According to a historical document written by Mrs. Bessie C. Smith, in 1925, and published in the Pilot of Southern Pines, the Town of Vass was named for Major William Worrell Vass, Treasurer and Executive Officer of the Raleigh and Gaston RR. The town changed its name from Winder to Vass in 1892, in honor of Vass.

William Worrell Vass was born Feb 19, 1821, the youngest of six children born of Thomas Vass and Lucy Hester. They lived outside the Town of Oxford, North Carolina. He became the Treasurere of the RR in January of 1845, and served in an executive position for the next 48 years. At the time of his retirement in 1892, the News and Observer of Raleigh noted, "His record is indeed and enviable one. Among our citizens no one stands higher for excellence of character, or for kindness of disposition, or for personal integrity and worth than this veteran
railroad officer."

He died on December 6, 1896, in Raleigh, at his home located at 3 East Edenton Street. The house was a historic treasure, built in 1882. The Raleigh News and Observer noted that "...the Vass house was designed as a showplace, for no home constructed for utility alone ever excells
architecturally. A splendid child of the Victorian era, the dwelling was conceived by Major William Worrell Vass..." In a very sad note. the house was not able to be saved by the children of William from destruction, and on the very day that the bulldozer showed up to demolish the house, one of the last survivors of his family, Eleanor Vass, one of three children, died on December 21, 1971.

Vass is buried in the Vass family grave site in Oakwood Cemetary, along with his wife and children.

William Worrell's father, Thomas was born in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1776. Thomas moved to Granville County, North Carolina in 1790. He died in 1849. He is buried, with his wife Polly Ann Vass, on a lovely hillside, underneath huge oak trees, in a rural farm setting in Granville County. I have had the pleasure and honor of visiting his site and I am grateful to the farmers of that community for preserving his grave. I would never have found the site without the kind assistance of Lonnie Wright, a farmer and scholar, who lives in the area.

Thomas' father was also named Thomas. He was a pioneer Baptist preacher, who moved to North Carolina to preach in a church to the west of Oxford. Remnants of his church, Grassy Creek Baptist, still exists, and the site is the location of the modern Grassy Creek Baptist. Historical records indicate that Reverend Thomas had a fiery disposition.

Reverend Thomas Vass was a descendant of Robert Vass, who left London at age 19 in August of 1635. As reported in Topper, Robert was a conformist, meaning a member of the Church of England. He sailed on the Globe of London. Robert became a farmer in Virginia, and had two sons, Vincent Vass (1660-1727) and Philip.

For a historically complete record of the Vass family in Viriginia, please visit and review the work of Mike Marshall at the Vass geneology page on the geneology forum.

prepared by Thomas Edward Vass, Swift Creek, NC, Oct 8, 2000