[Granville-Hough] 20 Apr 2009 - The Politician

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:49:11 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: The Politician-20 Apr 2009

An apocryphal story contributed by Brenda Hough fits the case of Old Man
Jeff Sullivan and the sons of his third wife.  Jeff was the second son
of Old Hog Tom and Polly (Workman)Sullivan, but he was well along in
years when he married his third wife, Julia (Welburn) and had four more
sons.  The second of these was Napoleon Andrew "Polie" who served many
years as Justice of the Peace and as a County Supervisor. Old Man Jeff
had observed his older sons and his many nephews go through teenage and
choose what they would do in life.  When Polie reached the time to give
some thought about choosing a profession, he was like many young men,
then and now. Polie didn't really know what he wanted to do-
and he didn't seem overly concerned about it.
   One day, while the Polie was away at
school, Old Man Jeff decided to try an experiment. He went into the boys'
room and placed on Polie's bed three objects: a Bible, a silver dollar,
and a
 bottle of whiskey..."Now then," Old Man Jeff said to himself, "I'll just
hide
behind the door here, and when Polie comes home from school this afternoon,
I'll see which  of these three objects he picks up. If he picks up the
Bible,
he's going to be a preacher like my brother Loughton, and what a
blessing that would be! If he
picks up the dollar, he's going to be a businessman, like my brother
Frederick, and that would be
o.k. too. But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a drunkard - a
no-good
drunkard like his cousins Wild Bill and Neese and, Lord, what a shame
that would be."
     Old Man Jeff was anxious as he waited,
and soon he heard Polie's footsteps  as he came in the house whistling and
headed back to the boys' room and his bed. As he put his books on the
bed, he spotted the
objects Old Man Jeff had left there. After he inspected them, he picked
up the
Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and
dropped it
into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink...
      "Lord, have mercy," Old Man Jeff whispered, "He's gonna be a
politician!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------
   "Polie" THE POLITICIAN

     GWH:  My recollection of Napoleon Andrew �Polie� Sullivan as Beat 3
Supervisor is that he was not universally popular.  My whole thought
about Southern Counties is that they are run by committees, a Board of
Supervisors primarily interested in their own beats and secondarily
interested in what would be good for the county as a whole.  I suppose
Poley did as well as anyone else could have done at the time.  He was
elected in 1932 during the Depression, and he was lucky to have an
income, any income at all.  I suppose people were jealous of that little
income and made critical remarks about every bump in the road.  The
school system was more important, but what people felt more keenly were
the bumps in the road.  I was in school with Polie�s children, but none
were in my grade.  They were normal, well-behaved children.
     One of the anecdotes about Polie and his wife Annie (Wells) I
recall came during election year after his service as Supervisor.  Poley
was considering running for a county office � Sheriff, or Chancery
Clerk, or whatever there was.  When he discussed this with his wife,
 Annie, she was much against it.  She was reported as saying: �If you run
for county office, we will have to leave our home and move to Raleigh!!�
     This was a source of much glee to those who did not think highly of
Polie.  They said: �Somebody should tell Annie that before she starts
looking for a house in Raleigh that Polie has to first win the election.
  She has nothing to worry about.�
     Harold Hopkins recalled that some people in Mize mimicked Annie,
who had a slight lisp, with a little ditty or song, based on overhearing
a discussion on what the family would do one Sunday; and it went
something like this: �Boley, Boley, I want to go somewhere, go
somewhere, indeed I do, want to go somewhere!�
     Well, when you are in politics, everything you or a family member
does is open to criticism.  What was a bedroom discussion becomes widely
held gossip and misquoting.  Nothing is private.
     Many marriages in Beat 3 were performed by N. A. Sullivan, JP; and
this has to be the same person.  How Polie happened to be bitten by
politics has never been explained.  Not many Sullivans went that way.
Maybe the apocryphal story does indeed apply to him.