Rufus Judson Aiken was born in 1857. He came from Creedmore which was halfway between Oxford and Durham NC. The family story is that Rufus at the age of six came down the road yelling, "The Yankees are coming, the Yankees are coming". (The house where he grew up is still standing and occupied by Sylvester Lyon a descendant of his sister, Ethna.) There is a story told by her granddaughter Caroline Breedlove Reid that at the dinner table they named the two sides of the table for railroads, such as the Southern Railroad and the Chesapeake Railroad. When someone would ask for some food to be passed they would say to pass it by the railroad on the side on which they were sitting.

In 1881 he married Leonora (Nora) Hester (09 Aug 1859 - 05 July 1918) at Salem Church. She was a teacher living in the home of Redmond Aiken, Rufus' father.

Rufus had been working in Raleigh at the clothing store of B.F. Kronhammer and living with his mother's relatives. In about 1883, Rufus and Nora moved to Oxford, bought 100 acres of land from Mrs. Taylor, cleared it and built a house and a barn. Rufus contracted double pneumonia during the Cleveland administration and was unable to care for his tobacco, which mildewed in storage. When he recovered he was nearly destitute.

Rufus and Nora sold the Taylor place and bought a farm near Salem where the family grew up. Nora's mother Melissa Crews Hester sold them the land at a reduced price. The existing house on the land was quite old, perhaps of log construction. This burned and Rufus built another house which is still standing. Around 1901, a crop of tobacco froze and Rufus planted another crop. He got a good offer for the second crop, but turned it down. Rufus stayed up one night sitting with his Uncle Ed Crews. That night the second crop of tobacco burned.

The family moved to Durham in 1911. The house they lived in was on Watts Street across from the George Watts school. Rufus was in the real estate business and built two warehouses and seventeen homes there. He died in 1924. They are buried in the Salem Church Cemetery. Rufus and Nora had twelve children.

(Provided by Caroline Reid)