Charles Pittman Dey - Fish Factory and Home

About 1881, Charles Pittman "C.P." Dey opened a large menhaden plant at Lennoxville Point.

Charles Pittman Dey (1844‒1932), son of farmer John W. Dey and Eleanor “Emily” Pittenger, was born in New Jersey. In 1868, Charles married Almira T. Dudley in Carteret County, NC. Amira Dudley (1843‒1917) was born on Portsmouth Island, NC, to Dr. Samuel Dudley and Susan Decatur Salisbury.

The 1870 census recorded Charles and Almira, farming in Middletown, NJ, living with Charles’ parents. By the 1880 census, they were still in Middletown, Charles recorded as “Proprietor Fish Factory.” By 1900, they were renting a home on Ann Street in Beaufort; he was noted as a merchant.

By the 1910 census, they owned a home at 605 Front Street, where his occupation was recorded as “Oil and Fish Factory – Fertilizer.” By 1920, Charles was a widow, in his Front Street home with nephew Dr. Charles Leroy Swindell and wife Lorna Stanton Hales. In 1922, 77-year-old Charles married 45-year-old Sarah Davenport Jones in Petersburg, VA. On the 1930 census, the Front Street home was valued at $8000.

Charles Pittman Dey was buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery, New Bern, NC. At the time of his death, he owned the boats C.P. Dey, Alert, Elizabeth, Frances, and Olympia, four large purse boats, and two small boats.

Dey House at Front and Queen

Dey’s nephew, Dr. C.L. Swindell (1884‒1953), evidently inherited the Front Street house. Born in Wadesboro, NC to Frederick Dallas Swindell and Susannah Decatur Dudley, Dr. Swindell married twice, first to Lorna Stanton Hales (divorced), and secondly to Virginia Lee Rowe Thornton.

OF NOTE: Mrs. C. L. Swindell (Lorna Stanton Hales) was one of the founding members of the Beaufort Community Club (Woman's Club), as head of the "Entertaining Department."

After a long stay at the VA Hospital in Kecoughtan VA, Dr. Swindell died at 69 of bronchogenic carcinoma, and was buried at Hampton National Cemetery, Hampton, VA. 

The Dey-Swindell House at 605 Front Street was demolished in 1955.

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The Beaufort News - New Dey Boats - Sept 18, 1930

 

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The Beaufort News - C.P. Dey Obituary July 7, 1932