Hon. Robert B. Redwine

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.

Source: History of North Carolina, Vol. VI, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York ©1919