Encyclopedian Dictionary: 2013

Anthracothorax nigricollis X Chrysolampis mosquitus ( Hybrid )

Chrysolampis chlorolæmus (hybrid)Anthracothorax nigricollis x Chrysolampis mosquitus

LAMPORNIS CALOSOMA, Elliot.

Elliot's Topaz.

Chrysolampis chlorolæmus, Elliot, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) vi. p. 346 (1870).
Lampornis calosoma, Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1871, p. 429. —Elliot, Ibis, 1872, p. 351. — Mulsant, Hist. Nat. Ois.-Mouches, i. p. 177.—Elliot, Synops. Humming-birds, p. 41.

IT is now ten years ago since this beautiful species was described by my friend Mr. Elliot; and the specimen still remains unique in the collection of the latter gentleman. As he observes, I gave him my opinion at the time that the species ought to be placed in the genus Chrysolampis; and although in deference to the judgment of Mr. Salvin and Mr. Elliot I go so far as to follow them in the present work and place it in the genus Lampornis, I believe in my innermost heart that they are mistaken, and that the bird is a true Chrysolampis—if, indeed, it should not be placed in a genus by itself. I would ask any body to compare the figures which I have drawn in order to show both the back and front views of the bird, and to say which form the present species most resembles, Lampornis or Chrysolampis. It has not the long bill nor the forked tail of the former genus, characters in my opinion quite sufficient to separate it from that; but, on the other hand, let it be compared with Chrysolampis moschitus, in how many characters they agree! First, there is the small bill, the metallic crown, the darker back, and the rounded tail, with the coppery-brown central tail-feathers, though it is true that in L. calosoma the remainder of the rectrices are purple; still the general character of the plumage is like that of C. moschitus; and, again, on the under surface the metallic throat, the dark belly, the chestnut under tail-coverts, and the under surface of the tail all remind us of the last-named species. If, therefore, as I anticipate, the bird should be one day replaced in the genus Chrysolampis, the specific name of chlorolæmus will have to be restored as well.
Mr. Elliot writes:— “The habitat of this species is unknown; but it is not unlikely that it may be a native of the West-Indian Islands, of whose ornithology we at present know nothing. If this supposition should prove to be correct, a fine field still remains unexplored for some enterprising naturalist; for among the members of the genus Lampornis the present species is one of the very handsomest, and doubtless many equally fine birds in this and other families are still unknown to science to reward the researches of the explorer.”
The following description is given by Mr. Elliot in his ‘Synopsis:’—
“Male. Top of head and neck pale metallic silvery green, in some lights purplish; a black band across the back; rest of upper parts dark green; tail fiery copper-colour, the feathers margined with blackish purple; throat brilliant emerald-green; underparts purplish black; spot of white on the flanks; under tail-coverts chestnut; bill black.
“Total length 4 inches, wing 2 1/2, tail 1 5/8, culmen 5/8.”
The Plate contains two figures of the unique type, and shows both back and front views of the bird, for reasons specified above. I am indebted to Mr. Elliot for the loan of the specimen from which the figures are drawn.

References and Further Reading

j.gould.tamagawa.jp

26c. "Chrysolampis chlorolaemus," known only from the type specimen and treated as a valid species and in the monotypic genus Crinis by Cory (1918) and Pinto (1937), is now considered a hybrid (Anthracothorax nigricollis X Chrysolampis mosquitus) (Peters 1945). See Hybrids and Dubious Taxa.

Buckley's (Mysterious) Mountain Humming-bird ( Pinarolæma Buckleyi )

Buckley's Mountain Mystery Hummingbird, Pinarolæma Buckleyi

PINAROLÆMA BUCKLEYI, Gould.

Buckley's Mountain Humming-bird.

Pinarolæma Buckleyi, Gould, Ann. & Mag. of Nat. Hist. ser. 5, vol. v. p. 489 (June 1880).

A SINGLE specimen only of this species has as yet been obtained. This is in such ragged plumage that its markings can only be determined with difficulty. The specimen was moulting when it was shot; and much of the colour has faded from the old feathers. The tail and the throat, however, are pretty perfect; and these parts, together with a few new feathers, are tinted so as to indicate sufficiently clearly the colour of the plumage of the perfect bird. Any Trochilidist would be instantly convinced of the fact that this specimen belongs to a new species of Humming-bird in a bad state of plumage; and it rests with future travellers to discover others in perfect plumage where this individual was procured. Some Trochilidists believe the specimen to be a female, others a male; my own opinion is that it is the latter; but the bird is in moult, and probably very much altered. Mr. Buckley, whose name it bears, was the discoverer of this bird; he killed it at Misqui, in Bolivia, the height of the spot where it was found being 10,000 feet above the sea.
When the male of this bird is clean-mantled, I think, judging by the tail and throat and the spots of purple alternating with the old brown feathers in places throughout the upper surface, it will prove to be a finer bird than it now appears.
I regret I have no information to give respecting its actions, habits, and mode of feeding; but, from its long wings and little feet, I judge that the present bird is a good flyer, and perhaps depends for its food upon insects caught in the air rather than taken from flowers in the usual way.
I regret I have nothing more to add to the little already published, which runs as follows : — “The general appearance of this bird reminds me of Lampornis; but it has an extremely long wing. In the latter respect it resembles Oreotrochilus; but it differs from that genus in its strongly curved and lengthened bill and in its very broad tail-feathers, while its extremely small feet seem peculiar to the genus.” So much refers to form; in what follows, colour and admeasurements are attended to.
“ Brown, with a purplish gloss on the back; the upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers brown, glossed with purple, and having a subterminal band of steel-blue; under surface of body brown, slightly washed with metallic green; the throat lighter brown, the feathers edged with paler brown, giving a scaly appearance; vent and under tail coverts white, the latter washed with brown.
“ Total length 4·6 inches, culmen 1·05, wing 2·95, tail 1·85, tarsus 0·15.
“ Habitat. Misqui, Bolivia, 10,000 feet.”

George Alexander Martin

George Alexander Martin. One of Anson County's most flourishing towns is Morven. That it is a good town in a moral sense, a well ordered and regulated community, that it is a thriving place of trade and business and is developing on a solid foundation, is due to the genius and wisdom of George Alexander Martin as a town builder more than to any other individual factor. Mr. Martin is properly credited with having been the founder of the present town.

Persons who have known him long say that Mr. Martin makes a success of anything he undertakes. While prosperity has come to him in generous measure, most of his undertakings have had something of a public character and public benefit, and have been intimately associated with the welfare of several communities. Mr. Martin is an extensive farmer, is a large land holder and dealer, is a banker and merchant, and has become widely known and influential as a campaign speaker and leading democrat in his section of the state.

His birthplace was just two miles east of the present Town of Morven, at Old Morven in Anson County, where he was born in 1857, a son of G. W. and Susan (Adams) Martin. His paternal ancestry is Scotch. Many years before the Revolutionary war the Martins came to America and located at Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and later members of the family came to what is now Anson County. The Martins are related to the Wall and Leake families of what is now Richmond County but originally a part of Anson County. G. W. Martin was born at Blewett Falls, Anson County, on the Great Pedee River. In the early '40s he moved down the river about twelve miles to Old Morvan, a settlement that had been established by Scotch families. Two of the sons of G. W. Martin, both older than George A., were soldiers in the Confederate army. One, J. A. Martin, was killed at the battle of Petersburg. The other, W. T. Martin, was captured and confined in Elmira prison and as a result of the privations and hardships he endured there he died soon after the war.

Hundreds of Southern families will always recall with bitterness the Sherman invasion of the South. In a material sense hardly any one family in North Carolina suffered more from this raiding army than the Martins, but they hold no malice toward the northern people or Sherman's army. When Sherman's army came up through North Carolina, General Kirkpatrick's Division encamped at the Martin homestead at Old Morven. General Kirkpatrick took possession of the Martin residence and homestead for his temporary headquarters. Every building on the place except the house was burned during that occupancy. Up to that time G. W. Martin had been a large and affluent planter, and before the Federal troops came through Anson County, he had five hundred bales of cotton, six thousand bushels of corn and about thirty head of horses and mules. This property was confiscated by General Kirkpatrick, and when he and his raiders departed they took with them all the food, provisions and everything of possible value they could carry and had in the meantime destroyed and burned what could not be moved or used. The only thing left for the family was a quantity of shelled corn that had been scattered about the premises and had been trampled upon by the cavalry horses. This corn was carefully gathered up and ground into corn meal, and that was the family's sole subsistence for nearly two months.

While the family was passing through this ordeal of war times George Alexander was about seven or eight years of age. On account of the ravages of the war and the reconstruction period that followed he was practically deprived of any school education. He was himself sensible of the advantages and need of intelligent training, and largely as a result of his ambition he carried on his studies by the light of a pine knot fire and laid a good ground work for a culture which he has continued by observation and study and extensive reading all his life. His abundant success in life indicates that he has kept himself abreast of the times and has exercised the qualities of a mind of great natural vigor and of good common sense.

For upwards of twenty-five years he continued to live on the old Martin place, and put in most of his time as a practical farmer. About 1886, when the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was being built through the county, Mr. Martin recognized the special advantages and the possibilities of the future connected with a site two miles west of Old Morven through which the new railroad passed. At that time only three houses stood on the ground.

Mr. Martin as a result of his years of hard work and thrifty accumulations had a cash capital of about seven hundred dollars. He used six hundred dollars of this to purchase a hundred twenty-five acres of land at the new Town of Morven. That was only the beginning of his extensive dealings and transactions in local real estate. His farm lands alone today, linked together, extend from the east side around south to the west part of the town, covering a distance of two miles. It is all exceptionally fertile land. There is a single field of cotton comprising three hundred acres, and besides a large acreage is devoted to corn and other crops. In 1916 Mr. Martin turned his enterprise to fruit growing, and experimentally has set out about fifteen hundred apple trees. One of tiie most important purchases in this large estate was the Stubbs place, known as one of the finest farms on the edge of Morven. Mr. Martin paid five thousand dollars for it and it is now worth not less than eight thousand dollars. Later he paid twelve hundred dollars for the Dunn farm, and fifteen hundred dollars for the W. T. Martin estate, both of which have since greatly increased in value. For a portion of the Davis estate near Morven he paid a thousand dollars, and that property is now worth fully twice the amount. For the Cy Bennett farm he paid four thousand dollars, and its value is now over five thousand. The Kilgo farm, for which he paid a thousand dollars, has had offers of three thousand dollars recently. A part of Mr. Martin's lands lie on the waters of Mill Creek near the Great Pedee. Those who are in a position to judge say that Mr. Martin's property holdings at Morven and vicinity are now worth at least one hundred thousand dollars.

