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Bland
Simpson
Descendant
of Joseph Ashby Spruill, playwrite, author, musician teacher
The musical "Kudzu",
now playing at Ford's Theater, was written in part by Bland
Simpson. He is descended from Joseph Ashby Spruill of
Columbia, NC, partner in Spruill's store and state Senator in the
latter half of the 19th century. Mr. Simpson is an English
Professor at UNC (Chapel Hill) and the author of several
books including Into the Sound Country (see
description below). Mr. Simpson is also a member of a musical
group called The Red Clay Ramblers. Both he and the Ramblers
are featured in "Kudzu", which is based on the comic
strip by Doug Marlette. If you are familiar with the strip, Bland
plays Uncle Dub. The musical tried out for several performances
at Duke University back in February; my sister and I saw it there
and thoroughly enjoyed it. We highly recommend it. I understand
it is doing well in Washington; it is scheduled to run through
June.
-- Joe
Spruill 
A teacher since 1982 in UNC-Chapel
Hill's Creative Writing Program, Bland Simpson is author of HEART
OF THE COUNTRY: A Novel of Southern Music (Seaview/Putnam's '83,
Univ. of Georgia Press '96); THE GREAT DISMAL: A Carolinian's
Swamp Memoir (Univ. of NC Press '90, reprint '98); and THE
MYSTERY OF BEAUTIFUL NELL CROPSEY, A Nonfiction Novel (Univ.
of NC Press '93)[NC Society of Historians Historical Fiction
Award Winner, 1995]. In 1996, Simpson won a Silver Reel Award of
Merit from the International Television Association for his short
film script Elizabeth City: Portrait of a Coastal Community.
His newest book, INTO THE SOUND COUNTRY: A Carolinian's
Coastal Plain, with photography by his wife Ann Cary Simpson,
was published to widespread acclaim by the University of North
Carolina Press, Fall, '97, and went into 2d printing Spring '98. Also Simpson
wrote Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals: The Mystery of the Carroll A.
Deering
As a member since 1986 of
the Tony Award-winning string band The Red Clay Ramblers, Simpson
has toured extensively in North America, Europe, the Middle East
and North Africa, and has contributed to the scores of Sam
Shepard's 1988 film FAR NORTH and Mr. Shepard's 1994
feature SILENT TONGUE, in which the Ramblers also appear;
and he helped develop the 1993 Broadway hit FOOL MOON [Drama
Desk nomination to the Red Clay Ramblers for Outstanding Music in
a Broadway Play, 1992-93, returned to Broadway October '95-Jan. '96;
ran in San Francisco and Seattle last fall before its 3d Broadway
run, Nov. 17th '98- Jan. 3d '99; Special Tony Award presented to FOOL
MOON June 6th '99]. The Ramblers have often appeared on such
national radio broadcasts as "Mountain Stage," from
Charleston, WVA, and "A Prairie Home Companion," with
Garrison Keillor, from St. Paul, Minn. and elsewhere.
With fellow Red Clay
Rambler Jack Herrick, Simpson co-authored the commissioned North
Carolina commemorative musicals COOL SPRING (1989) and TAR
HEEL VOICES (1994); and with Herrick and Pulitzer Prize-winning
cartoonist Doug Marlette, Simpson has collaborated on KUDZU, A
Southern Musical, based on Mr. Marlette's widely syndicated
comic-strip--KUDZU was presented at Duke University's Reynolds
Theatre, Durham, NC, February '98, and Ford's Theatre,
Washington, DC, Mar.-June '98. Simpson has also collaborated on,
or contributed to, the following musicals: KING MACKEREL &
THE BLUES ARE RUNNING: Songs & Stories of the Carolina Coast
[w/ Jim Wann; Kennedy Center, '96; NC Public Television, '97, '98,
'00]; DIAMOND STUDS [w/ Jim Wann; Off-Broadway, '75] and
HOT GROG [w/ Jim Wann; Off-Broadway, '77]; LIFE ON THE
MISSISSIPPI [w/ Tommy Thompson]; THE MERRY WIVES OF
WINDSOR, TEXAS [w/ John Haber, script; Jack Herrick,
principal composer; & Tommy Thompson, Jim Wann, John Foley;
Houston's Alley, '88; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Columbus
Players, Duke Pre-Broadway, '89, Cincinnati Playhouse in the
Park, '94]; and PUMP BOYS & DINETTES [Jim Wann,
principal author/composer, 1982 Tony Nominee for Best Broadway
Musical].
In February '99, Simpson
was given the Governor's Conservation Achievement Award "Conservation
Communicator of the Year," administered by the NC Wildlife
Federation. In April '99 he received the NC Folklore Society's
Brown-Hudson Award for his writing and music regarding state and
regional heritage. In December '99, Simpson was the keynote
speaker at the University of North Carolina's mid-year
commencement ceremony in the Dean Smith Center, remarks entitled:
"Let Us Make Our Many Waters Living Models to the World."
