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