His interests are not altogether local. He has long been interested in the mountain country of Western North Carolina, and owns a valuable farm in Allegheny County. This adjoins the land near Sparta and lies within a quarter of a mile of the famous mountain resort Roaring Gap. The farm is well watered. One spring runs twenty gallons per minute. The farm is located in the midst of one of the finest sections of the country for apple orchards, and the value of the land ranges from forty to fifty dollars per acre.

Mr. Martin was by no means a speculator pure and simple when he invested in lands at Morven. His personal enterprise has been a large factor in the increased value of his holdings. Besides farming, he engaged in merchandising at the new town, also handles real estate, and before the establishment of a regular bank he was entrusted with the care of the money by his neighbors and ran a private banking house. In later years his efforts as a merchant have been confined chiefly to handling buggies and other vehicles. He is one of the chief cotton buyers on the local market. Mr. Martin was one of the founders of the Bank of Morven, a flourishing financial institution with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars, a surplus of twelve thousand dollars, and deposits running from one hundred to one hundred thirty thousand dollars. He is vice president and one of the large stockholders of the bank. The bank's record is very gratifying, since it has never lost a dollar and has never been compelled to sue a customer.

Of that tract of land which comprised his first purchase at Morven and for which he paid six hundred dollars, Mr. Martin recently sold an eighth of an acre, a single town lot, for eight hundred dollars. Altogether he has sold about one hundred fifty lots in the town. South of the line established for that purpose he laid off and sold to colored people some seventy-five or eighty lots, and the colored population has remained in the south part of town, leaving the north part for the white people. He gave the colored people lots for their Baptist and Presbyterian churches and their schoolhouse. Similar donations were made by him for religious and educational purposes in the white section of the town, it is said that Mr. Martin has made more deeds to land than any other citizen of Anson County.

When he became a land holder at Morven there was one saloon doing business. In a very short time he got rid of that local institution and in every deed which he has since executed a stipulation is written therein that if the land is ever used as a piace for selling liquor it shall automatically revert to the Martin estate. Consequently Morven has always been a dry town, and was so long before state prohibition went into effect. Morven has grown and prospered greatly. There are now several brick business buildings, a brick schoolhouse that cost over ten thousand dollars, three substantial brick churches, and the other advantages and facilities of a modern town. Mr. Martin has proved very liberal and public spirited, and as the largest property owner nas been generous in the matter of voting taxes for school facilities and good roads.

For twenty-five years Mr. Martin was a deacon in the Morven Presbyterian Church and in 1916 was honored by being elected elder of the congregation. For two years he served as postmaster. That is almost the only public office he has ever held. Official honors have been urged upon him, but it has been a matter of policy to which he has strictly adhered to decline official places of distinction. He has often been asked to become democratic candidate for the Legislature and other offices.

While not an office seeker, his influence in public affairs has been by no means constricted. He has done much in both local and state politics, and is undoubtedly one of the most convincing campaign speakers in North Carolina. He does this work for the good of the cause, never asks or expects reward from the party, and invariably pays his personal expenses for campaigning, refusing any financial aid from the party managers. Mr. Martin did some specially successful work in the campaign of 1916. When it became known in the summer of 1916 that Congressman Page would retire, Mr. Martin at once got into the arena with his specially selected candidate, Hon. Lee D. Eobinson. Mr. Martin has been called the "political father" of the able and talented Mr. Robinson, and had long favored him in the belief that he was a coming man in public life in North Carolina and the nation. He was influential in securing the nomination of Mr. Robinson, and then went on a speaking tour in the interests of his young protege. His campaigning was especially effective in the western counties of the district, the mountain district which is normally largely republican. The people from the mountains have always looked upon Mr. Martin as one of their own people, and they flocked to hear him in great numbers. His plain and simple, though forceful and tactful arguments, presented in a homely but attractive style, entirely devoid of bitterness or abuse, made hundreds of friends for himself and his candidate and Mr. Robinson was elected by a handsome majority and is now a member of Congress from the Seventh North Carolina District.

Mr. Martin married for his first wife Miss Fannie Nivens, of Anson County. At her death she was survived by four children. Mr. Martin married for his present wife Mrs. Carrie Fearby of Winston-Salem. Her son, Sam Fearby, is a well known newspaper man, now editor and publisher of the Hickory Times. Mr. Martin's children, all by his first marriage, are Earl Martin, Mrs. Grace Ham, George Martin and Mrs. Nina Copeland. Mr. Martin has always shown both in belief and practice a special friendliness for education, and in line with that practice he has given his own children the best of advantages. His son Earl is a graduate of the University of North Carolina. Grace graduated at the High School of Morven. George graduated at the Oak Ridge School, while Nina completed the course of the Morven High School, and attended the Winston-Salem Female College.

Henry Paul Bilyeu

Henry Paul Bilyeu, whose home is at Southern Pines in Moore County, is one of the noted horticulturists of the state. His chief contribution to that industry has been as a pioneer in establishing the dewberry as a profitable crop. Horticulture has been the business of the Bilyeu family for several generations. Henry Paul Bilyeu was born at Hightstown in Mercer County, New Jersey, in 1849. He is of French ancestry. His father, H. P. Bilyeu, was a New Jersey fruit grower. Mr. Bilyeu's brother, S. G. Bilyeu, was long prominent in New Jersey horticulture. He was especially noted for his peaches, propagated a number of new varieties of the peach, and perhaps the best known is the Bilyeu peach.

Henry P. Bilyeu grew up on a fruit farm, and had considerable experience in the business in his native state. In 1874 he left his home in Mercer County, New Jersey, and came to North Carolina, locating at Ridgeway in Warren County. He was engaged in the business of fruit, growing there for fifteen years, but in 1890 he left Warren County and came to Moore County, locating at what has since become the famous winter resort, Southern Pines. He was one of the pioneer settlers there.

On coming to Moore County Mr. Bilyeu bought twenty acres of land east of the town. This tract he later sold to the Country Club of Southern Pines and it is now part of the famed Southern Pines golf course. The estimated value of the land at present is a thousand dollars an acre. In 1903 Mr. Bilyeu bought the land that he has developed into his present magnificent farm, known far and wide especially among horticulturists as the Pine Knot Farm. It lies four miles west of Southern Pines, and contains about three hundred acres. Originally it was practically waste land, covered with pine timber. From that condition it has been converted under Mr. Bilyeu 's management into one of the most beautiful farms in the state. During the berry growing season it has the appearance of a vast garden. His first task in developing the place was to clear a hundred sixty acres of the pine trees. Since then an additional hundred twenty-five acres have been cleared, making two hundred eighty-five acres available for cultivation. The entrance to this farm is through an avenue of arching pine and holly trees. These trees were transplanted for this particular purpose by Mr. Bilyeu. It is said to make the most beautiful entrance to any farm in North Carolina. The entire place has a picturesque setting and its transformation into a highly profitable and productive fruit farm has not been accompanied with corresponding loss of the beauty elements. His success as a horticulturist attracted the attention of the Southern Bailroad Company, and for several years Mr. Bilyeu has been employed by that company in an advisory capacity to develop the fruit growing interests along the railroad lines.

Mr. Bilyeu also has some time has been growing Delaware grapes, which he also introduced successfully into Moore County. The Pine Knot Farm also grows considerable quantities of wheat and peas, and he raises some fine Berkshire hogs and fancy fowls.

Mr. Bilyeu married Miss Carrie Lee Poe, of Chatham County. She is a member of an old and distinguished family of North Carolina. One of the family was Dr. Clarence Poe, the noted agriculturist and agricultural writer. Mr. and Mrs. Bilyeu have six children: Lucile, H. P., Jr., who is now a member of the United States Army, Emily, Sadie Marguerite, Walter J. and Helen C.

Evander M. Britt

Evander M. Britt is member of the law firm Britt & Britt at Lumberton, a firm composed of young men but of fine abilities and with many solid achievements to their credit in the professional and public affairs of their home county.

Through several generations the name Britt has been honored and esteemed for its work and respectability in Robeson County. The Britts came originally from England, and some generations back the probability is the name was spelled Bright. There were three brothers who came to America, one of them settling in Virginia, another in Eastern Tennessee and the third in Robeson County, North Carolina. The Robeson County settler arrived prior to the Revolutionary war, and thus for upwards of a century and a half the Britts have had their place and part in this county. The first home of the family was in a locality six or seven miles south of Lumberton, and so prominent was the family there that the township was named in their honor. In nearly all the generations they have been farmers and planters.

Evander M. Britt was born in Britt Township of Robeson County, July 9, 1875, son of Samuel E. and Martha Victoria (Nance) Britt. His mother was a member of the well known Vance family of Bladen County. The paternal grandfather, Eeddin Britt, owned a large tract of land and many slaves before the war. Five of his sons gave valiant service in the Confederate Army, all of them going from Robeson County. Samuel E. Britt, who was born in 1848, lived in Britt Township until the early '80s, when he moved to his present home in Howellsville Township, about ten miles north of Lumberton. There he owns a good farm, and out of its resources he has made most commendable provisions for his family. He and his wife reared twelve children, and realized their cherished ambition to give them all a college education. This achievement should not be lightly passed over. Even in these prosperous times many farmers complain of inability to share in those things which are not fundamentally essential to existence. While the children of Samuel E. Britt were growing up the road of the agriculturist in North Carolina was a hard and thorny one, and all the more honor for that reason is due to the industry and self sacrificing labors of this old time Robeson County farmer and his wife. His home is at Ten Mile Church, of which he is a member. This is one of the historic Baptist churches of the state.

