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li.
J
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
'OLD NORTH STATE" EDITION
THIS EDITION IS STRICTLY LIMITED TO SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY REGISTERED AND NUMBERED SETS, OF WHICH THIS IS SET NUMBER
^cli^n^^ ^L J^^-/tr
!ogrnpi)i'.:;
of
cnf;
PR
1
of IJorti) Ciarolina
From Colonial Times to the Present
Editors
Samuel A. Ashe
Stephen B. H^eeks
Charles L. Van Noppen
VOLUME VII
Charles L. Van Noppen
PUBLISHER
Greensboro, N. C.
MCMVIII
r
y ' -.
392154 A
A5T0P., LENOX AND
CorVBIGHT, 1906
By Chailes L. Van Noppfk
All rights reserved
Kemp P. Battle . John C. Buxton Theo. F. Davidson Junius Davis . rufus a. doughton Thomas J. Jarvis James Y. Jovner . ♦Charles D. McIver William L. Poteat James H. Southgate Charles W. Tillett
Chapel Hill
VVinston-Salem
. Asheville
. Wilmington
Sparta
Greenville
Raleigh
. Greensboro
Wake Forest
Durham
. Charlotte
• Deceased
Advisory Board vii
Contents ix
Portraits xiii
Contributors xv
Avery, Waightstill i
^ Avery, Isaac Thomas 7
Avery, William Waightstill 9
Avery, Clark Moulton 12
Avery, Isaac Erwin 14
Avery, Alphonso Calhoun 18
Avery, Willoughby Francis 26
Avery, Isaac Erwin 29
•^ Badger, George E6mund 35
Bo\T), George Dillard 45
Boyd, Andrew Jackson 48
Branch, John 52:
• Branch, Lawrence O'Bryan 55
Childs, Frederick Lynn 60
' Clark, Walter 67
Clarkson, Heriot yy
Cramer, Stuart Warren 82
• Dixon, Thomas, Jr 88
Ellis, John Willis 94
X CONTENTS
Erwin, Joseph J 102
Fuller, Edwin Wiley 107
Gaston, Alexander 1 1 1
Glasgow, James 115
Gray, George Alexander 122
Halling, Solomon 130
Hill, Daniel Harvey 137
Hill, Daniel Harvey 145
Hinsdale, Samuel Johnston 148
Hinsdale, John Wetmore 153
Holt, Michael 160
Holt, William Rainey 172
Holt, Edwin Michael 181
Holt, Thomas Michael 190
Holt, James Henry 196
Holt, William Edwin 200
Holt, Lynn Banks 204
Holt, Lawrence SciiACKLEroRo 211
Holt, Walter Lawrence 216
Holt, Edwin Cameron 219
Holt, Robert Lacy 222
Holt, John Allen 225
Holt, Martin Hicks 229
Hooper, William 233
Hooper, William 245
H(XJPER, John De Hern lEKE 251
HosKiNS, Charles 256
Johnston. Thomas Dillard 260
JoNKS, Hamilton Champ*i:ki.ain 268
Lamb, (^idion 274
Lamb. John Caliioin 2jS
CONTENTS XI
Lamb, Wilson Gr.\y 281
McClure, Alexander Doak 288
McDonald, Flora 292
McDowell, Ephraim 297
McDowell, Charles 300
McDowell, Joseph, Sr 306
McDowell, John 309
McNeill, John Charles 312
Mebane, Alexander, Sr 327
Mebane, Giles 335
Mebane, Robert Sloan 339
Meserve, Charles Francis 343
MiMS, Edwin 349
Parker. Francis Marion 355
v^EAcocK, Dred 362
Pearson, Robert Cau)well 368
Pe.\rson, William Simpson 375
Person, Thomas 380
Powell, Alexander Milne 399
Raney, Richard Beverly 403
Robeson, Thomas 408
Robinson, John 417
Shepard, William Biddle 421
Smith, William Nathan Harreli 429
Smith, Edward Chambers 436
Staton, Lycurgus Lafayette 443
Stokes, John 447
TrcKER, RuFUS Sylvester 454
Weldon, Samuel 462
Weston, James Augustus 464
Wheeler, John Hill 472
xn
CONTENTS
Whitaker, Spier 479
Williamson, James Nathaniel 485
Williamson, William Holt 490
Williamson, James Nathaniel, Jr 495
Wilson, Joseph 499
Yancey, Bartlett 503
Holt, Edwin M Frontispiece
Avery, Isaac Thomas facing 7
Avery, William Waightstill " 9
Avery, Isaac Erwin " 14
AvxRY, Alphonso Calhoun " 18
Avery, Willoughby Francis " 26
' AxxRY, Isaac Erwin " 29
Badger, George Edmund " 35
Boyd, George Dillard *' 45
Boyd, Andrew Jackson " 48
Clark, Walter " 67
Cramer. Stuart Warren ** 82
Ellis, John Willis " 94
Erwix, Joseph J " 102
Gray, George Alexander " 122
Hill, Daniel Harvey *' i37
