| |
|
Caswell County Genealogy
|
 |
|
 1924 - 1997 (72 years)
-
| Name |
Little, Thomas Arthur |
| Birth |
18 Oct 1924 |
Caswell County, North Carolina  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Reference Number |
7833 |
| Death |
28 Jun 1997 |
Caswell County, North Carolina |
| Person ID |
I7712 |
Caswell County |
| Last Modified |
16 May 2024 |
| Father |
Little, Roy Charles, b. Abt 1893, North Carolina d. 5 Jul 1938, Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina (Age ~ 45 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Mother |
Lea, Martha Louise, b. 6 Nov 1904, Caswell County, North Carolina d. 29 Nov 1983 (Age 79 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Reference Number |
54446 |
| Family ID |
F4131 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Haith, Helen Marie, b. 12 Oct 1929, Alamance County, North Carolina d. 24 Dec 2009, Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina (Age 80 years) |
| Marriage |
1948 [1] |
| Reference Number |
294847 |
| Children |
|
| Family ID |
F4133 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
16 May 2024 |
-
-
-
| Notes |
- Thomas Arthur Little (1924-1997)
(for larger image, click on photograph)
_______________
First photograph: On the Yanceyville Square: Late 40's - Early 50's: Thomas Little in front of Lea & Little Dry Cleaners, business owned by Thomas Lea, Jr. and Thomas Little. Photograph courtesy Helen Little (Mrs. Thomas Arthur Little).
Owned and operated Little Service Station, a business founded in Yanceyville by his parents. He also owned (or was a partner in) Lea & Little Dry Cleaners on the Yanceyville Square. He lived in a brick house on Main Street almost directly across from the service station.
_______________
Thomas Arthur Little Speaks on Williamson's Garage and Other Caswell County Matters: 1977
There, just inside the door, Thomas Little sits in a rocking chair smoking cigarettes and looking out the window. Over the gas pumps of his Exxon station he watches the traffic and keeps an eye on his brick house with the clipped poodle in the yard. Little says that [Walter] Williamson designed a machine to make masonry blocks, then built himself a building. That was 45 years ago.
“He’s been fixing cars since I can remember,” says the 53-year-old Little. He smiles. “And he still charges 1950’s prices, so he stays busy.”
Little had a heart attack and messed up his knee, so he keeps busy reading the Wall Street Journal and Jet magazine, chatting, working.
“I sit here and sell a little beer, cigarettes, wine, gasoline,” he says. His wife, Helen, recently appointed to the state Board of Transportation, helps run the store.
Thomas Little is a free thinker, as versed in world politics as in county politics, as eager to talk about race as about religion. He laughingly recalls having told a deliveryman bringing milk and orange juice, “If that’s [anti-gay] Anita Bryant’s orange juice, I don’t want it in my store.”
“I’m not gay myself,” he allows, “but I think it’s people’s own business how they act. That’s what a democracy is all about. Of course, we’ve never really had one of those in this country [county?; sarcasm?].”
Little is equally candid about the powers-that-be in Yanceyville. Speaking of the large brick Hanover Mills across town, where they make synthetics, he observes, “They fought like hell to keep it out of town. Like I told you, they want to keep this county agricultural.”
Caswell County certainly isn’t being overrun with industry, development, or dollars. In a state noted for its low per capita incomes, Caswell incomes rank 88th [out of 100]. And the county’s population (about 20,000) has hardly varied since the Civil War. That, says Thomas Little, is because certain influential families have worked “to keep this county from growing.”
Source: "Yanceyville" by Barry Jacobs in The Sun, October 1977 [https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/31/yanceyville; accessed 19 June 2022]
_______________
North Carolina Birth Index, 1800-2000
Name: Thomas Arther Little
Date of Birth: 18 Oct 1924
Gender: Male
Race: Colored (Black)
Birth County: Caswell
Parent1 Name: Roy Chas Little
Parent2 Name: Martha Louise Little
Roll Number: B_C021_68003
Volume: 5
Page: 1128
1930 United States Federal Census
Name: Thomas A Little
Home in 1930: Yanceyville, Caswell, North Carolina
Age: 5
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1925
Relation to Head of House: Son
Father's Name: Roy C
Mother's Name: Martha L
Race: Negro
Household Members: Name Age
Roy C Little 35
Martha L Little 25
Thomas A Little 5
Roy Lea Little 2
North Carolina Death Collection, 1908-2004
Name: Thomas Arthur Little
Gender: Male
Race: Black
Hispanic Origin: Non-Hispanic
Marital Status: Married
Social Security Number: 577346250
Father's Last Name: Little
Age: 72 Years
Date of Birth: 18 Oct 1924
Birth County: Caswell
Birth State: North Carolina
Residence County: Caswell
Residence State: North Carolina
Residence Zip Code: 27379
Education: 1 year of college
Occupation: Laundering and dry cleaning machine operators
Industry: Laundry, cleaning, and garment services
Date of Death: 28 Jun 1997
Death County: Caswell
Death State: North Carolina
Cause Of Death: Hypertensive chronic kidney disease: Unspecified
Other Cause of Death: Renal failure, unspecified
Autopsy: Autopsy Not Performed
Institution: Residence
Attendant: Physician
Burial Location: Burial in-state
Recorded Date: 1 Jul 1997
Source Vendor: North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics
|
-
| Sources |
- Details: Obituary of Helen Marie Haith Little (1929-2009), The Caswell Messenger (Yanceyville, North Carolina), 30 December 2009.
|
|
|
|
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set