Evander M. Britt grew up on his father's farm in Howellsville Township, attended the country schools, and was a pupil in the Robeson Institute at Lumberton while it was under the direction of Prof. John Duckett. This was followed by both the literary and law courses of Wake Forest College, and he graduated A. B. in 1903 and received his degree in 1904. He was licensed to practice and took up his professional career at Lumberton in 1904, and since then has been eminently successful. He has shown excellent business ability as well as power to handle the law business of others, and has invested judiciously in some good farm lands in the vicinity of his old home in Howellsville Township, acquiring property that is constantly increasing in value. Since returning home from college he has made his influence count for the success of the democratic party, and has enjoyed a number of honors from his fellow democrats. He is now filling the important office of recorder of the district of nine townships, including Lumberton, and the work of that office was never in better hands. He is a member of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Britt married Miss Dorothy Geneva Bowman of Marion, McDowell County. They have one daughter, Janie Malloy Britt.

The junior member of the firm of Britt & Britt is Mr. W. S. Britt, and they have been associated in practice since 1909. W. S. Britt is also a Wake Forest man, a graduate of the law class of 1908. He is a member of the Town Board of Audit and Finance and of the Lumberton School Board. He has alweys been interested in the subject of development of inland waterways, and Governor Kitchin commissioned him a delegate from North Carolina to attend the sessions of the Atlantic Deep Water Conventions held at Richmond and in Washington.

Another of the Britt brothers was the late Rev. D. C. Britt who attained distinction as a Baptist minister.

Robert Lee Bethune

Robert Lee Bethune. In old Robeson and new Hoke County the name Bethune has been one of distinction for practical achievement and value of citizenship for many generations. A finer class of people exists nowhere than the North Carolina Scotch, and the Bethunes have their proper share of honors among this worthy race.

A short time before the Revolutionary war Colin Bethune came from Scotland, and making settlement acquired land which was for many years the Bethune homestead in North Carolina. The old place is easily distinguished now, because it is the site of the state tuberculosis sanitarium, about ten miles west of Raeford in Hoke, but formerly Robeson County. A more beautiful bit of topography can hardly lie found in the entire state. Its selection for the tuberculosis sanitarium was based upon considerations of altitude, favorable climatic conditions, pure water, and the general charm and beauty of the landscape constituting an almost ideal environment.

A son of Colin Bethune was Hon. Lauchlin Bethune, who represented this district of North Carolina in Congress in the days when Andrew Jackson was President. He was a man of learning and versatile ability, and his leadership meant much to the people of old Cumberland County.

M.D. Bethune, a son of Lauchlin, was born at the old Bethune homestead in 1842, but now lives at Raeford and among other worthy features of his record is widely known as the founder of the famous Edinburg Farm. At the outset of his manhood, in 1861, he left his father's plantation in the month of April and enlisted at Fayetteville with the Second North Carolina Cavalry. He was with Captain Strange's command. His own service was continuous with the length of the war. He was in nearly all the greater battles of Lee's army of Northern Virginia, including Gettysburg. The war over, he returned to the old homestead above described and remained there until 1900. He had in the meantime bought a large body of agricultural land at Raeford, and there he established the Edinburg Farm. This is a notable agricultural enterprise and one of the largest and most profitably conducted farms in this part of the state. It consists of about 1,000 acres, lying partly within the city limits of Raeford, and extending westward from the city.

In late years Mr. M.D. Bethune has divided most of this land among his children, including his two sons Robert Lee and Luke. Luke Bethune is now active manager of the farm. Approximately 500 acres are in cultivation, requiring about twenty-five plows and other equipment to correspond. Edinburg Farm has contributed no modest share to the crop of North Carolina cotton in recent years.

M.D. Bethuue is a fine type of the old-time Southerner. He has a great fund of historical reminiscences, and is a most interesting gentleman wliom everyone likes to have around. His wife, now deceased, was Margaret Jane Blue.

Robert Lee Bethuue, who represents the fourth generation of this family in North Carolina, has nad a career of more than ordinary experience and service, and is now the popular register of deeds of Hoke County.

He was born on the old Bethuue place above described in 1872, and while growing up there attended the local schools. In 1894 he went to Louisiana and for the next fourteen years was engaged in the turpentine industry in that state. On his return to his native state in 1908 he became associated with his father and brother in the operation of the Edinburgh Farm, in which he still retained a large interest.

Mr. Bethune was one of the local citizens who did most to bring about the creation of the separate County of Hoke in 1911, and three years later, in 1914, his abilities were called to use in the office of register of deeds, and by re-election in 1916 he is still the incumbent. He has made a most capable administrative official. He has the faculty of combining utmost courtesy along with prompt and careful transaction of all his duties. Those who have business with his office discover that his official manner is the same with all, rich or poor, and uninfluenced by politics or any other conventional considerations. Mr. Bethune is himself a democrat. He worships as a Presbyterian. He is married, his wife having been Miss Mattie McDougald.

William Graham Shaw, M. D.

William Graham Shaw, M.D.

Representing the third generation of the Shaw family to be well known in medical circles of Scotland County, Dr. William Graham Shaw, of Wagram, has practiced his profession in this community for more than a quarter of a century. Incomplete indeed would be any history of North Carolina without distinctive mention of that large body of men who labor in the broad field of medical service. Some have chosen a particular path and some work under particular combinations of method, but all can be justly credited with scientific knowledge and a due regard for the preservation of the public health, together with a faithful devotion to their own patients that has, on occasion, been heroic. To the profession of medicine Doctor Shaw early devoted his energies, and after an honorable and successful practice of twenty-five years stands as a representative of all that is best and highest in this line of human endeavor.

William Graham Shaw is a member of a very old and prominent family of Scotland and Richmond counties, and was born in 1868, in Spring Hill Township, Scotland (then Richmond) County, North Carolina, his parents being Doctor Daniel and Mary E. (Purcell) Shaw. His grandparents were Alexander and Sarah (Mcintosh) Shaw, the former of whom came from Scotland to North Carolina in the early part of the nineteenth century. He settled in that portion of the County of Richmond that now forms Scotland County, on a farm in Spring Hill Township, and there his descendants have lived continuously to the present time. Sarah Mcintosh was a member of an older Scotch family that had come here about the time of the Revolutionary war. There were three sons in the grandparents' family: Doctor Daniel; Maj. John D., of Rockingham, who was one of the notable lawyers of his day and generation; and Hon. Angus, an agriculturist and merchant of Maxton, who represented his district in the North Carolina Legislature. A brother of Alexander Shaw was Dr. Angus Shaw, who came to North Carolina at the same time as Alexander, and who became one of the prominent practicing physicians of Richmond County, thus making three generations of physicians in this family who have followed their profession in the same community.

Dr. Daniel Shaw was born in Spring Hill Township in 1830, and early displayed a predilection for the medical profession. After some preparation he entered Jefferson Medical College, from which he was graduated with his degree in 1855, and when he left the noted Philadelphia institution returned to his home community and at once began practice. When the war between the states came on he did not go to the front, as the women and children needed his services at home, but in various ways the doctor contributed to the cause of the Gray. His practice extended over a period of more than a half century, dating from the time that he traveled all over the countryside mounted on his favorite horse, with his drugs, his herbs and his instruments in his saddle-bags. He belonged to the old-time type of physician who believed that it was their stern and unswerving duty to minister to the ills of humanity regardless of station, careless of recompense. He became greatly beloved all over this part of the country, and when his death occurred, in 1906, there were left many to mourn him. With the passage of the years Doctor Shaw kept pace with the advancements made in his profession, but he never lost the kindly spirit, the love for humanity, that had characterized his earliest practice. His devotion to his calling was absolute and its ethics to him, inviolate.

Doctor Shaw married Mary E. Purcell, who was born in Robeson County, North Carolina, and died at the family home in Spring Hill Township in 1900. She was a daughter of Alexander Torrey and Harriet (Macintyre) Purcell. Her great-grandfather, Malcolm Purcell emigrated from Ulster, North Ireland, about 1750 and settled in Cumberland County, North Carolina, where the City of Fayetteville now stands. The Purcells were of old Scotch stock and had left Scotland and had settled in the north of Ireland during the oppressive reign of King James. Alexander Torrey Purcell was the son of John Purcell. The wife of Alexander Torrey, Harriet MacIntyre, was the daughter of Rev. John MacIntyre. Concerning this pioneer Scotch Presbyterian preacher of North Carolina something more than passing mention should be made. He was remarkable both for his mental and physical strength. He came from Appin, Ayrshire, Scotland, to North Carolina, in 1792, first settling in the western part of Cumberland County and later in the northern part of what is now Hoke County. He acquired a large tract of land, 3,500 acres, and gave it the name "New Garden." He lived to be one hundred and three years old. After he had celebrated his hundredth birthday he dedicated old Montpelier Church in what is now Hoke County. He retained his mental and physical powers almost perfectly until after he had passed the century mark and could easily read without glasses up to the time of his death. His work as a minister was largely as a missionary to the Indians and the pioneer settlers over a large expanse of territory in both North and South Carolina. He would preach at regular intervals at places far remote from each other. In those settlements that were entirely Scotch he would preach sermons in pure Gaelic as well as in English. It is said that he acquired a proficient knowledge of both Latin and Hebrew after he was thirty-five years of age. It was of such men that the Old Testament writer spoke when he said : "There were giants in those days."

William Graham Shaw completed his academic education in the high school in Spring Hill Township, and began his medical studies under the preceptorship of his father. He had inherited the family love for the profession, in which he made rapid progress, and eventually entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1892. At that time he returned immediately to Spring Hill Township, and here has since been engaged in the practice of his profession, his home being in the old Shaw community about two miles west of the present Town of Wagram. This is a new town which has grown to importance within the very few last years, and Doctor Shaw has taken a leading part in its upbuilding and development. After so long and faithful performance of professional duties, during which he has ever upheld the standard of professional ethics, Doctor Shaw may feel somewhat gratified to know that he is held in high esteem by other members of the fraternity and that they number him with the ablest physicians in a community in which medical ability has reached a high point. That this is true is shown in the fact that since 1908 Doctor Shaw has served in the capacity of president of the Scotland County Medical Society. In addition to caring for a large and representative practice he is much interested in all local affairs and is prominent as well in business circles, being vice president and a director of the Bank of Wagram and senior member of the firm of Shaw & MacLean, druggists.

