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Wilkes

October 14, 2022

Wilkes County Jails

At the Fall 1859 session of the Wilkes County Superior Court, a report was submitted regarding the condition of the county jail. The statement was concise and to the point, “We the Grand Jury, after examining the jail, do find it insufficient and in an unwholesome and sickly condition.”

Four times a year, as part of the quarterly session of Superior Court, the empanelled jury was required to walk outside the courthouse to inspect the jail which was across the street. At that time in late 1859, recent reports had been increasingly less favorable about the conditions of the facility. Perhaps as a result of this report, it was soon decided that a new jail would be built. This new jail served the county from 1860 until 1915, and it’s still standing today, recognized as one of the best representations of nineteenth-century penal architecture. It’s part of the tour when visiting the Wilkes Heritage Museum located in the old courthouse building in downtown Wilkesboro. Visitors can go inside the old jail and get a sense of what it was like to live there – both as a resident and as a prisoner.

The county’s third jail was built in 1860, and it can be toured by visiting the Wilkes Heritage Museum.

This wasn’t the first jail in Wilkes County. There were two earlier jails at roughly the same location. I won’t try to give a complete history of all the jails in the county, but I want to share some interesting documents that give momentary glimpses at the conditions in the jails.

On June 3, 1778, a seven-member committee was appointed “to lay out and appoint a proper place in the county of Wilkes whereon to erect the Court House, Prison, Pillory, and Stocks of the said county.” They selected the place where the Mulberry Meeting House stands as the most appropriate location. This was a only few months after the formation of the county.

June 3, 1778 selection of the site for the courthouse, jail, pillory, and stocks.

On November 7, 1800, the commissioners were asked to lay off the prison bounds, not to exceed six acres. They selected a space that includes the area now occupied by the museum and the Community Commons Park. At that time, a natural spring ran north along the current greenway into the Yadkin River. The prison bounds included the head of this spring. A survey made in 1820 provides the dimensions as shown below in the shaded area.

The 1800 prison bounds contained six acres on the north side of Main St.

By 1814, that first jail had deteriorated considerably. The grand jury who inspected it in March 1814 reported that “there is no goal in said county, or if any goal, it is insufficient to confine prisoners in safe.” They said that the Justices of the Peace had not done their duty in collecting taxes to build a sufficient goal”. Notice that they attempted to use the old spelling “gaol” for “jail”.

The 1814 report on the lack of an adequate jail for the county.

Apparently nothing had changed by March 1817 when the committee found that the prison was “not of sufficient strength to keep a prisioner therein with safety” and that it “does not appear to be kept in such order with respect to cleanliness and decency as to render the situation of a prisoner in any way comfortable”. Those sentiments were reiterated six months later in September when the jury declared that there was no jail in the county sufficient to hold a person that may be put into it. You have to appreciate their penchant for getting straight to the point and not mincing words!

Perhaps it was at this time – 1817 or 1818 – that a new jail was built. In September 1818, the inspection went well. It was reported that John Lowe was confined there and that he was well provided for, “and that his apartment is in an ordinary good state." They also said “that an attempt has been made lately to brake said jail”. They didn’t elaborate, but it sounds like a prisoner had tried to break out.

Between the 1820s and the 1840s, most of the reports were that the jail was in decent condition and that the prisoners were well cared for. In March 1826, the jail was found to be “in good order” and that the prisoners said they were “well used”. (I guess that’s good?) The exception was with prisoner David Yates who complained of “ill treatment by the jailer and prisoners” and that he desired to be moved to the jail in Ashe or Surry County.

The March 1826 report of the jail found that prisoner David Yates was dissatisfied with his accomodations.

A report from March 1828 is one of the more detailed descriptions of the accommodations. They wrote two full pages on what they observed. In the first room there were four prisoners: John Thompson (alias Newton, 8 days), Hugh Montgomery (8 months), Thomas Jones (8 months), and Parish Barlow (10 months).

The second room was for the three black prisoners: Jacob Miller (8 days), James Hart (6 months), and Joshua Lloyd (6 months).

Page 1 of the report from March 1828 lists the prisoners in the jail. (Click the image for larger version.)

The second page of the report gives details about the condition of the jail. The prisoners said they were “plentifully fed by the jailer with good and wholesome food” and that they had blankets and bedding. The cells were “as cleanly as is common in jails”. The other two rooms “designated as the debtor’s apartment and the female prisoners apartment are in good order and do not contain any prisoners at this time”.