^ Hill, Daniel Harvey "145
Hinsdale, Samuel Johnston " 148
• Hinsdale, John Wetmore " 153
Holt, William Rainey " 172
Holt, Thomas Michael " 190
Holt, James Henry ** 196
Holt, William Edwin " 200
Holt, Lynn Banks " 204
xiv PORTRAITS
Holt, Lawrence Schackleford facing 211
Holt, Walter Lawrence ** 216
Holt, Edwin Cameron " 219
Holt, Robert Lacy ** 222
Holt, John Allen '* 22$
Holt, Martin Hicks ** 229
Hooper, William ** 233
Hooper, William ** 245
Hooper, John De Berniere " 251
Johnston, Thomas Dillard " 260
Jones, Hamilton Chamberlain ** 268
Lamb, Wilson Gray •' 281
McClure, Alexander Doak ** 288
McNeill, John Charles ** 312
Mebane, Giles " 335
Mebane, Robert Sloan *' 339
Meserve, Charles Francls *' 343
Parker, Francis Marion ** 355
Peacock, Drei) " 362
Pearson, Robert Caldweli *' 368
Pearson, William Simpson ** 375
Raney, Richard Beverly ** 403
Shepard, William Biddle " 421
Smith, William Nathan Harreli *' 429
Smith, Edward Chambers " 436
Staton, Lycurgus Lafayette *' 443
Tucker, Rufus Sylvester ** 454
Weston, James Augustis ** 464
Wheeler, John H ** 472
Whitaker, Spier " 479
Williamson, James Natiiaxiei ** 485
Williamson, William Holt " 490
Williamson, James Nathaniel. Jk ** 495
J. C. Abernathy AlphonsoCalhounAvery,LL.D Samuel A. Ashe William Willard Ashe iJosiAH William Bailey John D. Bellamy Elizabeth Janet Black Joseph P. Caldwell Collier Cobb, A.M. Frederick K. Cooke Rev. D. I. Craig, D.D. Richard B. Creecy William H. Glasson, Ph.D. J. G. De R. Hamilton, Ph.D. Marshall De L, Haywood Archibald Henderson, Ph.D. Martin H. Holt B. S. Jerman
John C. Kilgo, A.M., D.D.
William P. McCorkle
Charles F. McKesson
John Charles McNeill
James C. MacRae
James H. MvRovfeR
A. Nixon
E. S. Parker
E. S. Parker, Jr.
William S. Pearson, A. B.
Henry E. Shepherd, LL.D.
George A. Shuford
James H. Southgate, A.B.
Charles W. Tillett
Stephen B. Weeks, Ph.D.,LL.D.
Fanny DeB. Whitaker
T. E. Whitaker
John A. Wyeth, M.D.
XIV
PORTRAITS
Holt, Lawrence Schackleford Holt, Walter Lawrence . Holt, Edwin Cameron Holt, Robert Lacy Holt, John Allen Holt, Martin Hicks Hooper, William . Hooper, William . Hooper, John De Berniere . Johnston, Thomas Dillard . Jones, Hamilton Chamberlain Lamb, Wilson Gray . McClure, Alexander Doak . McNeill, John Charles .
Mebane, Giles
Mebane, Robert Sloan . Meserve, Charles Francis . Parker, Fr.\ncis Marion
Peacock, Dred
Pearson, Robert Caldwell . Pearson, William Simpson . Raney, Richard Beverly Shepard, William Biddle . Smith, William Nathan Harrell Smith, Edward Chambers Staton, Lycl'rgus Lafayette Tucker, Rufus Sylvester . Weston, James Augustus . Wheeler, John H. . . . Whitaker, Spier .... Williamson, James Nathaniel Williamson, William Holt Williamson, James Nathaniel, Jr
V
*:5^>
I MVE
v
L AVERV
iHTSTILL AVERY was '>nn., May lo, 1741, and died in Burke County, N. C, in : his ancestors who settled in ' hristopher Avery, who with -ics crossed the ocean in the CC where now stand;* Boston,
Kid he inarrfcd Joanna Green- iiildren nf his marriage was .■it^64i a^d married Susanna --, df the province of Mun^ter, .m Falniei^ married Miss Ann r Joho Humphrey, of Lynn, ||t. .ling a "History
1 edition of the )y^rn a dniy ccrti- • H! England, through a csid ihrougli Egbert,
Did 5u-
WAIGHTSTILL AVERY
rOLONEL WAIGHTSTILL AVERY was .born at Groton, Conn., May lo, 1741, and died ' at Swan Ponds, in Burke County, N. C, in [1821. The first of his ancestors who settled in 'this country was Christopher Avery, who with ^his young son James crossed the ocean in the ship Arobdla and landed at the place where now stands Boston, in the year 1631.