Doctor Shaw married Miss Mary C. Cooley, who was born in the Spring Hill community, a member of an old and well known family, and a daughter of James L. and Frances (Johnson) Cooley. To this union there have been born two children: Mary Elizabeth and William Graham, Jr.

Rev. Edward F. Green

When an air of pessimism seems to envelop in gloom many worthy enterprises in these modern days, it is cheering, encouraging and invigorating to look upon the marvelous work that is being quietly but effectively carried on by Rev. Edward F. Green, president of the Carolina Collegiate & Agricultural Institute at Star, North Carolina. Through his philanthropy, wide and deep, are borne to the ocean of happy knowledge and lives of usefulness those frail human barks that otherwise would ever rest in the shadows and shallows or merely dash futilely upon barren sands. His whole life has been more or less devoted to educational work, but at no previous time has his success quite equaled his present great achievement.

Edward F. Green was born in 1865, in the city of York, England. His parents were George G. and Mary (Milner) Green. For many years his father was a stock farmer and on his estates bred the fine sheep for which England is noted. The youth attended the public schools and remained with his parents until the age of twenty years, when he came to the United States. In 1885 he entered Wooster University, at Wooster, Ohio, where he pursued both academic and collegiate studies and subsequently took post graduate work in pedagogy. Graduating in 1893, in that same year he came to Concord, North Carolina, where he took charge of Sunderland Hall, a philanthropic educational enterprise that had just started on its career of giving a practical education to worthy young women. He remained in charge of this school for three years, during which time he practically originated and organized the church and school work in connection with the Patterson Mills at that place, a form of welfare work in which Mr. Green was one of the pioneers in North Carolina, but has since been quite extensively taken up by the cotton mill owners in other parts of the state.

Following his work here Mr. Green entered the theological seminary at Auburn, New York, from which he was graduated three years later with the degree of B. D. and subsequently received the degree of D. D. His first pastorate was at Oriskany, New York, and one year later he went to the Pacific Coast and during the succeeding ten years held other pastorates, but during the larger part of that decade was college pastor connected with the Oregon Agricultural College at Corvallis, Oregon. While there he was also a student, not only taking the general agricultural courses but devoting study and experiment in bacteriology, biology and chemistry.

In 1910 Doctor Green returned to North Carolina with plans matured for the founding and erecting of what has become the Carolina Collegiate and Agricultural Institute. He located at Star in Montgomery County, in the central part of the state, where he secured twenty-one acres of beautifully situated land, on which there is a fine growth of oak and other forest trees in their natural setting. The grounds forming the campus are being systematically improved after designs submitted by a landscape artist. Writing in the fall of 1917, Doctor Green has the main college building now completed, besides a handsome and commodious residence for himself on the college campus. The college building is a handsome brick structure consisting of two stories and basement, fashioned, especially in its interior arrangement, after the designs furnished by the Government for schools of this character. One is impressed with the idea of spaciousness and wide roominess in the building, while its perfect ventilation and modern lighting makes a wholesome and cheerful atmosphere. The main floor is given over to class rooms and a large hallway. On the second floor are additional class rooms, but the main feature of this floor is the auditorium with a large stage, as in a theater, this being flanked by class rooms that, on occasions of entertainments, may be used as dressing rooms. All these details of construction were carefully worked out.

While this school officially has the backing of the Congregational Church, of which Doctor Green has been a member since 1910, it is in reality his own private enterprise, having been built by Doctor Green without a cent of financial aid from the church. He passes much time in the North and East in the interest of the school, and through his own personal worth and high character has been able to secure substantial aid for the enterprise.

The Carolina Collegiate & Agricultural Institute is intended, primarily, to benefit boys and girls, teaching and training them in vocational work so as to fit the boys for agricultural and other useful industrial pursuits and the girls for useful lines suitable for their sex. The school is located geographically in about the center of a large extent of country that has lain practically undeveloped agriculturally. It contains a large population and the children here have never had good educational advantages. In Doctor Green's school many grown students may be observed and a number who are married and heads of families themselves, and so eager are some of these students that they willingly begin in the first grade work and if possible remain through the twelfth. In 1916 Doctor Green graduated two girls who had daily walked a distance of six miles for six years. It is gratifying to him that they are now attending the Greensboro Normal School with the design of becoming teachers. As he reviews what has already been done his spirit must be refreshed. His reminiscences are exceedingly interesting, especially when he recalls the boys who at different times have drifted in here from almost "nowhere" and after enjoying the advantages provided here, not the least of these being the example, advice and encouragement of Doctor Green, have gone out pretty well equipped for the useful and honorable lives they have led, in professions as well as industries.

Doctor Green was married to Miss Florence M. McDowell, a lady with great musical talent who is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music of Wooster University. Mrs. Green is in full sympathy with her learned husband a philanthropic enterprise and assists through her musical gifts, having charge of both the vocal and instrumental music departments in the institute. Doctor and Mrs. Green have three children: Hubert, who is a graduate of Oberlin College, Ohio, and Isabel and Catherine, who take prominent part in the town's pleasant social life.

In October 1917, at the annual meeting of the state synod of the Congregational Church of North Carolina, a great honor was conferred on Doctor Green when he was elected moderator of this governing body.

Jeremiah Simon Cox

Jeremiah Simon Cox during a long and useful career has been farmer, financier, manufacturer and banker. He is one of the men responsible for the establishment and development of one of Greensboro's most prominent banking institutions, the Greensboro Loan and Trust Company, of which he has been vice president since it was established in 1899. This company, capitalized at $200,000, with surplus of nearly a hundred thousand dollars, has deposits aggregating more than a million and a half dollars.

Mr. Cox was born on a farm in Grant Township of Randolph County, North Carolina, in 1846. His father, Simon Cox, was born on the same farm. The grandfather was a farmer and planter, and probably spent all his life in North Carolina. Simon Cox grew up on a farm, succeeded to its ownership, and was a successful farmer, aside from other important business interests outside of tilling the soil and managing its resources. He married Ruth Allen, who was born in Randolph County and died at the age of sixty-two. Her father, Dr. Joseph Allen, was a practising physician for many years. Her mother was Martha Allen. Simon Cox and wife were active members of the Society of Friends. They had five sons, named Joseph, Milton, Nathaniel, Samuel and Jeremiah S.

Jeremiah S. Cox grew up on his father's farm, and the advantages supplied by the rural schools were supplemented by a course in what was then known as the New Garden Boarding School, now Guilford College. For a time he taught school, and after his marriage was superintendent of the New Garden Boarding School for two years, and since that time he has built an elegant modern dormitory at Guilford College, known as "Cox Hall," which will accommodate about 100 students. Returning to Randolph County, he bought the Kemp Mills, consisting of flour, grist and saw mills, and operated that property for about five years. Selling out, he transferred his energies to a farm in the north part of Randolph County, about twelve miles south of Greensboro.

Mr. Cox has been a resident of Greensboro since 1892. Prior to that time he had become interested in the Greensboro Manufacturing Company, and he gave part of his time to the active management of its affairs for about four years. In 1899 he joined W. E. Allen and J. W. Fry in organizing the Greensboro Loan and Trust Company.

In 1870 Mr. Cox married Margaret D. Branson, who was born in Randolph County, daughter of Eli and Mary Branson. Mrs. Cox was engaged in teaching school before her marriage to Mr. Cox. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Friends Church. While a resident of Randolph County Mr. Cox served as public administrator eight years, and since coming to Greensboro he served a term on the county board of education. Mr. Cox has been a trustee of the Juvenile Protective Association for many years. The association has done a great deal in reclaiming juvenile delinquents. The record of the lives of those who have come from the humble walks of life and, by dint of their own effort have left their impress on society and the world is an incentive and inspiration to do our best for humanity.

Charles Hoertel

Charles Hoertel has been a factor in the manufacturing affairs of High Point for a number of years and is an expert mirror maker.

Mr. Hoertel was born in Alsace, son of William and Salome Hoertel, also natives of the same province and of pure French ancestry. William Hoertel came to the United States, but after a few years returned to his native land. Mr. Charles Hoertel's only brother served several years in the French army.

Charles Hoertel was twelve years old when he came to this country with his father and grew to young manhood in New York City. He had attended school regularly while in his native country, and also had some instruction in the public schools of New York City. When still a boy in years he entered the service of Ferd Ecker, the mirror manufacturer, and was in his employ in New York City and in 1904 came with Mr. Ecker to High Point, and has been actively identified with the Ecker interests in that city. He is also an interested principle in the High Point Art and Decorative Company.

Mr. Hoertel is affiliated with Numa F. Reid Lodge No. 344, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is a past master, is past high priest of High Point Chapter No. 70, Royal Arch Masons, is past eminent commander of High Point Commandery No. 24, Knights Templars, and is also affiliated with Carolina Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite and with Oasis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charlotte. Besides his Masonic connections he is a member of High Point Lodge No. 1255, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is an active member of the Commercial Club and is a member of the Lutheran Church.

Hon. Robert B. Redwine

Hon. Robert B. Redwine. One of the most forceful and energetic citizens of Union County, Hon. Robert B. Redwine has steadfastly used his sterling legal talents in the furtherance of those movements which he has considered to be for the welfare of his community, incorporating the two characters of lawyer and citizen into a worthy and helpful personal combination which has been generally accounted an example well worthy of emulation. Since 1891 he has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Monroe and has steadily risen to a commanding position among the legists of the county seat, where he is at present a member of the law firm of Red wine & Sikes. Both as a legislator and a private citizen he has been unsparing in contributing of his abilities in securing better legislation, and as a financier his personal integrity has lent strength to local banking conditions.

