HISTORY by James
Brieger:
"The first settlement at Ruth, seventeen miles southeast
of Brookhaven, was made in the late 1880's by Joe Finch.
Smith Felder acquired a large tract of land here in 1890 and
opened a post office in 1891 naming it Ruth for his youngest
daughter.
When the NC&M Railroad was built through here in the
early 1890's, the village grew to three stores, a three-room
school and about twelve homes.
When the Felder family moved from Ruth, V. J. Greer
became the postmaster but the office was later moved to the
logging camp of the Norwood & Butterfield Company. When the
logging camp moved on the office was moved to the store of
Floyd Clark and at that time the mail was carried on
horseback from Norfield to Ruth. Clark later moved his store
to the present site of Ruth and the mail was brought to his
store by train."
Additional notes by Tony Howe:
The above statements by Brieger seem to be mostly
corroborated by postal service records. The original
application for the Ruth post office was dated February 12,
1890 by Emma Estelle Felder for a location in the NW 1/4 of
Section 20. On November 23, 1896, Lizzie R. Gulledge asked
to move the post office to the SESW Section 16 about 50'
south of the NC&M. On March 16, 1899 L. A. Reeves asked to
move the post office 1 mile northwest to the SENW of Section
20. On February 28, 1902, Floyd Lafayette Clark petitioned
to moved the post office southeast about a half mile to a
location near the NC&M. |