Asheboro Confidential

Central NC during the 1850s comes to life in the words of the Rev. Simeon Colton, D.D., a Yale-educated teacher and minister who settled in Asheboro in 1854. Library Director Ross Holt has transcribed and annotated Colton’s diary in his just-published book A Man of Restless Enterprise: The Diary of Simeon Colton, 1851-1862. Colton, a Connecticut native who served as superintendent of the Asheboro Male & Female Academies 1854-1862, & minister of Asheboro Presbyterian Church during the same period. Colton’s diary covers his years in Asheboro and in Cumberland County prior to arriving here. Pious & outspoken, Colton was not shy about sharing his opinions of some of his colleagues and neighbors —and naming names. The diary’s main value lies in its portrayal of life here in the years leading up to the Civil War. Colton writes about domestic affairs, his travels, and operating schools in communities facing demographic, economic and civic challenges.