Robert B. Redwine was born in 1860, in Union County, North Carolina, and is a son of the late Dr. T. W. and Mary A. (Clark) Redwine. The Redwine family is of German origin, the founders of the name in this country first settling in Pennsylvania, while the branch to which Senator Redwine belongs located in North Carolina a few years prior to the Revolutionary war. Dr. T. W. Redwine was born in Davidson County, North Carolina, April 18, 1827, and was given good educational advantages, attending the best schools afforded by that county. He read medicine at Mount Pleasant under Doctors Smith and Stedman, and located at Samuel Howie's, in the western part of Union County, where in September, 1846, he engaged upon a career in medicine that extended over a period of fifty-three years. When the Civil war broke out Doctor Redwine enlisted and went to the front as a Confederate soldier, and in September, 1861, was elected captain of Company F, Thirty-fifth Regiment, North Carolina Infantry. After a brave and meritorious service he returned to his practice at the close of the war, and in 1880 was honored by his fellow-practitioners by election to the presidency of the Union County Medical Society, an honor which evidences the high quality of his ability and his standing in medical circles. In 1875 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, representing Union County with great credit to himself and his constituents. He continued in active practice until 1899, in which year he retired, and lived quietly at his home until his death in January, 1911. While he was one of the leading citizens and physicians of his day and community in Union County, he was quiet and unassuming, not given to show, nor cherishing any ambitions for exalted public position, merely a skilled, learned and kindly physician, a sympathetic friend and a thorough gentleman of the old school. He married Miss Mary A. Clark, whose death occurred in 1889, and they became the parents of several children.

Robert B. Redwine was reared on the farm of his father in Union County and attended the famous Bingham School of North Carolina, after leaving which he began the study of law under the preceptorship of the late Dr. John Manning and Judge Shepherd, obtaining his license to practice in 1889. The two legal teachers referred to were members of the faculty of the University of North Carolina, and after being admitted to the bar Mr. Redwine returned to the university for an optional literary and law course, which he pursued for about one year, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws from that institution. In 1891 he began the practice of his profession at Monroe, the county seat of his native county, a practice he has pursued with eminent success ever since, and has won abundant prosperity in life, being one of the citizens of the county who are of large material resources. In 1895 he formed a law partnership with the late Maj. David A. Covington, an association which continued until the latter's death, and at present he is senior partner of the law firm of Redwine & Sikes. He has always enjoyed a large law practice, both civil and criminal, and has the absolute confidence of clients, whose interests he makes his own. Both in and out of the courthouse he is the personification of honor and integrity, standing unflinchingly by principle and truth as he sees them.

Senator Redwine has rendered much public and useful service to his city, county and state. He served for some months as chairman of the board of county commissioners and as a member of the board of education. In the former position he was largely instrumental in inaugurating improvement in the county by working convicts on the county roads. He was secretary of the Democratic Union County Executive Committee in 1894 and carried on a successful campaign, and in 1895 was elected from his county as a member of the Lower House of the Legislature. In 1907 he was elected to represent his district in the North Carolina State Senate, in which body, as in the Lower House, he acquitted himself with honor and distinction. Senator Redwine was particularly active in advocating more efficient laws for the government of penal affairs in the state, believing always that the state's prisoners as far as able should be made to work and to be as self-sustaining and as little expense to the state as possible. He was also an advocate of better laws for the care of the insane and other indigents, and of all laws for the moral betterment of the people at large. In local affairs Senator Redwine was instrumental in establishing a city recorder's office at Monroe, which has saved the county a great deal of money. He is contributing his share to educational advancement as a member of the board of trustees of the University of North Carolina. Senator Redwine is well known in banking circles as president of the Savings, Loan & Trust Company, which was organized in 1903 and has had a successful career as a financial institution. He also organized the Lake Land and Lumber Company, which carried on a highly successful series of land operations in Florida.

Senator Redwine was married in 1895 to Miss Sallie Wall McAlister, of Walltown, Anson County, North Carolina, and they have eight children: Sarah McAlister, a student at Randolph-Macon College, and active in educational work; and Mary Catharine, Robert B., Jr., Thomas Worth, John McAlister, Florence Stockhouse, Margaret Wall and Elizabeth Armentine Redwine.

David Livingstone Ward

David Livingstone Ward, of Newbern, has given all his best years, his best talents, and his interest to the law, and largely due to this concentration of purpose has gained a success that ranks him among the ablest members of the North Carolina bar.

Mr. Ward was born in Greene County, North Carolina, October 24, 1860, and represents a prominent old family of North Carolina — one that was settled here in colonial days. His grandfather, Josiah Ward, acquired an immense tract of land fronting on the Atlantic Ocean and extensively farmed it and was a man of power and influence in the locality. Mr. Ward is a son of Dr. David George Washington and Adelaide (Moye) Ward. His father was not only a physician with a large practice but owned a plantation, and before the war operated with slave labor.

David L. Ward had a liberal education, despite the fact that his early childhood was spent in the period of devastation during and following the war. He attended Stantonsburg Academy in Wilson County, under Dr. Joseph Foy, and from there entered Wake Forest College, where he was graduated A. B. in 1881. He pursued the study of law with Dick & Dillard, noted lawyers and law teachers at Greensboro, and was licensed to practice in February, 1883, by Justices W. H. Smith, Thomas S. Ashe and Thomas Ruffin, of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Ward began practice at Marshall in Western North Carolina, had his law office at Wilson one year, was associated for a time with Colonel Thomas S. Kenan, and then went west to San Francisco, California, where he was enjoying a large and lucrative law practice for eight years. At the death of his parents he returned to North Carolina, and on March 1, 1894, located at New-bern, where he has practiced steadily for the past twenty-three years. Mr. Ward's ability and talents are especially well displayed in the handling of civil cases, and a practice of great variety and importance in this branch has been given him.

He served six years as county attorney of Craven County, resigning from the office in 1905 to enter the State Senate, to which he was elected in 1904. By appointment he served with the rank of colonel on the personal staff of Governor Glenn and also on the staff of Governor Kitchin. Governor Kitchin appointed him judge of the Superior Court of the third district, and while by nature and experience well fitted for judicial duties he soon resigned his post in order to take up what is to him more congenial work, his private practice.

Mr. Ward is a member and chairman of the executive board of the North Carolina Bar Association, is former chairman of the judiciary committee of the association, and belongs to the American Bar Association. He is affiliated with the Kappa Alpha college fraternity, is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of Sudan Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Ward was married February 7, 1900, to Miss Carrie Louise Schollenberg, of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. They have three children: Emily Curran, David Livingstone and Carrie Louise.

Joseph F. McKay, M.D.

Joseph F. McKay, M. D. The medical profession of North Carolina, not to mention a large portion of the general public, will regard any amount of space well used which is devoted to some record of the McKay family, representatives of three generations of which have been distinguished in medical history. While the services of this long line of physicians have come to be pretty generally understood and appreciated among medical men throughout the state, the beneficiaries of those services for over eighty years have been chiefly in Harnett County.

The McKays are descended from Highland Scotch who located in pioneer times in the Cape Fear district and constitute one of the best known Scotch names in that section. The founder of the family was Archibald McKay, who was born in Scotland and came to Wilmington, North Carolina, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, establishing his home in Robeson County. The record of the family in connection with the medical profession begins with one of his sons, Dr. John McKay, who was a man of special distinction, a scholar as well as a physician, and whose mental horizon was unbounded by every diverse field of knowledge. He was born in Robeson County, near old Floral College, graduated in medicine from the University of Maryland in 1823, and for several years practiced in Robeson County. He married in 1829 Miss Mary McNeill, and in the following year removed to Buies Creek in Harnett County. From that year to the present time the people of that section have never been without the capable services of some member of the McKay family Dr. John McKay did his work in a comparatively pioneer era, enduring all the hardships and inconveniences connected with traveling far and wide to attend his patients scattered over the rural districts of several surrounding counties. On these rides he carried his medicines and also his surgical instruments, and most of these instruments are still carefully preserved by his grandson, Dr. Joseph F. McKay, of Buies Creek.

The second generation of McKay physicians was the late Dr. John Archibald McKay, who died at the home of his son, Dr. J.F. McKay, in Buies Creek, October 25, 1917. He was born March 13, 1830, at the home which had been established by his father on the old Raleigh and Fayetteville stage road in Neill's Creek Township, Harnett County, and only about two miles from the home where he died. He attained the great age of eighty-seven years, seven months, twelve days. As a boy he attended the schools of his home community, and like his father his range of intellectual interests was remarkable. He was thoroughly grounded in the classics and had the ideals and culture of a man of the old South. He matriculated in the University of North Carolina in 1849 and was graduated in the class of 1853. At the time of his death, so far as known, there was no other living survivor of that class. One of his class mates was his brother, D. McN. McKay. Dr. John A. McKay had been prepared for college at old Summerville Academy, near Lillington, under the direction of the famous Doctor Coiton. From the State University he entered the Medical College of the State of South Carolina at Charleston, where he was graduated in 1857. He almost immediately began practice at Buies Creek, as successor to nis father, and continued to respond to calls upon his services until a few years before his death. He was the oldest member of the medical profession in Harnett County.

Of his character and attainments a local paper has spoken as follows:

“No physician in this county or section of the state stood higher in his profession than Dr. John A. McKay. His superior knowledge was given unreservedly to benefit the people among whom he had been born and reared. He had a high conception of the obligations resting upon a physician, and the ethical standard set by him has had a most wholesome influence upon the profession throughout this whole section. No man ever came in contact with Doctor McKay without being convinced that he was a man of superior intellect and learned not only in his profession but in almost everything that pertains to human knowledge.”

When a young man Dr. John A. McKay married Miss Christiana Foy, of Wilmington, North Carolina, who died in 1880, the mother of five sons and two daughters. The living children are: Mary Isabelie, the widow of Dr. J. H. Crawford; Dr. J. F. McKay, John A. McKay, Rev. E.J. McKay, Mrs. Martin B. Williams, and D. McN. McKay.

Dr. Joseph F. McKay, son of the late Dr. John A. McKay and grandson of Dr. John McKay, was born at the old McKay homestead at Buies Creek in 1861. His academic training was acquired in Lillington Academy, and his medical education in the Medical College of South Carolina at Charleston, where he graduated with the class of 1884, just twenty-seven years from the time his father had gone forth from the same institution with his diploma. He returned home to relieve his father of some of the burdens of practice, and thus his work is a direct continuation of the service so long rendered by both his father and grandfather. Dr. McKay is a former president of the Harnett County Medical Society and also a member of the State and the Southern Medical associations and Tri State Medical Association.

