Ms. Holmes was a revered figure in Raleigh who many considered a living artifact of antebellum life in the South. Nearly every day, her bull Joe (which she came to call her “automobull”) faithfully transported her to and from her farm about 4 miles northeast of Raleigh.

The land Betsy and her husband Uncle Billy tilled paid them with produce, herbs and medicinal plants that Betsy sold at a stall on North Exchange Place (present-day Exchange Plaza) at the old City Market. Betsy and her cart were a part of Raleigh’s cultural landscape as it trundled down its unpaved streets. To many she was a welcome sight as she was said to have unwaveringly offered a bow and happy salutation.

Upon her death in 1906 Raleigh newspapers and beyond dedicated many paragraphs to her life with outpourings of sentimental affection. The News and Observer reported, “Quaint Betsy Holmes Leaves an Ache. Ancient Negress loved for her kind heart and famed for her originality. The buggy and the bull. A feature of Parades. Forceful and Thrifty.

Aunt Betsy Holmes closed a long life at her farm, five miles north of Raleigh Sunday evening, who believed in the Lord, in men and in herself; who delighted in toil and loved life; who was instinctively wise in kindness; whose golden heart warmed the whole people of a city, the while it diffused itself in royal humour and good will which gleamed the brighter for the manifold reflections it compelled.”

“As her buggy went upon its stately way, greetings were shouted at her from both sidewalks, hands were waved, cheery voices hailed her. And so on she went, at a bull’s pace out the principal streets, out into the country to her home. In the summer evenings when folks sit upon their verandas they watched for Aunt Betsy, to call to her, to hear her “Evening” and to watch her bow before she went into the country for the night. “Poor old Aunt Betsy,” one thought, “who doesn’t know how poor she is.” And then one knew she wasn’t poor at all and wondered vaguely how she managed to be so rich.”

A young Alfred Mordecai often visited Betsy and Billy on their farm and recounted the experience in “Common Plants of Medicinal Interest,” a paper he wrote for a woman’s club garden section.

“What are those funny roots, Aunt Betsy,” he asked. “They smell sort of sweet, but aren’t they dried up and ruined?”

“Dats Calamus-root, Honey; some calls it Sweet-flag. Ain’t you seed dat rush-grass dare on de aidge of de marsh? Well, dat’s whut ‘tis. De tea fum dem roots is good for de colic. I giv some to Marse Sam t’other Sunday. Him and Mr. Haywood rid by here on dey horses and bofe un um ast me for some. Dey make lak dey want-a take it fuh med’cine.” Here Aunt Betsy would chuckle and add, “I speck dey dess lak to smell dat Calamus, I know day aint gon’a take no nigger med’cine.”

Mordecai, who later became a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, credits Aunt Betsy and Uncle Billy for inspiring his interest in botany and medicine.

Read more about Aunt Betsy and Uncle Billy here: https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/.../aunt-betsy-holmes-root.../