Paternal grandparents, James C. Guthrie and Caroline Guthrie were married on July 18, 1828; Caroline was born in Beaufort to Benjamin Guthrie and Hannah Paretree.
Maternal grandparents, Joseph L. Roberson and Eliza Stewart were married in on August 19, 1835. Both of Eliza's parents, Charles Stewart and Jane Chadwick, were descendants of whaler Samuel Chadwick.
On July 24, 1900, "C.C." Guthrie married Bessie Beatrice Willis (1879‒1955), daughter of George Easton Willis and Elizabeth Ann Weeks, and lived at 910 Ann Street. Bessie and "C.C." became parents of Annie M., who married Ivey Thomas Eubanks; Claude Roberson, who married Sarah C. Lineberry; Clarence Hudson, who married Lucille Parker; and Lela Louise, who married John Theodore Willis.
"C.C." Guthrie had two older brothers; Ernest R. Guthrie (1870‒1946) and Walter James Guthrie (1872‒1949). "C.C." worked with Walter as a fisherman, but his yearnings led him to become a carpenter's apprentice at a very young age. Guthrie quickly became a highly sought after craftsman.
At the turn of the century, "C.C." Guthrie began building homes, going to work each day in a dress shirt and tie. While building the old Coast Guard Station at Fort Macon, he was known to pack his lunch and row his boat to work.
When the railroad came to town in 1908, so did Sears "Houses by Mail." From 1908 until the Great Depression, "C.C." Guthrie and others in Beaufort assembled many of these well-designed homes.
In 1929, "C.C." Guthrie and son Claude built a 2-story Sears home on Piver's Island as residence for Dr. Samuel F. Hildebrand, then director of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. "C.C." was still doing occasional carpentry work for the laboratory in the early 1950s; Claude Guthrie became director of grounds maintenance.
Appointed town commissioner in 1938, Guthrie served several terms.
"C.C." Guthrie built at least 55 houses in Beaufort, including six for Will Potter and eight on Cedar Street for knitting mill workers. In a 1992 article, Charles O. Pitts Jr. wrote of the house Guthrie built for David DeNoyer and Lillie Belle Skarren at 1007 Front Street in 1923. The cost of materials totaled $813.08. Guthrie was paid .60 to .70 per hour. His helper D.J. Godwin was paid .40 per hour. Subcontractors W.H. Roberson, Charles Parker and Cezar Hazek were paid $268.50 for work on brickwork pillars and chimney. Cost of wiring was $100. David DeNoyer and W.E. Skarren did the plumbing. Doors were $4, window sash $2 and 10 pounds of galvanized nails cost $1.20. Having lived in the house, Pitts attested to the quality of workmanship and endurance of materials used as solid evidence of Guthrie's reputation as a builder.
Some of the houses C.C. Guthrie built; compiled by family.
