Evelyn Henderson Allen (1919-2009)

Subject: Evelyn Henderson Allen (born Margaret Evelyn Henderson, September 18, 1919. Died November 13, 2009.)
Interviewers: Judy Houston McRory and Becky Griffin
Summary Prepared For: Mint Hill Historical Society Archives

Overview

Evelyn Henderson Allen was born September 18, 1919, and grew up at the very center of Mint Hill, North Carolina. As a member of one of the town’s most prominent founding families, she provides a rare first-hand account spanning the early twentieth century, the Great Depression, and World War II. The interview, conducted in 2001 by Judy Houston McRory and Becky Griffin, covers family genealogy, community commerce, education, church life, healthcare, and daily domestic life across several decades. Evelyn’s recollections are rich in specific names, places, and family details that illuminate the social and economic fabric of early Mint Hill.

Media Files

Media Links:

MP3 audio (processed audio using Auphonic, hosted on Amazon S3)
Descript Transcript + Audio link (UNprocessed audio)
Transcript on Google Drive
UNedited FLAC recordings (part 1 / part 2, not public yet)
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Family Genealogy and Deep Roots in Mint Hill

Evelyn’s parents were Lillian Morris Henderson and John Dale Henderson (born 1896). Her paternal grandparents were Dallas Alexander Henderson and Rosinda Alice Beaver Henderson. Her maternal grandparents were John Wilson Morris and Cora Biggers Morris. All branches of her family were firmly rooted in Mint Hill, with grandparents living next door.

Evelyn traces her family connections back at least five generations, a lineage she documented through her membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), with the qualifying ancestor identified on the Henderson side. She notes family ties to the Hood, Biggers, and Morris families, believed to be among the earliest settlers in the Mint Hill area, and she expresses a desire to research a possible connection to Colonel Zebulon Morris. Evelyn shares a four-generation photograph taken when she was approximately eight or nine years old, featuring herself, her mother Lillian, her grandmother Cora, and her great-grandmother Sarah Jane Hood Biggers. She was named for her father’s sister, Etta Evelyn, who died young after suffering severe burns from a cooking fire and subsequent pneumonia.

The Henderson Family as Civic and Commercial Anchors of Mint Hill

The Henderson family operated at the heart of Mint Hill’s business and civic life for multiple generations. Evelyn recounts that her grandfather Dallas Henderson was Mint Hill’s first mayor and oversaw the community’s first post office, which had a small jail located behind the building. The family’s commercial ventures went through at least three locations in Mint Hill:

Main School Road (at the fork with Lawyers Road): where Evelyn’s father John Dale Henderson was born, and where the family operated a grocery store.
The Garland House and Store: the family’s second location; a swap of houses and stores with a Mr. Estridge eventually moved ownership of that building to what became known as the Garland Store.
The Two-Story Brick Store (later known as O’Neil’s): built around 1901 when Evelyn’s father was approximately seven years old, this became the signature Henderson commercial property. Evelyn recalls it as a general mercantile carrying groceries, clothing and fabric, farm implements, shoes, and eventually gasoline. The upper floor served as Woodmen Hall, where community events including oyster stews were held. A separate smaller store, run by Will Beaver (the grandmother’s brother), stood adjacent to the main building and stocked primarily farm tools.

The store carried the names “Dallas Henderson & Sons” and later “Henderson Brothers.” Evelyn’s grandfather Dallas ran the store, her Uncle Don assisted, and her father John Dale managed the cotton gin behind the building (previously a flour mill operated by Uncle Eli Henderson, who later established Henderson Roller Mill in Monroe, NC). The family’s commercial interests also included an automobile dealership, Beaver and Henderson.

The Henderson store passed through several hands over the decades. During the Depression it closed as customers could not pay. Carl McEwen later purchased the building as a warehouse for his casket business. Mr. Allen (Evelyn’s father-in-law) subsequently bought it, and Don Allen (Evelyn’s husband) eventually inherited it, completing a remarkable circle: Evelyn’s husband took ownership of her own family’s store, and their children worked there at age 13, just as Evelyn herself had done at that same age.

