Duplin Hall of Fame honors Brinson, Routledge

KENANSVILLE — The Duplin County Hall of Fame celebrated its 30th annual awards banquet at the Ed Emory Auditorium last week, adding two inductees to an already impressive roster of 59 exceptional individuals: living recipient Davis Brinson, former Duplin County manager and register of deeds, and Colonel Thomas Routledge, deceased recipient and veteran of the Revolutionary War. The organization has been honoring the accomplishments of Duplin County residents, both historic and contemporary, since its establishment in 1996.

Brinson, former president of the Duplin County Hall of Fame, was introduced as the living inductee for this year’s honor by Duplin County Library Director Laura Jones, also a member of the Hall of Fame’s board of directors.

“Tonight the Duplin County Hall of Fame honors an individual who was born and raised in the heart of Duplin County, the same as his father, his grandfather, great-grandfather, and several greats back,” Jones began her address, detailing Brinson’s youth, education, and accomplishments.

Brinson, a Kenansville native who served for over 20 years with the Kenansville Volunteer Fire Department as firefighter, captain, treasurer and chairman of the board of directors, graduated from North Carolina State University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Following graduation, he returned to Duplin County to work with the Department of Social Services as a child protective services investigator, also serving as a deputy sheriff with the Duplin County Police Department in telecommunications and later as an adult probation and parole officer with the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections in 1997.

In 2000, at the age of 28, Brinson offered his services to the county in another way by running for the office of Duplin County Register of Deeds, eventually winning the election and attending the Basic School for Registers of Deeds at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Government. Brinson was reelected in 2004, 2008, and 2012, completing the advanced register of deeds school in 2007 and earning a chancellor’s certificate in public administration from the University of Missouri in 2009.

“If you ever visited the courthouse during the time when Davis was Register of Deeds, you just felt like you were right there at home,” recalled Faison attorney Brian Bullard. During his tenure, Brinson made it his mission to modernize the office of the Register of Deeds, succeeding in implementing an online marriage application, an electronic record and recording of real estate documents, and an integrated office website that allowed users to learn about the functions of the office and access all vital records online.

Brinson’s accomplishments while in office included the digitization of various documents and records to help preserve the county’s history. All reported property records, maps and plats, as well as real property record book images and indexes dating back to 1750, were converted into a digital format.

Additionally, Brinson oversaw the deacidification and binding of all Duplin County Marriage Records, which had previously been stored in loose metal filing cabinets.

“As a librarian and a genealogy researcher, I can’t say enough about this type of preservation; it’s priceless,” explained Jones.

After serving as Register of Deeds for 17 years and holding positions of ever-increasing responsibility with the North Carolina Association of Registers of Deeds, Brinson was appointed Duplin County Manager. In his first few years as County Manager, Brinson contended with the devastation wrought by Hurricane Florence, supervised rebuilding the county’s IT infrastructure following a malware attack in 2020, and coordinated with 29 county department heads to establish a work schedule for departmental employees during the pandemic. In addition to his service in local government and administration, Brinson remained active in numerous community organizations throughout his tenure.

Taylor Brinson, daughter of the recipient, penned a heartfelt personal reflection on her father’s service, which Jones read at the ceremony. “‘When I think about my dad, I think about a man who could transition between two worlds with the kind of ease that made you think he had superpowers,'” read Jones. “‘I watched my dad pour countless hours into our family’s turkey farm. But he gave even more of himself to the community. For 30 years, he didn’t just work—he served.'”

Brinson addressed the audience upon his official induction into the Duplin County Hall of Fame, “I just want to say thank you. It is an honor. There’s so many of you here tonight who have helped me along my path and my career. I’m honored. I’m humbled. Thank you so much.”

This year’s ceremony had a special focus on Duplin County’s revolutionary past, featuring memorabilia from the late 1700s and guest speakers from Moores Creek National Battlefield—the site of the first decisive Patriot victory in the American War of Independence. Sandi Dunlap, guest speaker and living historian, provided those in attendance with a brief history of the battle from beneath a colonial-style bonnet, noting that Private John Grady was the only patriot casualty in the skirmish.

Steven Roberts, National Park Service education technician and A250 ranger, emphasized that 2026 will mark the 250th anniversary of American Independence — and the 275th anniversary of Duplin County’s formation. Roberts advocated for celebrations of history at North Carolina’s First in Freedom Festival to take place in February 2026.

Bullard, also adorned in period-appropriate attire, noted that the county’s founding was far from simple to determine.

“The colonial period of Duplin County can be challenging to piece together,” he explained. “One reason, perhaps, is that the founders were too busy making history to write it down.”

Bullard thanked those instrumental in nailing down Duplin’s actual date of incorporation: Thomas Byrd, Leon “Sonny” Sikes, and Brinson, adding that all were essential in determining the county’s founding as 1750 and not 1749.

Duplin County historian and attorney Charles Ingram introduced the deceased recipient with a powerful excerpt from Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet The American Crisis No. 1.

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he who stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman,’” quoted Ingram. “The honoree was such a man — a true patriot!”

Ingram detailed Colonel Routledge’s leadership in the military establishment and the civil government during the war as well as his continued service following North Carolina’s statehood.

“It is men such as he who, over 250 years ago, served and sacrificed and made it possible for us to live in freedom,” said Ingram. “In the times that tried men’s souls, the honoree was neither a summer solider nor a sunshine patriot, and did not shrink from the service of his country but stood by it. And for that, he does indeed deserve ‘the love and thanks of men and women.’”

Typically, living relatives are called upon to receive the deceased recipient’s honor in their stead, though no known descendants of Colonel Routledge have been located. According to Marilynn Kornegay Hroza, president of the Duplin County Hall of Fame, it is likely, however, that descendants do exist.

“Charles and I have talked about that, and I have no doubt he will be continuing the search,” said Hroza.

Nominations for the 2026 Duplin County Hall of Fame should be mailed by Feb. 15, 2026, to Duplin County Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 99, Kenansville, NC 28349.