The story of Sept Laughlin

Peggy Woodlief 

For Randolph Hub

RANDLEMAN — The May 21st open house at St. Paul Museum will feature a special local history presentation by Don Farlow. 

For the May meeting, Farlow will present his discoveries about Seth W. Laughlin, known as a “War Quaker” and a Conscientious Objector in the Confederate States Army. 

While there is no known image of Seth Laughlin, he was apparently a farmer/farm laborer who grew up along Caraway Creek near its intersection with the current-day Beeson Farm Road. 

We do know that Seth became a Wesleyan Methodist in the late 1840s and sought to become a Quaker after the beginning of the Civil War. He became a member of Marlboro Monthly Meeting in November 1863.

While most are familiar with the South’s cause of the Civil War, learning about specific individuals brings a sense of reality to various aspects of this war. It was not simply made up of masses of men fighting for the same reasons; the South contained individuals not always in agreement with this war.

Farlow is a Randolph County native with an MEd in Mathematics and eight years experience as a teacher, coach and school administrator. He retired as vice president of Hatteras Yachts after 31 years of service.  

His avocation in pursuing the study of family, Marlboro Meeting, Quaker and community history enriches our knowledge of local history and reminds us that history is made up of individ-ual people whose individual actions  contribute to how we arrived at current times.

es. If you enjoy local history, then St. Paul is certainly the place to be at 2 p.m. this Sunday.  St. Paul is at the corner of Stout and High Point Streets in Randleman. 

- Peggy Kirkman Woodlief attended St. Paul Church as a child and began working with the Museum after her retirement from Greensboro schools.