The Mint Hill Telephone Company

Before Evelyn was school age, the Henderson family also operated a local telephone exchange. The switchboard was located in her grandparents’ home, operated by her grandmother and later by her Aunt Mae. Her father served as the telephone lineman. The community started with an eight-party line system, and the Hendersons were among the few families in the area who had telephone service. The company was sold to Matthews Telephone Company while Evelyn was still a young child. This family background in telecommunications directly influenced Evelyn’s own career; after graduating she became a long-distance telephone operator for Southern Bell in Charlotte, a job she loved.

Daily Life, Childhood, and Community Social Culture

Evelyn paints a vivid portrait of life in central Mint Hill during the 1920s. The main roads were unpaved. Children played in the large Henderson yard because they were not permitted to cross the road: tag, hide and seek, and kick the can with neighborhood children, including the Whitley children (all thirteen of them) who lived across the street. Ice cream suppers at the grandparents’ home and oyster stews at Woodmen Hall were regular social events. During her high school years, surprise birthday parties were a popular custom among her circle of friends, including Brownie Ellington, Olivia Louisa Cox, and Sarah Catherine and Emma Lou.

The Henderson household owned a player piano, a novelty that drew neighbors from across the community to listen. Evelyn took five years of piano lessons, first from Ms. Lansford (a neighbor), then from Ida Moore Alexander. She and her brother performed their first recital piece together, playing “Chopsticks.”

Transportation evolved gradually during her childhood. Her first memory of an automobile was her Uncle Will Beaver’s Model T Ford. Her father later acquired a Ford as well. Shopping trips to Charlotte, primarily to Belk’s, were significant events, and she remembers that even the streets of Charlotte were unpaved in her early years.

Education: Bain School

Evelyn attended Bain School (Bain High School), an eleven-grade institution she could walk to from her home. She recalls teachers by name from each grade level, noting her first-grade teacher was Miss Williams and her favorite teacher was Rebecca Redwine in the second grade. The school experienced overcrowding during her years there: her third-grade class was taught in a janitor’s house across the street from the main building, warmed only by a pot-bellied stove. Later, her class was bused temporarily to Clear Creek School when no classroom was available. The school calendar included a harvest break so older students could pick cotton.

She names several childhood friends and classmates including Sarah Catherine Patton, Libby Clark, and Virginia Biggers. Card games, particularly “set back,” were a regular evening pastime among close friends during her teenage years.

Church Life: Philadelphia Presbyterian Church

Evelyn has been a lifelong member of Philadelphia Presbyterian Church, describing it as the only church she ever joined. Three sets of her grandparents attended the same congregation. She recalls that in her early years men and women sat on opposite sides of the church, a practice she observed with her grandparents as well as her parents. Her grandfather and father both served as deacons and elders. Her first Sunday school teachers included Lou Ashcraft and Wilma McEwen. Church dress was formal: women wore special dresses, shoes, and hats, purchased in Charlotte.

Healthcare and the Whitley Family

Evelyn and all four Henderson children were born at home, each attended by a different physician: Dr. Whitley, Dr. Pettaway (Charlotte), Dr. Reed, and Dr. McManus (Matthews). She recalls Dr. Philip Whitley and his wife living across the street and having thirteen children, all of whom she knew by full name because Mrs. Whitley called them each by their complete name. Dr. Whitley arrived in Mint Hill in 1908, succeeding Dr. DeArmond, who had come in 1886. The interview includes a discussion about determining the construction date of the doctor’s office building and the interviewers’ effort to document whether it was built by Dr. DeArmond or Dr. Whitley.

Her mother used home remedies but also consulted physicians. Evelyn mentions the 1918 influenza epidemic only in passing, noting that her parents discussed it but she could not be certain whether one of her father’s brothers died during that time.

The Great Depression

The Depression years shaped Evelyn’s family profoundly. The Henderson store eventually closed because so many customers could not pay, leaving unpaid creditors. To survive, the family relocated to the Beaver Farm off Breeze Road, where they grew food, raised milk cows and chickens, and farmed with her grandmother Granny Morris. Her mother made the family’s clothing and cut their hair. When her grandfather became ill, thirteen-year-old Evelyn was left to run the Henderson store alone for a period, accepting eggs as barter in exchange for staples like sugar and flour.

