n 1789, and which numbered among its trustees Isaac
Gregory, Peter Dauge, and William Ferebee. This building served the
triple purpose of school, church and Masons' Hall, the upper story being
used for holding church service, and by the Masons for their meetings,
and the lower for the school. The principal of this school was called
the provost, a high-sounding title which must have made even the most
insignificant of pedagogues feel proud and important. Among the teachers
employed at this institution during the later years of its existence was
Ezekiel Gilman, of Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvard, who came to
Currituck in 1840 and who taught in Currituck and Camden fifty
consecutive years. Mr. Gilman is still well and affectionately
remembered by citizens of these counties, who as lads were fortunate
enough to be his pupils. Though somewhat eccentric in manner and dress,
he was a man of deep learning, whose kindness of heart was proverbial
throughout the counties which were the scene of his labors.

When the storm of the Revolutionary War broke over the American
Colonies, the men of Currituck came gallantly to the front, and with
comrade soldiers from the other colonies doggedly and persistently
fought the foe till the last British trooper was driven from the land,
and independence was not only declared, but won. Few counties in the
State gave more freely of her sons than did this county by the sea. Few
can show a longer list of brave and gallant officers. Among the most
noted of these were the three sons of William Ferebee, of Culong
Plantation, Joseph, William and Samuel. Joseph was a Lieutenant in
Colonel Jarvis' Tenth North Carolina Militia, and was at Valley Forge
during the terrible winter of 1777-'78. There is a family tradition that
he killed General Fordyce, of the British Army, at the Battle of Great
Bridge, near Norfolk. William was appointed Captain in the Seventh
Regiment of Continentals from North Carolina, and was later a member of
the Convention of 1789, which ratified the Federal Constitution. Samuel
Ferebee served as sergeant and ensign in the companies of Captain
William Russell and Colonel Samuel Jarvis. He volunteered in Captain
Joseph Ferebee's company, was ensign under Captain James Phillips, and
was commissioned lieutenant, and collected troops by order of General
Gregory for Baron Von Steuben. Samuel Ferebee was also the last
surviving member of the Fayetteville Convention, which ratified the