheson Place: HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 19, 1956, p. 1
  96. County agents report a million-dollar gain in the 1955 tobacco crop County agents Don S. Matheson and Edwin P. Barnes reported that the 1955 tobacco crop would bring about $3,133,000, roughly a million dollars more than in 1954, that dairy sales had risen from $630,000 to $1,006,000 in five years, and that poultry sales had doubled. They also reported that 1,902 of the county's 1,939 farms had electricity. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Hillsboro · Also named: Edwin P. BarnesSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 12, 1956, p. 1
  97. Orange Textile Products starts making lingerie in the old Midway Building Supply building near Efland Russell Bondurant, who had come to Hillsboro as production manager for Reverie Lingerie, and Bobby R. Roberts set up a lingerie plant in the renovated, air-conditioned former Midway Building Supply building between Efland and Mebane, and production was under way on several machines. Don S. Matheson of the county industrial development commission listed it among three small industries begun in recent weeks. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Former Midway Building Supply building, between Efland and Mebane · Also named: Russell Bondurant, Bobby R. RobertsSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 18, 1956, p. 1
  98. Commissioners make the development commission Orange's voice on the proposed New Hope dam The county commissioners reappointed all 28 members of the Orange County Agricultural and Industrial Commission and made it the county's liaison with the Cape Fear Basin development group on the proposed flood control dam on the Haw River just below the mouth of New Hope Creek, which would flood part of the New Hope Creek basin southeast of Chapel Hill. At the Army Engineers' hearing in Fayetteville on February 8, Orange's representatives turned in factual reports but took no stand, while east Chatham residents opposed the dam. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 10, 1957, p. 1
  99. County agents report Orange farm income up about $872,000 for 1956 The county agent's office reported that Orange County farm income rose about $872,000 in 1956, credited mainly to good weather, with gains in tobacco ($250,000 despite a 12 percent allotment cut), feed grains ($300,000), eggs ($200,000) and dairy ($100,000). Tobacco averaged 1,574 pounds an acre on 3,853 acres for $3,175,995, dairy sales passed a million dollars, and poultry farmers built 35 new laying houses and five broiler houses. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 3, 1957, p. 1
  100. The county development commission names a Chapel Hill-Carrboro industrial committee At its first meeting of the year, the Orange County Agricultural and Industrial Commission reelected its officers under chairman Don Matheson and named Chapel Hill-area members to form a Chapel Hill-Carrboro industrial development committee to court industry for that end of the county. The step followed a suggestion for a Research Triangle development committee in the Chapel Hill area. People: Robert O. Forrest, Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 7, 1957, p. 1
  101. Alfalfa weevils infest nearly every alfalfa field in Orange County The county farm agents reported nearly every alfalfa field in the county heavily infested with the alfalfa weevil, a pest only a few seasons old in the area, and farmers sprayed with heptachlor in March. A second brood of larvae followed in April, and the agents urged growers to cut early and spray the stubble. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Alfalfa fields across Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 21, 1957, p. 5
  102. The state board of farm organizations and agencies tours Orange County farms The State Board of Farm Organizations and Agricultural Agencies made Orange its first county visit, touring the Reid Roberts, Latta-Gardner, Milton Latta and Larry Coleman farms in the St. Mary's and Schley communities and hearing a panel on the county's farm programs over supper at Schley Grange Hall. Progressive Farmer editor William Poe called the county's work 'tremendously inspiring.' People: Reid Roberts, Don S. Matheson Place: Farms in the St. Mary's and Schley communities and Schley Grange Hall · Also named: William Poe, Larry Coleman, Milton LattaSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 23, 1957, p. 1
  103. Summer drought cuts Orange County's corn, hay and tobacco crops Two months with little rain left northern Orange County expecting about half of the previous year's corn crop and a tobacco crop nearly 50 percent short, the county agent's office reported. Pastures and hay were poor, some irrigation ponds had been pumped dry, and wells were failing in the driest sections. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Cedar Grove and northern Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 15, 1957, p. 1
  104. County agents report a $1 million drop in Orange County tobacco income County Agent Don Matheson and his assistants told the agriculture committee of the county's development commission that the 1957 tobacco crop would gross about $2,063,000, some $1.1 million less than in 1956, after a 20 percent acreage cut and a required switch to lower-yielding varieties. Gains in dairying, poultry, beef cattle and hogs held the drop in total farm cash income to about $876,000, for an estimated $5,065,600. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County Courthouse, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 7, 1957, p. 1
  105. Hillsborough citizens launch a $25,000 loan drive to rebuild Reverie Lingerie About 50 citizens met at the courthouse to hear a plan for a $75,000, 15,000-square-foot building for the burned-out Reverie Lingerie plant, to be paid for by the company ($15,000), the North Carolina Business Development Corporation ($35,000) and $25,000 in five percent loans from local people. Volunteers had pledged about $16,000 within a week, and backers said by December 4 that the goal was in sight. People: Don S. Matheson, Robert O. Forrest Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also mentions: Reverie Lingerie plantSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 28, 1957, p. 1
  106. The strike at Reverie Lingerie ends when the union stops paying strikers The strike that began at Reverie Lingerie in April ended in early November, when the union stopped paying the strikers, some six weeks after fire destroyed the plant. The county's development commission then called local business and civic leaders together to back a plan to restart limited sewing in the Midway Building Supply building west of Efland, enlarge it, and later build a permanent plant with local and state help. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Hillsboro; Midway Building Supply building west of EflandSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 21, 1957, p. 1
  107. The county honors its Blue Ribbon farm families at the courthouse State Extension Director David S. Weaver spoke at the countywide Blue Ribbon Farm and Home recognition night, where about 120 families from eight communities received certificates for meeting at least 18 of the program's 25 goals. The home agents reported that the families had made more than 2,200 improvements to their homes and farms during 1957. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough · Also named: David S. WeaverThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), December 19, 1957, p. 4
  108. Orange County's gross farm income rises to $5.8 million The farm and home extension agents' annual report put Orange County's 1958 gross cash farm income at $5,820,988, up from $5,065,600 in 1957, with livestock and poultry bringing about $3 million of it. Tobacco brought $2,355,688 from 3,280 acres, about $300,000 more than in 1957 but far below 1955 after acreage cuts; dairy sales reached $1,504,000, and telephone service was extended into the Caldwell and Prospect Hill communities. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange CountySearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 15, 1959, p. 1
  109. Schley Grange members finish a volunteer pine-thinning project and turn the pulpwood into community funds Schley Grange members with chain saws and axes thinned young pine stands on four farms, as marked by Extension foresters, and sold the pulpwood the owners had donated; on April 22 the community service committee handed the Grange a check for $383.72 for future projects. County Agent Don Matheson called the project the first of its kind in North Carolina. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Schley community, northern Orange CountyThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 24, 1958, p. 1
  110. Hillsboro businessmen launch a stock drive to build a plant for Southern Garment Company At a courthouse meeting, Hillsboro's industrial committee launched a drive to sell $50,000 in stock in a local corporation that would build a 20,000-square-foot building and lease it to Southern Garment Company, a dress maker crowded into temporary quarters near Efland. About $10,000 was pledged that night and nearly $25,000 within two weeks. People: Don S. Matheson, Bonner D. Sawyer Place: Courthouse, HillsboroSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 23, 1958, p. 1
  111. County commissioners name Don Matheson to the Research Triangle Regional Planning Commission The commissioners appointed county farm agent Don S. Matheson to a four-year term as one of Orange County's members of the new Research Triangle Regional Planning Commission, set up by the 1959 legislature to promote orderly development of the Durham, Orange and Wake area. Board chairman R. J. M. Hobbs and the mayor of Chapel Hill were members by law. People: Don S. Matheson, Richard Junius Mendenhall Hobbs Place: HillsboroughThe News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 6, 1959, p. 1
  112. The Hillsboro Lions Club marks its 25th anniversary The club held a silver anniversary banquet a quarter-century after its chartering as Hillsborough's first civic club. Four charter members were still active: Bonner Sawyer, its first president; Dr. H. W. Moore; Allen Walker; and Don S. Matheson, its first-year secretary. People: Don S. Matheson, Bonner D. Sawyer Place: Hillsborough · Also named: H. W. Moore, Allen Walker, Bonner SawyerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), February 23, 1961, p. 1
  113. Orange County dedicates its new agricultural building on courthouse square About 100 people attended the dedication of the renovated and enlarged $82,500 building, which put the county farm and home agents, Soil Conservation Service, Farmers Home Administration and ASCS offices under one roof. Extension director R. W. Shoffner reported that county farm sales had reached $8.7 million in 1962 and praised retiring farm agent Don S. Matheson. People: Don S. Matheson Place: Orange County Agricultural Building, courthouse square, Hillsborough · Also named: R. W. ShoffnerSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 4, 1963, p. 6
  114. Orange County farm people honor retiring county agent Don Matheson About 200 people came to a testimonial for Don S. Matheson, county farm agent since 1928, sponsored by the Orange County Pomona Grange, where friends gave him an engraved silver tray. The Mathesons gave $1,000 to start a fund for awards to 4-H leaders, which reached $2,200 with other gifts, and Ed Barnes succeeded him as county agent. Place: Orange County · Also named: Ed BarnesSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 4, 1963, p. 1
  115. Edmund Strudwick finishes a portrait of retired farm agent Don S. Matheson Hillsborough artist Edmund Strudwick finished a portrait of Don S. Matheson, who retired in 1963 after 34 years as Orange County farm agent. Paid for by public gifts, it was hung in the county agricultural building, and further gifts founded a 4-H fund. People: Edmund Strudwick (1909-1973), Don S. Matheson, Edmund Strudwick Place: HillsboroughSearch the index · The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 12, 1964, p. 1

