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| 1962 Photo |
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| 1962 image courtesy Ora Smith and NC Archives |
A portion of the
history, in documents provided by the North Carolina State Historic
Preservation Office, states:
"By 1770, Theophilus
Weeks was selling lots in the town. The survey crew completed the plat of
New Town in 1772, and the document was duly filed in the county courthouse.
"Archelous Weeks
[the second son of Theophilus Weeks], inherited lot 23, New Town, in 1774. By
then, the community showed signs of becoming the center of trade for the White
Oak River plantations. Consequently, Archelous was able to dispose of Lot 23 to
William Wrenn for the tidy sum of £20. Wrenn resold the lot to Benjamin Reaves,
the bricklayer, in January, 1778.
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| Survey Drawing by Ed Turberg |
"Reaves apparently had financial troubles, for Archelous Weeks was
able to buy the lot back in the summer of 1778. Prior to this no record
mentions any improvements on lot 23. However, when Archelous sold the lot again
in September, 1778, he exacted £60 “current money” from the purchaser.
Considering the relative effects of inflation and the general value of a home
in the 1770s, it is entirely reasonable to assume that Archelous Weeks
completed the ample two story home on Lot 23, Swansboro, the structure
generally known as Capt. Peter Ringware’s house. Certainly Archelous Weeks had
both the money and the audacity to build a house in the third year of the
Revolutionary War.
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| First Floor Plan - Stanley South 1962 |
“Captain Peter Ringware, or Raingenoire, a ships’ master, married Sarah
Greenbarge of Newport, Rhode Island, in Onslow County, 28 August 1778. On 15
September, Ringware received the deed of sale for Lot 23, New Town…Bogue Inlet
was eminently suitable for a base for shallow draft privateers, who were able
to evade British warships by darting into shoal waters whenever any frigate or
sloop threatened to fire a shot across their bow. Privateering was the single
profitable business venture in North Carolina during the Revolution. Peter
Ringware had £60 to spend on a home at the time when his contemporaries were
without income. Unless Ringware held a letter of marque, his sudden wealth
would be inexplicable. [In 1882 a New Bern privateer, the Governor Burke, was named for Thomas Burke; Peter Raingenoire was
her captain with William Savage owner.]
“America’s first years of independence were trying. Hard money was scarce,
and currency had been inflated beyond any actual value. The Articles of
Confederation were no guarantee against foreclosure. North Carolina’s policy
for settling claims against debtors was to seize the debtor’s lands and chattel
and sell them at auction. Peter Ringware discovered this when Mary Pitts, the
widow, seized his house and sold it at a Sheriff’s sale in 1784. The house and
lot brought £72 ten shillings at auction on 27 August 1784. The high bidder was
Basil Grant, the Sheriff’s cousin. Three days later, Sheriff Reuben Grant
purchased Ringware’s house from his cousin for £72 ten shillings. Such a slight
and profitable irregularity was not uncommon in those days.
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| March 2012 Painting by Beaufort artist Mary Warshaw |
“The Grants held the property until 1810. Solomon Grant, Reuben’s son, sold
the house to Isaac Lipsey in the autumn of 1810. In a series of transactions
during the War of 1812, Brice Bender became the owner of Ringware’s house. His
will, probated in 1816, specified that Lot 23, Swansboro, was to be sold. The
next transaction on the property occurs in 1834 when Elijah Wade sold the home
to James W. Newbold. Newbold overextended himself, for during the Panic of
1837, he sold his interest in Lots 23 and 24 to James E.S. Duffy. Duffy
disposed of the then sixty-year-old home and lot in 1838 on a deed of gift to
Daniel Sanders.
“Sometime between 1838 and 1847, the house was sold to William Pugh
Ferrand, the dealer in naval stores. Ferrand was the wealthiest man in
Swansboro. He died in the house in 1847. His son, William Jr., sold the
property to Daniel A. Hargett in 1850. The Hargett clan held the home for 66
years, considerably longer than any other occupant. Etta Mattocks, the last
Hargett girl, sold the home to J.M. [James Mack] Jones and his wife [Mary
Mattocks “Minnie” Ward, daughter of Hester Gibson and George Washington Ward]
in 1916. [So, Etta was selling it to her cousin’s husband.] The Jones family
donated Captain Ringware’s house to the Swansboro Historical Association in 1961."
Elsie and Harold Fonville while "courting" at the backside corner of the Ringware House--January 1947. Elsie Rhodes lived in the house at the time and took care of Minnie Jones. The Jones were parents of Kathleen Jones Bell, who taught piano lessons both at school and in her Swansboro home. Her husband John Bell was the only policeman in Swansboro at the time.Information and photo were contributed by Sadie Fonville McCausley.
MORE DETAILS. . .
Note ballast stones supporting the chimney.
Note the original hardware on the shutters.
Hooks and hinges were hand forged by town blacksmiths.
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