Like his forefathers, Doctor McKay has always espoused the faith of the Presbyterian Church. He married Miss Mattie Rogers, of Lillington, North Carolina. They have four children: John A., now a student in the Johns Hopkins Medical School; Mrs. Alton M. Cameron of Vass, North Carolina, Joseph Lister, and Martha.

John L. Currie

John L. Currie. In the death of John L. Currie, which occurred at his home in Carthage September 4, 1916, Moore County lost one of its most valuable and valued citizens. Mr. Currie exemplified many traits that are everywhere accepted as the fundamentals of good citizenship, and for all his success in material affairs his life meant most for its sturdy and irreproachable character.

He was born November 4, 1861, three miles east of Carthage near Union Church, son of Neill P. and Jeannettee (Leach) Currie, both of whom were of Scotch ancestry. While of good family connections, he grew up in a period when the entire country was practically poverty stricken as a result of the devastations of war. When he began to take the larger outlook on life, due to years of manhood, there were no industries or opportunities within reach, and his early life had been one of constant toil. He and his brothers practically took care of the household, and it was as a result of overcoming obstacles that he was able to satisfy his ambitions for an education. He attended the famous Union Home School, and after finishing there was a teacher for a time. His old associates remember him in young manhood as a youth of splendid appearance, and with fine character showing in every word and deed.

He had capacity for leadership and was early drawn into politics, and the record he made is one that may be read with pride by all his descendants. The first political office he held was that of county surveyor, to which he was elected on the democratic ticket when still a very young man. In 1886, the county being at that time strongly republican, he was accorded the democratic nomination for sheriff against the republican incumbent, William M. Black, a man who for years had been of powerful prestige and influence in Moore County. The election resulted in the defeat of Mr. Currie, but that was the beginning of the overthrow of the republican majority, and two years later, when he was renominated, he was elected, defeating Mr. Black for sheriff by a comfortable majority. The citizens of Moore County always regard with a great deal of satisfaction the splendid record made by John L. Currie as sheriff. He held that office four terms in succession, a period of eight years, and was a most popular as well as efficient officer. In 1898 he was elected to the Lower House of the Legislature from Moore County.

In a business way he was successfully identified from 1900 until his death with lumber manufacturing at Carthage. He was also one of the founders and the principal owner of the Bismarck Hosiery Mill at Carthage. His later prosperity enabled him to accumulate a large amount of mining and other real estate in the county seat and county. Though he was only fifty-five years of age at the time of his death, he had achieved, from the humble beginnings which have been suggested, and with only the assets of good character, a fine sense of honor and industry, a business position such as all might well envy.

Mr. Currie built his home on the top of the hill at Carthage, on an elevation that overlooks the most beautiful expanse of surrounding country for many miles. This is the home of his family and one of the best in Moore County. At the time of his death Mr. Currie was chairman of the Board of Road Commissioners of Carthage township.

In early boyhood he joined the Presbyterian Church, and his entire life was an expression of Christian principle. He was devoted to his church and Sunday school, served for many years as ruling elder of the church at Carthage, and was for about an equally long time superintendent of the Sunday school. To him more than to any other one person was due the building of the handsome new church edifice at Carthage.

Mr. Currie married Miss Mary Belle Mclver, of Sanford, daughter of the late Daniel B. McIver, of Moore County. Mrs. Currie and five children survive her honored husband, the children being Wilbur, William, Mary Lynn, John and Dwight.

W. Thomas Parrott, M.D.

W. Thomas Parrott, M. D. To no profession are there open greater opportunities of human and social usefulness than to the practitioner of medicine. One of the able men of North Carolina who have utilized to a remarkable degree these opportunities is Dr. W. Thomas Parrott of Kinston. Dr. Parrott is a leader in his profession and in certain lines has few peers in the state.

Dr. Parrott gave Kinston one of its noblest institutions, the Parrott Memorial Hospital, which he served as president for a number of years. He is a former president of the Seaboard Medical Society, and is one of the well known members of the Southern Medical Association, the Tri-State Medical Association, and the North Carolina State Medical Society.

Dr. Parrott was born in Falling Creek Township of Lenoir County, September 11, 1875. He was a small boy when his father died, and he and his widowed mother removed to Kinston, where he attended the local schools in preparation for college. In 1893 he entered the academic department of the State University, where he remained two years. Seeking an opportunity for self support, he became clerk in a drug store, and from a practical knowledge of drugs and pharmacy the ambition grew upon him to become a physician. He spent three years in the drug store and then entered and graduated with the degree Ph.D. from the Maryland College of Pharmacy at Baltimore. A few months later he enrolled as a regular medical student in the University of Maryland. During his summer vacations he practiced medicine with his brother. In order to have the opportunities of a Southern clinical training he took his last course at Tulane University in Louisiana. While at New Orleans he gave special attention to the treatment of tropical and sub-tropical diseases, and during his active practice he has become more and more recognized as a specialist in tropical maladies.

Dr. Parrott, when he graduated from Tulane University in the spring of 1899, was the youngest member of a class of one hundred and fourteen. Soon afterward he was granted a state license at the Asheville meeting of the State Board and began practice at Kinston. Dr. Parrott has since increased his general equipment and experience by extended courses both at home and abroad. In 1900 he was in New York City and in 1902 went abroad, receiving a diploma for work in the London Polyclinic and taking special work at the Ormond Street Hospital for Children. At regular intervals since he has attended clinics and the schools of leading medical centers in this country.

Doctor Parrott served for a time as superintendent of Health of Lenoir County, and was formerly surgeon of the Second Regiment, North Carolina National Guard, with the rank of captain, and retired from the service with the rank of major. He is now surgeon of the Kinston Fire Department and surgeon for the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Company. He was instrumental in helping with the plan for the Robert Bruce McDaniel Memorial Hospital at Kinston and has always been generous of his time and ability in promoting such institutions and the preparation and equipment of others for hospital work. Doctor Parrott is a member of the Christian Church. He has written a number of articles which have been read before the North Carolina Medical Society and other medical associations.

On March 15, 1916, he married Miss Jeannette Johnson, of Scotland County, North Carolina, daughter of Charles Johnson, a well known business man of that locality. Doctor and Mrs. Parrott have one son, William Thomas Jr., born December 23, 1916.

Charles David Kellenberger

Charles David Kellenberger has been a resident of North Carolina for the past ten years and is one of the men who have been attracted to this state by its unrivaled business opportunities and splendid resources. Mr. Kellenberger is an experienced furniture manufacturer, and has been identified with one of the leading industries of that kind in Greensboro.

He is of an old Pennsylvania family. He is a son of Lewis and Eliza (Zarfoss) Kellenberger, a grandson of John Kellenberger, 3rd, and great-grandson of John Kellenberger, 2nd, and great, great-grandson of John Kellenberger. The latter was born in Germany, and on coming to America settled in Adams County, Pennsylvania, where he owned a large tract of land between Hanover and Littlestown. His wife was a native of Ireland, by name Welsh.

Charles D. Kellenberger had a good education as a preliminary to life's experiences and achievements. He attended Hanover Academy, the York County Academy, the Schissler Business College at Norristown, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Patrick's Business College at York, Pennsylvania. For three years he was a successful teacher, and then became connected with the Long Furniture Company of Hanover, Pennsylvania. At the end of three years he resigned and went to the West York Furniture Manufacturing Company, York, Pennsylvania, with which he remained until 1908.

On coming to Greensboro Mr. Kellenberger took the position of secretary, treasurer and manager of the Standard Table Company, and has done much to develop the possibilities of this business and made it one of the successful and growing concerns of the city. In 1901 Mr. Kellenberger married Ella J. Stover. They have two children, Ruth and Charles David, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Kellenberger were reared in the Lutheran faith, and he was one of the organizers of the First Lutheran Church of Greensboro, a member of its building committee, and has been an elder and treasurer since organization. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Travelers Protective Association, also the Young Men's Christian Association and the Country Club.

David Thomas Tayloe, M.D.

Thirty-three years of devotion to his profession as a trained and capable physician and surgeon is the record of Dr. David T. Tayloe of Washington. Thirty-three years of his life given to the calling which he chose as his work when he entered upon his career in young manhood; three decades spent in the alleviation of the ills of mankind, is the work in which his talents and fitness apparently predestined him for success. His father and some of his uncles have made names in the same profession, and now three sons of Dr. Tayloe's are preparing to follow in his footsteps.

Dr. Tayloe was born in Granville County, North Carolina, February 22, 1864, a son of Dr. David Thomas and Mary Elizabeth ( Grist ) Tayloe. He was educated in the public schools in the Washington Academy at Washington, also in private schools, and in 1882 entered the Belleview Hospital Medical College of New York City, where he finished his work and obtained his degree in 1885. In all the years since then he has conducted a general practice at Washington, more and more specializing in surgery. Only a few years have been allowed to pass in which he has not interrupted his practice for a few weeks or a few months in order to get in touch with the leaders of the profession, and he has attended clinics and post-graduate schools all over the country. For some time he did special laboratory and research work in the Carnegie Laboratory of New York City. He has done post-graduate work in Boston, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Baltimore, has attended a number of clinics of the famous Mayo Brothers at Rochester, Minnesota, and has studied the methods of such eminent surgeons as Dr. Crile of Cleveland and the late Dr. Murphy of Chicago.

Dr. Tayloe was one of the founders of the S.R. Fowle Memorial Hospital at Washington and served as its superintendent several years. Since then he has built and equipped the Washington Hospital, a private institution thoroughly modern in every respect, which he manages with the assistance of his brother, Dr. Joshua Tayloe. Dr. Tayloe is a member of the Beaufort County, North Carolina Tri-State, Seaboard and First District Medical Societies, and has served as president of all these organizations. For four years he was a member of the North Carolina Surgical Club. Dr. Tayloe is a member of the Episcopal Church, and for four years was town commissioner of Washington.

December 22, 1894, he married Miss Atalia Cotton, daughter of General John Cotton, one of the distinguished citizens of Tarboro, North Carolina. Dr. and Mrs. Tayloe have five children: David Thomas, Jr., now a student of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, who attended Sweet Briar College, in Virginia; John Cotton, now serving in France; Joshua, who is studying medicine, and Athalia, who is now attending St. Mary 's College at Raleigh.