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Don S. Matheson, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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Works about or by Don S. Matheson. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Annual Report of County Extension Agents, Orange County, NC

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service · 1953

Annual report for 1953 by the Orange County extension agents of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. The agents named are Jessie Trowbridge, Katheryn Pritchett, Cyrus A. Greene, Ed. P. Barnes and Don S. Matheson. Topics include agricultural extension work and African American farm families. Microfilm, part of Better Living in North Carolina.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DPLA

North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service Annual Narrative Report, Orange County, NC

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service · 1946

The Orange County extension staff's 1946 annual narrative report to the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service, naming Katheryn Pritchett, Jessie Trowbridge, Cyrus A. Greene, Ed. P. Barnes and Don S. Matheson. It covers farm extension work, including work with African American farmers. Microfilm, part of Better Living in North Carolina.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DPLA

Annual Report of County Extension Workers, Orange County, NC

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service · 1938

Orange County's extension workers reported on their year in this December 1938 annual report, prepared by Don S. Matheson. It covers agricultural extension work in the county, including work with African American farmers. Microfilm, part of Better Living in North Carolina.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DPLA

Combined Annual Report of County Extension Workers, Orange County, NC

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service · 1937

Combined 1937 annual report of Orange County's extension workers, naming Don S. Matheson, Ed P. Barnes, Katheryn H. Hamrick, Virginia Cathey and Dorothy S. Parrish. It covers agricultural extension work in the county, including work with African American farmers. Microfilm, part of Better Living in North Carolina.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DPLA

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