During this period, a local group called the Truelights sold their homes, gave up their cattle, and moved to South Carolina after their leader prophesied the end of the world was imminent. When the prediction did not come to pass, some members of the group eventually returned to Mint Hill, their resources depleted. This story serves as a vivid, community-specific illustration of the desperation and vulnerability that defined the Depression era.

Carl McEwen is mentioned with appreciation as a generous community figure who helped people during difficult times. Evelyn recalls as a child playing upstairs in the McEwen funeral home among the caskets.

Marriage, World War II, and Post-War Life

Evelyn married Don Allen in 1940, in York, South Carolina, keeping the marriage secret until that evening. There was no honeymoon; Don was working in Greensboro for Armour & Company (meat packers and distributors), and Evelyn transferred her telephone company position to Greensboro two months after the wedding. The couple lived in a series of rented rooms before forming a lasting bond with a landlady named Mrs. Denny, whom they came to call “Mom Denny.” Both of their children were born in Greensboro.

Don joined the Navy during World War II and served from 1944 to 1946. Evelyn returned to Mint Hill to live with her parents, caring for her two young children while also tending to a niece whose mother had moved to Charlotte for war-time work. Both of Evelyn’s brothers served in the Army; her sister served in the Waves. All family members returned safely from the war.

After Don’s discharge, the couple purchased the old Bobby Hood farm across from his parents’ home on Allen Black Road, where they raised cotton initially and then transitioned to cattle farming, a livelihood that continued for many years. They subsequently purchased her parents’ house in central Mint Hill. Evelyn worked simultaneously as a telephone company employee, a store operator (covering for Don during cattle sales), and a farm and household manager, describing her situation plainly as holding “three jobs.”

Other Community Businesses and Landmarks Mentioned

Blacksmith Shop: Located between the Garland Store and the doctor’s building; Evelyn recalls two operators: Marion Harget, and an earlier Black craftsman whose name she could not remember.
McEwen Store and Funeral Home: Run by CJ McEwen and later Carl McEwen; connected to the purchase of the Henderson store building as a casket warehouse.
The Woodmen Hall: First located in a building that became the Henderson family home; later held meetings and community suppers above the two-story Henderson store.
Henderson Roller Mill (Monroe, NC): Operated by Evelyn’s great-uncle Eli Henderson after he left Mint Hill.
Ashe Plantation Area: Referenced as a nearby landmark during the family’s years on the Beaver Farm.

Photographs and Artifacts Referenced

Evelyn brought several photographs to the interview, including a four-generation portrait taken around 1927 or 1928, featuring herself, her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She also references a photograph of her father and his sister Etta Evelyn dressed alike, who died before Evelyn was born. An engraved party card from around the turn of the century was discovered behind a mantel in an old Henderson house (later known as the Woods house), which she wished she had brought to the interview.

Summary of Key Topics and Themes

Multi-generational Henderson family history as civic and commercial founders of Mint Hill
Early Mint Hill commerce: general stores, flour mills, cotton gins, auto dealerships, telephone exchange
Mint Hill’s earliest civic institutions: first mayor, first post office, Woodmen Hall
Education at Bain School in the early twentieth century
Philadelphia Presbyterian Church as a family and community anchor
Daily domestic life, childhood games, and social customs of the 1920s and 1930s
Impact of the Great Depression on individual families and the broader Mint Hill community
Home births and early healthcare practices; the Whitley and DeArmond medical legacies
Women’s work and economic resilience during the Depression and World War II
The Allen and Henderson families’ intertwined histories in Mint Hill
Post-war return to farming and community life
Multiple generations maintaining and reclaiming the same properties and businesses over decades

Interview conducted by Judy Houston McRory and Becky Griffin for the Mint Hill Historical Society. Summary prepared for MHHS archival use by Wes Fryer, 28 June 2026.