Joseph Hampton Rich was born on this day in 1874, in Davie County, to Samuel Chase and Bettie Caroline McMahon Rich.
He graduated from Wake Forest College in 1898, and attended Baptist Seminary in Kentucky.
He had an interest in Daniel Boone that may have grown from the fact that Boone’s parents were buried six miles from Rich’s home in Mocksville.
In 1901 he married Ina Bagby.
In 1913, Rich formed the Boone Trail Highway and Memorial Association. Their goal was to build “an arterial highway to reclaim the counties of the northwestern part of the state (NC).”
He began a crusade in 1925 to place Indian arrowhead markers from Virginia Beach to San Francisco. According to one account, 358 metal tablets were placed along this route. The metal for the markers came from salvage from the Battleship Maine. Not all of the exact sites are known today, but some of the markers still exist.
For several years, Rich and his family lived in Winston-Salem. His World War I registration card listed his address at 740 North Cherry Street. His occupation was listed as printer and publisher at 224 South Main Street. In Winston-Salem, he also lived on Georgia Avenue in the early 1930s.
Rich had several careers that included public school teacher, newspaper publisher, business representative and preacher, in addition to his work for the Boone Memorial Association.
In 1945 he was clerk-librarian in the North Carolina State Senate.
Rich passed away in 1949. His tombstone near Cana, North Carolina, is in the shape of a large Indian arrowhead, similar to the shape of the monuments along the Boone Trail Highway.
Uncle Joe was buried in Cana, North Carolina I Davie County, NOT in Virginia.
Thank you for your comment. I changed the location to North Carolina.