Henry Fries Shaffner

Henry Fries Shaffner is vice president of the Wachovia Bank & Trust Company of Winston-Salem, the largest and strongest bank in North Carolina and one of the largest in the South. He has been active in business affairs in Winston-Salem for thirty years.

His own career is only part of the honorable record sustained by the Shaffner family in this section of North Carolina for over eighty years. Mr. Shaffner's grandfather, Henry Shaffner, was born in Canton Basle, Switzerland, March 28, 1798, was reared and educated in his native land, served an apprenticeship at the trade of potter, and in 1833 immigrated to America, making the voyage on a sailing vessel. He soon located at Salem, North Carolina, where he became a manufacturer of earthen ware, pipes and other similar materials. He was a substantial business man in old Salem and lived there until his death. He bought and owned for many years the first house ever erected on the site of Salem, and his business was conducted in that location. This house stood on Liberty Street, and a tablet has been placed on its site commemorating its historic importance in the annals of the town. Henry Shaffner married Lavina Hauser. She was born in what is now Forsyth County, and her ancestors were among the pioneers there. After her death Henry Shaffner married Amelia Meinung. By the first marriage there were two children: Maria Elizabeth and John Francis. By the second marriage there were two daughters: Louisa Caroline and Sarah Elizabeth, both teachers in Salem Academy and College.

The late Dr. John Francis Shaffner, father of the Winston-Salem banker, was a man whose personal character and activities entitled him to numerous distinctions, and his name was always associated with the best in the civic and commercial affairs of Winston-Salem. From a memorial tribute found in the records of the Salem congregation of the Moravian Church it is possible to give all the more important details of his life and experience.

He was born at Salem July 14, 1838, and died there September 18, 1908, at the age of seventy years, two months and four days. He was baptized July 20, 1838, and on April 1, 1855, became a full member of the Moravian Church by the rite of confirmation, and four days later partook of the Holy Communion. His education was acquired in the Moravian schools in Salem and under private teachers, notably Mr. William Meinung, and his medical education at Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia was completed with his graduation March 14, 1860. After graduating in Medicine he settled at Salem and took up practice.

In 1861 Dr. Shaffner volunteered as a private in Company A, afterward Company D, Capt. A. H. Belo, Twenty-first Regiment North Carolina Troops. For a limited period he served as assistant surgeon with the Seventh, Twenty-first and Thirty-third regiments. He was promoted to surgeon in the Confederate Army in March, 1862, and served in the field with the Fourth and Fifth regiments, North Carolina Troops, and as brigade surgeon of Branch's and Ramseur's brigades until the surrender of General Lee's army at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. Thus for four years he was in the vortex of that mighty conflict.

The chronicler of the Fourth Regiment said:

“Chief Surgeon J. F. Shaffner was a young man of splendid ability; a man of education and fine attainments and always faithful to the important tasks committed to him.”

The historian of the Thirty-third Regiment has this to say of him:

“Our surgeons, Dr. J. F. Shaffner and John A. Vigal, were the kindest and best of men. They were ideal surgeons — capable, honest, firm, sympathetic, self sacrificing, courageous and unremitting in their attention to the sick and wounded, oftentimes exposing themselves to imminent peril in the discharge of their official duties. By such unflinching heroism and devotion to duty they won the undying gratitude of the entire command.”

Dr. Shaffner was once captured while attending some wounded men who had necessarily been left behind. He always cherished friendships formed during the four years of his army life and especially in his last years showed the deepest interest and sympathy in matters relating to the Confederate Veterans. He was a charter member of Norfleet Camp, U. C. V.

After the war Dr. Shaffner resumed the practice of medicine in his native town, and in 1867 established a drug store there. He was a member of the North Carolina Medical Society, in 1872 was sent as a delegate to the American Medical Association by the state society, and was the society's orator in 1877 and its president in 1880. For four years he was one of the seven members constituting the Medical Examining Board for the State of North Carolina.

Active in the movement which resulted in the building of the Northwestern North Carolina Railway, he was elected a director of that company in 1870. At the time of his death he was vice president and director in the Winston-Salem Building & Loan Association, having been connected with it since its organization. In various ways he was identified with business interests and his judgment was highly prized by his associates. He was the first president of the Salem Water Supply Company, and was officially connected therewith when its plant was transferred to the Town of Salem. He served the Town of Salem as commissioner and later as mayor from 1878 to 1884. He served several terms as a. member of the school board of the Salem Boys' School, and was a trustee of Salem congregation from 1878 to 1890, and for several years a member of the financial board of the province. He was, as this record shows, a gifted man, endowed with rare traits of mind and heart, lived an exemplary life in which he wronged no one and helped hundreds, and he numbered his personal friends by the score.

On February 16, 1865, Dr. Shaffner married Caroline Louisa Fries. She was born in Salem, daughter of Francis and Lisetta (Vogler) Fries. Her mother was a daughter of John and Christina (Spach) Vogler. For many years John Vogler operated the only jewelry store in Salem. Dr. Shaffner was survived by his widow and four of their five children, and at the time of his death he also had seven living, grandchildren, one grandson having died before him. The four children who grew up were Henry Fries, William Francis, C. Lisetta and J. Francis, Jr.

Mr. Henry Fries Shaffner was born in Salem, September 19, 1867, and as a boy attended Mrs. Welfare's select school and the Salem Boys' School. In 1884 he entered the sophomore class of the University of North Carolina, and was graduated in 1887. From university, Mr. Shaffner returned home, had a brief experience as clerk in his father's drug store, and then took up the operation of the pottery originally established by his grandfather.

In 1893 Mr. Shaffner became secretary and treasurer of the Wachovia Loan & Trust Company. When this company was consolidated with the Wachovia National Bank in 1911, becoming the Wachovia Bank & Trust Company, he was chosen vice president of the new institution and has filled that office to the present time. While he gives all his time to the affairs of the bank, he has interests in various manufacturing enterprises. For several years he was secretary and treasurer of the Salem Water Supply Company, and served several terms as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Salem, and was a member of the first board of aldermen of the consolidated City of Winston-Salem. He and his wife are active members of the Home Moravian Church, and he is a member and president of the central board of trustees of the Salem congregation.

Mr. Shaffner was married in 1901 to Agnes Gertrude Siewers. She was born in Salem, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel and Eleanor Elizabeth (De Schweinitz) Siewers. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffner have four living children: Eleanor Caroline, Anna Paulina, Emil Nathaniel and Louis De Schweinitz. A fifth child, Henry Siewers, died in infancy.

William Holt Williamson

William Holt Williamson.

In the historic Holt homestead "Locust Grove," Alamance County, North Carolina, the home of his maternal ancestors for several generations, William Holt Williamson of Raleigh, North Carolina, was born, February 4, 1867.

Michael Holt (who died about 1783), of the first generation of the family in North Carolina (and Mr. Williamson's great-great-great-grand-father) had made settlement here at an early date, and many of his descendants, including the subject of this sketch, first saw the light of day from beneath this honored roof-tree; many of them in after years attaining distinction through nobility of character, unrivalled success in business and in the councils of the state and nation.

Edwin Michael Holt (1807-1884) a great-grand-son of the first Michael Holt (and Mr. Williamson's grandfather) established the first cotton mills south of the Potomac River for the manufacture of colored cotton goods, becoming, virtually the founder of the colored cotton goods industry in the South.

The war between the states was responsible for the scattering of many southern families and for the destruction of their records. To this calamity the Williamson family was not an exception, though patient research has developed some interesting facts relative to several generations of the name and relative to the ancestry of the families into which the earlier Williamsons married.

The first of the name to whom this branch of the Williamson family has been positively traced was Nathan Williamson (sometimes called Nathaniel) who was born (tradition says in Virginia) probably about the year 1750 and who died in Caswell County, North Carolina, in the year 1839.

The earliest recorded mention of Nathan Williamson (thus far discovered) is on February 9, 1780, on which date Henry Hays, of Guilford County, conveyed to the said Nathan Williamson (who is described as "of Caswell County"), 237 acres in Caswell County on both sides of County Line Creek. The price paid for the land was 125 "specie of Virginia." (Caswell County Records, Deed Book "A," p. 563.) In October, 1782, Nathan Williamson obtained by grant, from Alexander Martin, Governor of North Carolina, 200 acres in Caswell County, on the waters of County Line Creek, and adjoining John Windsor, Jeremiah Williamson, and the said Nathan Williamson (Ibid, Deed Book "B," p. 140). From all appearances, one is justified in the conclusion that Nathan Williamson followed the quiet life of a farmer, while from his will and the inventory of his estate one learns that he was quite a successful man for his time, judging from the real and personal estate of which he was possessed; amons the latter a number of slaves.

Nathan Wililamson married Sarah Swift. Mrs. Williamson was the daughter of William Swift, of Caswell County, a successful farmer and sheriff of the county in 1792 and 1793, and who had gone to Caswell County from Goochland County, Virginia. William Swift (who died in 1808) was the son of the Rev. William Swift, a minister of the Church of England, who resided in Hanover County, Virginia, where he died in 1734.

Nathan and Sarah (Swift) Williamson had issue: George Williamson; Martha Williamson, who married in 1819, Caswell Tait; Elizabeth Williamson, who married in 1812, Samuel Smith; Frances Williamson, who married in 1799, Leonard Prather; Margaret Williamson, who married in 1808, Roger Simpson; John Williamson; Swift Williamson, who married in 1819, Mary Lea; Mary P. Williamson, who married in 1818, Robert S. Harris; Anthony Williamson, who married, in 1818, Eliza K. Lea; Thomas Williamson, who married Frances Pannill Banks Farish; Nathan Williamson, who died unmarried; Sarah C. Williamson, who married Mr. Moss.

Thomas Williamson (son of Nathan and Sarah (Swift) Williamson) was born about the year 1782 and died in 1848. He was an extensive planter and a large merchant. Mr. Williamson though frequently urged to enter political life, declined to do so, owing to a lofty ambition to excel in his business undertakings and feeling that success could not be obtained by any division of interests. He achieved marked success in the business world, amassing a comfortable fortune for the times in which he lived ; furthermore, winning and holding the respect and friendship of all with whom he came in contact.

