THOMAS J RIGSBEE FARM / DUKE UNIVERSITY WEST CAMPUS
Rigsbee House, 1912
Left-to-right:
1 Mary Tom Rigsbee
2 Jesse Albert Rigsbee
3 Carrie Rigsbee (in lap of Jesse)
4 Nellie Brogden (niece of Jenny Rigsbee)
5 Mabel Rigsbee
6 Eugenia 'Jenny' Blalock Rigsbee
7 Faye Rigsbee
8 Norman Rigsbee (seated)
9 Jack Rigsbee (standing)
10 Boyd George Brogden (seated -- nephew of Jenny Rigsbee)
(Courtesy Keith Bowden)
Rigsbee Barn, 1912
Left-to-right:
1 Mabel Rigsbee
2 Eugenia 'Jenny' Blalock Rigsbee
3 Carrie Rigsbee
4 Nancy Rigsbee
5 Faye Rigsbee
6 Nellie Brogden (niece of Jenny Rigsbee)
7 Mary Tom Rigsbee
8 Boy on horseback
9 Norman Rigsbee
10 Jesse Albert Rigsbee
11 Boyd George Brogden (nephew of Jenny Rigsbee)
12 Jack Rigsbee
(Courtesy Keith Bowden)
Collectively, the Rigsbee family owned a huge amount of what would become Durham. Atlas Monroe Rigsbee, who owned much of Morehead HIll prior to selling it off to William Vickers, lived on the northwest corner of what is now East Chapel Hill Street and the eponymous Rigsbee Avenue. His farmstead stretched to the northeast, taking in much of Mangum St. and Cleveland Holloway. His brother, Thomas J Rigsbee (5/20/1846 - 3/23/1917), owned large tracts of land west of Durham. Both were sons of Jesse Rigsbee (6/22/1808 - 2/1/1881) and Mary Vickers Rigsbee. Given that there was another Jesse Rigsbee in eastern Orange County that served in the Revolutionary War, the Rigsbees have a very long tenure in these parts.
At what is now the intersection of Anderson Street and Duke University Road, Rigsbee Road continued westward along a path cutting diagonally across the current Duke University West Campus, intersecting with 751 at the current cross country trail. I wrote last year about the westward continuation of Rigsbee Road from that point. The TJ Rigsbee (Sr.) farmhouse and barn stood near the Duke football stadium on the present-day campus.
TJ Rigsbee had three wives, and only the third was still living when Murray Jones came calling as an agent of James B. Duke in 1924. I've written previously about the failed attempt to buy land between Trinity College and Watts Hospital to build Duke University, and William Preston Few's familiarity with the Rigsbee land.
Jones paid $200,771 for 399.68 acres of land from the TJ Rigsbee estate. Rigsbee's estate made up the bulk of the original West Campus, but it was hardly the only land purchased by the Dukes for the university; Jones' many transactions stretch throughout
1925, and the original Duke University plat makes clear the number of parcels combined. I've overlaid this plat on Google Earth imagery - you can see the course of Rigsbee Road on this map.
Duke University plat, February 1925.
I wish the picture below was higher resolution. The 1929 photo shows the new west campus under construction in 1929 to the left. Rigsbee Road ~bisects the picture, and you can see the new course of Duke University Road snaking into the right foreground. The stadium area is evident near Rigsbee Road. This natural ravine was where the Rigsbee family kept their pigs. Although not sharp enough to be distinguishable, the buildings and roads of the old farmstead are visible just past the stadium.
1929 aerial, looking northeast.
Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection)
Trumbauer/Abele's rendering of Duke's West Campus.
Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection)
West Campus under construction.
Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection)
The site of the farmstead is now parking lot for the university.
Approximate site of the TJ Rigsbee House, 06.14.11
Approximate site of the TJ Rigsbee Farm, 06.14.11
The only remnant of the Rigsbee farm is the family cemetery, which sits on the southern side of one of the surface parking lots.
Graveyard entrance, 06.14.11
The family retained ownership of the graveyard when the Dukes/Trinity College purchased the site. It remains in the family (and maintained by the family) today.
06.14.11
There are four rough stones in the cemetery which are, per family history, linked to the unidentified bodies of Confederate soldiers.
A Rigsbee relative remembered that it was here that three Confederate soldiers were buried, their bodies having been found following one of the last skirmishes in the area. Only their soiled uniforms indicated they were soldiers. The Rigsbees washed the uniforms, redressed the bodies, and buried them in this family cemetery, saying, 'Hopefully, someone will do the same for our folks.'