As of August 1st, 2000,
Simpson serves as Acting Director of the UNC-Chapel Hill Creative
Writing Program, and as Vice Chair of the North Carolina Writers
Con
**********
Into the Sound Country A Carolinian's
Coastal Plain
by Bland Simpson
Photography by Ann Cary Simpson
The sound country of Eastern
North Carolina is one of America's most beautiful and
underexplored areas. INTO THE SOUND COUNTRY is an affectionate,
impressionistic, and personal portrait of the coastal plain by
two natives of the region, writer Bland Simpson and photographer
Ann Cary Simpson. The North Carolina branch of the Spruill
family figures into the book at several points, and Bland Simpson
is a direct descendant of Doctor Godfrey Spruill and Joanna
Spruill.
The Great Dismal: A
Carolinian's Memoir
by Bland Simpson
The Great Dismal Swamp lies just below the
Tidewater area of Virginia, straddling the North Carolina-Virginia
line. Simpson (writing, U. of North Carolina) mixes personal
experience, travel narrative, oral history, and natural history
to portray the Swamp and its people. Annotation copyright Book
News, Inc. Portland, Or. --This text refers to an out of print or
unavailable edition of this title.
The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey
: A Nonfiction Novel
by Bland Simpson
A dramatic story about the disappearance of
19-year-old Nell Cropsey from her riverside home in Elizabeth
City, North Carolina, in November 1901. Simpson weaves this true
story into a colorful account, told in three first-person voices:
Nell's sister Ollie, famous newspaper editor W.O. Saunders, and
Nell's beau Jim Wilcox.
Heart of the Country; A Novel of
Southern Music
by Bland Simpson
Thomas
Jeptha Spruill
submitted by Carol Toyama
Thomas Jeptha Spruill
enlisted at Pickens County, August 1863 and served until he was
paroled at Elmira, New York at the end of the War. He held the
rank of Private in Co. C, 41st Reg't. Alabama Infantry,
Confederate Army. He was captured at Petersburg, VA on June 15,
1864 and confined June 16, 1864 at Bermuda Hundred, VA.( Bermuda
Hundred, VA Register No. 191. page 32.) He was received at Elmira
N.Y. on July 12, 1864 and released June 16, 1865. He signed an
oath of allegiance to the United States at Elmira N.Y. on June 16,
1865.
My mother tells me that Tom
was only 15 or so years when he ran away to join the army. His
father and uncles had already enlisted and left Tom home to run
the farm. When the slaves were freed they all ran away and Tom
didn't want to stay home and work the farm, so he ran away and
joined the army. The enlistment dates above suggest that this
must have been family lore, but not fact.
A letter from one of Tom's
granddaughters says she remembers "Poppa" saying that
he was taken in a boxcar to prison in NY. Because he was just a
young kid, the guards at the prison would give him a leg up over
the fence and send him into town to get things for them. When he
returned they would open the gate to let him in. The guards were
under orders not to open the gate to let anyone out. They were
not under orders to not let anyone in.
Received
via Email
I am a descendant of Doctor Godfrey and Joanna Spruill. The
following is an excerpt from my notes.If this rings any bells,
I'll be happy to share info
.
Doctor Godfrey Spruill was the American progenitor of the Spruill
families of Steens, Lowndes County, MS and Pickens County, AL. He
was born in Scotland in 1650. He and his wife Joanna immigrated
to the Colony of Virginia about 1684.
He was granted a patent for 340 acres of land in James City
County, VA. on 31 October, 1684 and in the same year purchased
100 acres from Robert Sharp. VA land, at that time, was granted
for the importation or transportation of individuals, therefore
we can assume that Godfrey and Joanna were persons of means. They
moved to North Carolina about 1704. North Carolina land grant
records show that he received 640 acres along the Scupper- nong
River. There they produced and raised three sons and three
daughters, Samuell, Godfrey, Jr., Joseph, Susannah, Anna
Margarita and Mary. He was a very successful farmer, physician
and entrepreneur.
Contributed by Calvin Gibson Cgibson19@aol.com
RECEIVED
THIS BY EMAIL
I am a Spruill descendent from Tyrell County. My grandmother was
Mary SPRUILL Weeks and goes back to Gen. Hezekiah SPRUILL and his
father (I'm doing this from memory and I don't remember his name
off hand).
Let me implore you folks who have living grand parents, PLEASE
talk to them. They are a repository of history you won't be able
to get ANYWHERE else, and I don't care how long you research.
They are full of family stories that will prove invaluable to you.
I am stuck with names, dates and areas of the country. NO family
stories, NO personal remembrances, no nothing except what I have
been able to dig out and that is names and dates. The SPRUILL
family is a very old family who has always been well thought of.
I can't stress enough how very important your living histories
are. Please explain to them how important this is to future
generations. Wouldn't they want your children, their children and
so forth to know who they were and what they were about? I'm 62
and becoming acquainted with my mortality. I want my descendants
to know about my family, I'm proud of it. Even the occasional
uncomplimentary information. While I don't have any horse
thieves, or such, I believe it would really be interesting if I
did. Maybe I do and don't know it.
I'm certain anyone who has been about this genealogy stuff for
any length of time will also beg you to get those grand parents
talking.
Florence
L. Parman
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