PAST AND
FUTURE TENSE
M BY JON SPOON
y first known ancestor settled in Chatham County just before the American Revolution and rose to the rank of captain in the Patriot Militia. Captain William Gholson’s exploits
included warning Loyalist leader David Fanning to stay out of Chatham County before killing his right-hand man and getting his house torched in response. The Revolution might have ended before Yorktown, if not for one snitch who foiled General Cornwallis’ capture at Ramsey’s Mill. Some of the first acreage that my family ever owned came in exchange for supplying Patriot forces in the war. By the time the railroads got to Chatham County, the family name had morphed into the more American “Goldston.” Joseph John Goldston donated land for a post office, a train station and a Methodist church around the turn of the century, and the town of Goldston was incorporated 34
CHATHAM MAGAZINE
in 1907. The venerable town of Goldston has held a steady population of around 300 people since its inception and never budged from its place as the third and smallest incorporated town in Chatham County. My mother was raised just outside the town limits, across the pond from her grandparents. Her father left school early to work on the farm but was a smart man and built a successful timber and then dairy business. My mother loved art and learned to paint at Meredith College. After attending Chatham Central High School, my mom went back to teach students with learning disabilities. She spent my childhood as a professional artist but earned her master’s in literacy from UNC after going back to teach in Chatham County Schools. My parents met as teachers at JordanMatthews High School in Siler City.
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2021
LEFT The author’s greatgrandparents: Albert A.W. Goldston and Mary (Moses) Goldston. BELOW Earl William Goldston and Blanche Olive Goldston, the author’s maternal grandparents. Earl owned a timber mill in Pittsboro and then a dairy farm in Goldston. “My grandparents got married in 1945 when they were 19 and 20,” around the time this photo was taken, Jon says. “They had three children, and their only daughter is my mom, Beth Goldston.”