Confederate burials, 06.14.11
Rigsbee Cemetery, 06.14.11
Many thanks to Rigsbee descendants Johnny Rigsbee and Keith Bowden for educating me on the history of the site and their family
TJ Rigsbee's great-grandson, Johnny Rigsbee and great-great grandson, Keith Bowden
Posts
13 comments:
Is the cemetery between the east side of Wade Stadium and Wannamaker Drive, perhaps 150-200 feet from each? If so, I used to park nearby but didn't remember the wall. (But that was 40 years ago.)
Anon - yes that's it.
GK
Read more about the family cemetery, here:
http://dukechronicle.com/article/tombstones-blue-zone
Thanks so much for this post. I have been to that cemetery several times and never understood the connection to Duke. Very enlightening with some great pix and narrative.
Great post! Finished off with pics of cousins I have never met. Keith and I have talked via e-mail(we met through this site), but have yet to meet.
Seth Roberts
Grandson of Catherine Rigsbee
Andy
I can't speak to the personal information in that article, but the amount of money is wrong, and the vague and general comment about some "Rigsbee Mansion" is bewildering.
GK
I'm glad to finally see a map of Rigsbee Rd. If you look at where it rejoins Cameron Blvd now, you can see a line of old oak trees follow Cameron and then veer off at an angle, where they once lined the Wallace Wade access road before Science Drive was built, and I always thought that road was the remnant of Rigsbee Rd. However, there's a, for lack of a better word, crease in the treeline in Google Maps that's often associated with old rail beds or road beds. Also, one of the parking lots that juts off of 751 into Duke Forest just east of Erwin Rd. is clearly a Rigsbee Rd. remnant. And do I recall that Lemur Ln is also a Rigsbee Rd. remnant?
Michael - yes, I did a post on the western section (before I understood the portion east of 751) = here
GK
Many thanks for the write-up and for all you do in preserving Durham history. I need to give a shout-out to my Aunt Jackie Smith for the pictures of the farm house and barn, and also to my cousin Rosalynde Robertson for managing the upkeep of the cemetery. The personal information in the Duke Chronicle article is correct but I also noticed the mistake about the amount paid – I’m not sure where that came from. With regards to the ‘mansion’ reference in the same piece, I believe a Durham newspaper article from the ‘40s referred to the house as substantial for its time and maybe that was the source for the Chronicle writer. Finally, one comment here asked if the wall around the cemetery was new. According to relatives, it’s not new and was there when the farm was sold. Keith Bowden
Thank you again for your generosity, Keith. The house pictured would not have been very mansion-esque for the period (compared to contemporaneous houses in the core of Durham.) My guess would be that there was a conflation with TJ Rigsbee's 'in-town' house that stood at 415 N. Mangum. It was substantial, and torn down during the 1920s or early 1930s for the Pure Oil gas station (421 N. Mangum) and the extension of Watkins St. (Morgan St.) east from Rigsbee Ave. to N. Mangum.
GK
Gary,
I have been curious about the Rigsbee's and how all of this transpired for a while. So thanks for shedding some more light on it. I know Buck Duke had quite a few land owners (and just about everyone else for that matter) mad at him. It seems they got a fair shake as far as the selling price goes, though.
Anyway, I'm not a Civil War historian or anything but I could only think of Fort Fisher, NC in regards to the tombstone you have pictured. That battle (2 actually) took place years later at the end of the war and the Fort is nowhere near Virginia. He didn't have to die in a battle as many died of disease but I can't even find the place. You have any clues?
Not to butt in, but to Dave G.: Fort Fisher VA is near Petersburg; the battle was March 25, 1865 between Lee's Army of Northern Virginia forces and U.S. Grant.
I have been researching my grandfather for nearly 30 years. His name was William Rigsbee and said that his grandfather was Jesse Rigsbee on whose farm Duke was built. I have not been able to connect him to this family. I am therefore able to appreciate the map overlay of Duke Campus with the original Rigsbee farm. My great grandmother was reported to have fallen over a pig sty and died from complications. The pictures of family were exciting to see.
Can anyone tell me the location of the picture that the old Rigsbee home stood on?
Seeing these pictures has revived my desire to find my grandfather's family. Is it possible that Johnny Rigsbee or Keth Bowden would be willing to contact me or for me to contact them?
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