Thomas Williamson (1782-1848) married Frances Pannill Banks Farish, of Chatham County, North Carolina, daughter of Thomas and Fannie (Banks) Farish. both of whom were natives of Virginia and whose ancestors for generations had been prominent in the life of that colony. Mrs. Williamson was descended from Adam Banks, who appears as a purchaser of land in Stafford County, in 1674; Thomas Pannill of old Rappahannock County, who died in 1677; Samuel Bayly, who resided at an early day in old Rappahannock County, dying in 1710, in Richmond County; and, from the Farishes, who settled at an early day in the Rappahannock Valley. Representatives of all these families moved from Tidewater to the Piedmont section of Virginia; the counties of Orange, Culpepper and Madison becoming their homes; and from which, later, their descendants removed to Southern Virginia and to North Carolina.

Thomas and Frances Pannill Banks (Farish) Williamson had issue: Anthony Swift Williamson; Emily A. Williamson; Mary Elizabeth Williamson; Thomas Farish Williamson; Lynn Banks Williamson; Virginia Frances Williamson; and James Nathaniel Williamson.

James Nathaniel Williamson (the last above mentioned child) was born March 6, 1842, and was therefore but six years of age at the time of his father's death. His mother, Mrs. Frances Pannill Banks (Farish) Williamson, was a woman of markedly strong characteristics, and it was with great earnestness and enthusiasm that she turned, at the death of her husband, to the careful training of her young family. Thomas Williamson had desired that his son, James Nathaniel Williamson, should be educated along the most liberal lines, and to the execution of this plan Mrs. Williamson devoted great energy.

James Nathaniel Williamson pursued his early studies in the well known preparatory school of Dr. Alexander Wilson, at Melville, Alamance County, who said of young Williamson that he was one of the "best in his classes." In 1860 Mr. Williamson entered Davidson College, and at the age of nineteen years he responded to his native state's call to her sons to arms in the war between the states. He enlisted as member of the First Company raised in Caswell County — Company "A," Thirteenth North Carolina Regiment. Following the fortunes of the Confederacy to the bitter end, he served in many of the greatest battles of the war and was twice wounded, receiving his parol at Appomattox as captain of Company "F," Thirty-eighth North Carolina Regiment. Returning at the close of the war to his home farm Caswell County, and amidst the chaos that then reigned, Captain Williamson, with grim determination, undertook the reconstruction of a shattered fortune. With a few faithful negroes, who were formerly numbered among his negro property, he went to work, and it was not long before order began to emerge from chaos.

Shortly after his return from the war, Captain Williamson married, on September 5, 1865, Mary Elizabeth Holt daughter of Edwin Michael Holt, of Alamance County. The branch of the Holt family of North Carolina, which resides in Alamance County, is descended from Michael Holt, who came into the colony at an early day (supposedly from Virginia) and settled in what was afterwards Orange County, now Alamance. Michael Holt secured a large grant of land from the Earl of Granville. This land, to which many additions have been made, from time to time, is now covered by the towns of Graham and Burlington.

Michael Holt died about 1785. His son the second Michael Holt, had been one of the leaders for law and order, opposing the violent outrages of the Regulars prior to the Revolution, and he suffered much in consequence. He was slow in siding against the King, and, in the early days of the war period, was arrested and carried to Philadelphia, but was released upon the presentation of the facts in the case. Though he did not enter the war, he did a noble part by the Army in providing for its sustenance. He was the father of five sons and five daughters. A son, Joseph, by his first wife, Margaret O'Neill, moved to Kentucky. By his second wife, Jean Lockart, he had four sons and three daughters. Michael, the sixth of these seven children, was the father of Edwin Michael Holt. To the genius, industry and indomitable perseverance of this latter is due the founding of the Holt cotton mill business in North Carolina.

Edwin M. Holt married Emily Farish and was the father of ten children, among them Mary "Elizabeth Holt, who married James Nathaniel Williamson.

Mr. Holt's idea (which he shared with preceding generations) was that families whose interests were in common, should remain together, and thus the husbands of his daughters became identified with the Holt family in its large manufacturing interests. In this spirit, Mr. Holt invited Captain Williamson to unite with him and his four sons in the manufacture of cotton goods, and Captain Williamson accepted the invitation.

For several years after his marriage Captain Williamson made his home at Locust Grove in Alamance, but after the erection, near Graham, in the same county, of the Carolina Mills, in which he was a partner, he moved to that place, where he still resides.

William Holt Williamson, of this sketch, is the son of James Nathaniel and Mary, Elizabeth (Holt) Williamson, and was born at Locust Grove, Alamance County, North Carolina, February 4, 1867. He was enrolled, in his seventh year, as a pupil in the school of the Bev. Archibald Currie, a school in which many prominent North Carolinians received their early education. Afterwards, he attended Lynch 's Preparatory School, at High Point, and in 1882, entered Davidson College. He remained in college two years after finishing the sophomore course. Though quite young to leave college, the inclination to be at work, and filial affection, developed into an irresistible desire to be with, and a help to, his father, in the eqtton mills. After the great success of the Carolina Cotton Mills, on Haw River, Captain Williamson had built the Ossipee Cotton Mills in Alamance County, operating the latter in his own name.

In June, 1884, in the Ossipee establishment, William Holt Williamson first began work on the very "lowest rung of the ladder." For sometime he worked for but a nominal salary, which was gradually increased as his work became more effective and his ability was proved. On January 1, 1888, he was admitted to partnership in the business with a one-seventh interest. Mr. Williamson was then of age, and the firm name was changed to "J.N. Williamson and Son." In 1891, James N. Williamson, Junior (a brother of William Holt Williamson) was admitted to membership in the firm, and the former designation of "Son" became "Sons." Between 1888 and 1892, the firm's business was highly successful; the colored cotton cloths becoming known throughout the United States by a constantly increasing trade.

In 1892, William Holt Williamson, established the Pilot Cotton Mills, and began the erection of a plant in Raleigh, which was finished and placed in operation in 1893. Associated with him in this undertaking were his father, James N. Williamson, and his mother, Mrs. Mary E. Williamson, and later, his brother, James N. Williamson, Jr. In 1907, this business was incorporated under the name of the Pilot Cotton Mills Company, with William H. Williamson as president and treasurer, James Nathaniel Williamson, Jr., as vice president and A.V.D. Smith, as secretary. The Pilot Cotton Mills Company's plant contains 425 looms, about eleven thousand spindles, manufacturing about seven and a half million yards of cloth annually. The product of the Pilot Mills is known throughout the United States, while for exportation to the Philippines, South America and the West Indies, other fabrics are manufactured. This mill has maintained a splendid record for "working time," having operated about six thousand days in the twenty years up to January 1, 1915, an average of practically three hundred working days to the year. The enterprise of the Williamsons and Holts have given an impetus to the commercial life of the state, the fabrics of which they are manufacturers being known and used throughout the world.

Mr. Williamson's interests are many and varied. He is president and treasurer of The Pilot Cotton Mills, at Raleigh; vice president of the James N. Williamson and Sons Company, operating the Ossipee and Hopedale Mills at Burlington; director of the Harriet Cotton Mills, at Henderson, and vice president and a director of the Merchants National Bank at Ealeigh. His interest in educational matters has led to his accepting membership in the board of directors of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of Raleigh. Mr. Williamson is a member of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, and was, at one time, a member of the Capital Club of Raleigh, and a member of its board of governors. He was also a member of the late Southern Society of New York. The Raleigh Country Club, of which he was the president, when the club was first opened, was built under Mr. Williamson's supervision, and he is now a member of it.

Mr. Williamson is a democrat in politics, and though not in sympathy with all of the policies of that party, still, as the platform of that party comes nearer than any other towards meeting with his political views, he has maintained affiliation therewith. He is an Episcopalian in religious affiliation, and a vestryman of Christ Church, Raleigh, and a member and vice president of the Church Club of that parish. In accordance with a request of his employees in the Pilot Cotton Mills, and that he might fraternize with them, Mr. Williamson became a member of the Junior Order of the United American Mechanics.

Mr. Williamson has a winter home in De Land, Florida, where he goes for much needed rest from business duties. He greatly enjoys outdoor life, and is a devotee of golf. Hunting and fishing are also among his pastimes.

William Holt Williamson married, December 1, 1897, Miss Sadie Saunders Tucker, daughter of Rufus S. and Florence Perkins Tucker, of Raleigh, who was born November 28, 1872. Their children are Sadie Tucker, who died in infancy; William Holt, Jr., born December 5, 1903, and Sarah Tucker, born September 13, 1912.

Mr. Williamson has the rare gift of clear and concise expression, and in no way could the actuating principles of his life be better described than by using his own words extracted from a recent statement concerning himself and his business.

He says :

“Since I was old enough to think on such subjects, I made up my mind to adopt a business career, following the work of my father, a cotton manufacturer. Upon entering upon the labors and duties connected with that business I endeavored to make the object of my life and work first to transact my business by honest dealings and then to conduct it with a view to the betterment of my fellow men, and for the upbuilding of the community in which I was located.
“I have always endeavored to help my employees by bettering their condition, mentally, morally, physically and financially. In our mill stores we sold only the very best and absolutely pure groceries, even before the pure food laws were enacted. I have always believed in paying the best wages possible, also in providing comfortable homes for the employees, and have aided them in the beautifying of their yards, encouraged them in their gardening, and have looked to clean surroundings for them and to the providing of pure drinking water. I felt that after I had provided honest work, a good, comfortable home and good surroundings in a healthy locality, had given them the best wages and their children an opportunity to receive an education, I had practically done my part by them. I might also add that I provided churches to aid the development of the moral and spiritual side of their nature.
“The Pilot Mill Village is considered one of the neatest and most attractive in the State of North Carolina; the Mill school one of the best equipped in the country, and there is hearty cooperation among the teachers, scholars, parents and the management of the mill. The school has the best of teachers and has captured the silver cup for punctuality five years in succession.
“While the prime object in running a business is to make money, I have always felt that there is something more to be gotten out of it than mere money and profit. While it must necessarily make money to be successful, and the money-making end cannot and must not be ignored, still, while this is being done I have felt it to be the duty of all employers to set a good example to their employees of thrift, honesty, industry, and sobriety, and also to let these people know that you feel an interest in them and have their welfare at heart.”