Page 2 of the March 1828 report describes the condition of the jail. (Click the image for a larger version.)

In May 1838, the jail was found to be in bad condition, primarily due to a leaking roof. In the fall of 1844, they found “a deficiency in the trunk or necessary conveyance which occasions some damage to the under floor or is likely to do so”. This sounds like a toilet problem!

Reports of problems in the jail became more common in 1847. In the spring of that year it was found to be insufficient for the safe keeping of prisoners. Also, the pillory, whipping post, and stocks were “in a state of much dilapidation, that they are become totally unfit for the purposes intended, and would recommend that they be renewed throughout. In the fall of that year, the jail was declared unsafe and two locks were missing. But it was clean!

In 1850 the fire place in one of the cells needed repairs. In 1852, the jail was found safe and sufficient. Two of the rooms were kept warm with fire places and chimneys, but “the other two have no visible means of warmth or anything to contain fire”. In 1855, the jury found that the jail building was not very safe and that several improvements were needed, or a new one built. It was the fall of 1859, when, as mentioned above, the jury found the condition of the jail “unwholesome and sickly”. (As a side note, one of the jurors at that session was my ancestor, 31-year-old Hardin Pruitt.)

The 1859 report on the jail stated that it was in poor condition.

In 1861, two reports stated that the jail was in good shape. This was the new jail that was built the previous year, and it’s the one that can be toured today. Like the one that preceded it, this jail had four separate cells. There aren’t many inspection records during the Civil War, and perhaps its upkeep was neglected for much of that time. In August 1866, the jury found the prisoners comfortable, however the jail was insecure with the exception of one room. That room was “occupied by four prisoners who are crowded in this small cell for the want of other cells” which are not secure. Perhaps one of those four prisoners was the infamous Tom Dula who was accused, tried, and convicted of murdering Laura Foster. He was brought before the grand jury at the fall term of court that year, and it’s very possible that he was a prisoner at the time of the inspection.

On November 10, 1868, the minutes of the Board of Commissioners notes that Harrison Powers was allowed $140.30 for feeding prisoners, perhaps for the preceding three-month period. At about the same time, the grand jury called out the jailer for allowing Mr. Grinton to escape from prison.

The jailer was presented to the court for allowing a prisoner to escape.

The handwriting is difficult to read, but I believe it is the Fall term of 1868. The prisoner’s name appears to be Tarnis, but it could be Tomis/Thomas. There was a Thomas Grinton who was born in 1847 and was listed on the 1850 and 1860 Wilkes censuses. There’s no record of him after that.

Most reports through the 1870s were of a jail in good condition, but in the spring of 1881, the jury found the jail to be insufficient. They suggested an improvement in the form of an iron cage in one of the upper rooms. The commissioners must have agreed because there are extra iron bars in one of the upstairs cells. Look for this extra layer of security when you tour the jail!

In 1881, the jury recommended an iron cage in one of the upper rooms.

Over the next 30 years, the jail eventually became too small to serve the needs of the county, and a new jail was needed. On March 1, 1915, the Board of Commissioners set aside $11,000 for the construction of a new jail. In May, they awarded construction of the jail to J. F. Allen, T. M. Foster, and D. J. Brookshire Co of North Wilkesboro. The steel cage portion of the jail would be built by Pauly Jail Builders of St. Louis, MO. A tract of land across from the old jail was purchased for this purpose on April 7, 1915, from J. M. Turner at a cost of $600. It was 0.2 acres at the northeast corner of North St and Bridge St, directly behind the courthouse.

In 1970, this fourth jail was rebuilt, but its replacement was constructed at the same location. In 2014 the new Wilkes County Jail opened, and it’s located 0.6 miles south.

Approximate Years of the Jails in Wilkes County

Much more could be written about each of these Wilkes County jails, and it probably has. There are many interesting stories about the jailers and the honored guests who had the opportunity to spend a night in these special facilities. Some of my ancestors were among them. I heard the story of one man who spent so much time in the jail that he offered to bring his own bed and blankets! I hope that taking a look at these early records adds another layer of depth to the stories we’ve heard about the old jails in Wilkes County. And be sure to take the tour of the museum, jail, and Robert Cleveland house at the Wilkes Heritage Museum to learn more about the county’s history.

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