When James Avery grew to manhood he married Joanna Green- slade. The youngest of the ten children of his marriage was Samuel, who was born August 14, 1664, and married Susanna Palmes, daughter of William Palmes, of the province of Munster, Ireland, on October 27, 1686. William Palmes married Miss Ann Humphrey, who was a daughter of Sir John Humphrey, of Lynn, Mass. Dr. Elroy McK. Avery, who is now writing a ^'History of the United States," is also preparing a second edition of the 'Averys of Groton." He has received in recent years a duly certi- fied statement from the proper custodian of records in England, which traces the genealogical line of Ann Humphrey through a number of earls and through Edward I, II and III, and through Henry III, kings of England, and through King Alfred to Egbert, the first king of England.
Humphrey Avery, the sixth child of Samuel Avery and Su- sanna Palmes, who was bom July 4, 1699, married Jerusha Mor-
NORTH CAROLINA
gan and had twelve children. The tenth son, Waightstill Avery, is the subject of this sketch. Waightstill Avery and his younger brother, afterward Rev. Isaac Avery, were prepared for college by Rev. Samuel Seabury (father of Samuel, the first Episcopal bishop in America, who, when he was ordained bishop in Scot- land, took with him Isaac Avery to be ordained a minister). Waightstill Avery graduated at Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey) in 1766, and taught in the college for a year after graduating. A book recently published shows that he was awarded the first honor in his class and delivered the Latin salutatory. Oliver Ellsworth, afterward chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was his classmate, roommate, and lifelong friend. He read law with Lyttleton Dennis, a prominent lawyer of Maryland, and came to North Carolina in 1769. He entered the colony at Edenton, with letters of introduction, as his journal shows, to her most prominent men, and, beginning with Iredell and Hewes at that place, he mentions in it the leading men whom he met as he came west. He met Fanning at Salisbury, with whom he formed a friendship that lasted some years. He found in Mecklenburg Dr. Ephraim Brevard, Adlai Osborne, and Rev. Hezekiah J. Balch, all of whom he had known at Princeton. He settled at Charlotte, and was a boarder at the house of Heze- kiah Alexander, where he lived until 1778, when he married and removed to Jones County. He was an early and ardent friend of liberty, and was doubtless an active promoter of the move- ment which culminated in the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- pendence on May 20, 1775, as the minutes of the Council of Safety and many other public documents show. He signed that immortal embodiment of patriotic principle and defiant spirit. Colonel Aver>''s learning, talent, and wisdom made him at once a leading man in Mecklenburg. He was elected a mcml)er from Mecklenburg to the Provincial Congress, which met at HillslK>ro, August 21, 1775, and also a meml)cr of the Congress that met at Halifax, November 12, 1776. and formed the first state consti- tution. He was one of the committee who drew and rcfwrted the provisions of our first organic law, under which our ancestors
WAIGHTSTILL AVERY
lived for sixty years. The late Governor Swain, who had more thorough knowledge of the history of our State than any man of his day, asked a grandson of Waight still Avery in 1867 if he knew the handwriting of his grandfather, and said that if he did, he would find from an examination of the archives at Raleigh (pointing at the time to where they were stored away), that more of the Constitution of 1776 was in the handwriting of Waightstill Avery than in that of any other member of the com- mittee appointed to draft that instrument. Especially is it under- stood that he was the author of the clause requiring the legis- lature to establish one or more universities.
After the formation of the state government he was elected to the first General Assembly, which met at New Bern in 1777, and by that body was made first attorney-general of North Caro- lina. He met at New Bern, and married, in 1778, a young widow, Leah Franks, who was a daughter of William Probart. His wife had a large farm in Jones County, upon which he settled. Her mother was the daughter of Sir Yelverton Peyton, of Maryland, from whom descended the family of Peytons, well known in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
In 1779 he resigned the office of attorney-general and accepted that of colonel of the militia of Jones County, in place of Nathan Bryan, resigned. In this capacity he was engaged for more than two years or until Cornwallis went to Yorktown. In 1781 he employed Harvey Williams, the father of the banker, George Williams, of Charleston, S. C, to take charge of his wife and two little daughters and his negroes, and remove them to Swan Ponds in Burke County, N. C, which place he had bought from "Hunting John'* McDowell, of Pleasant Gardens. He joined his family late in the year 1781, after it became apparent that our ancestors had won their independence.
In 1780. while Cornwallis was occupying Charlotte, he caused Colonel Avery's office, with his books and papers, except such as were in the house of his friend Hezekiah Alexander, to be burned. This evidence of displeasure was visited upon only a few of those whom Cornwallis considered leading offenders.
NORTH CAROLINA
Colonel Avery was not a stranger to the people of Burke County, and hence, after his removal to that county, represented it in the house of commons in 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, and 1793, and in the senate in 1796. In the year 1801 he was rendered helpless in his lower limbs by paralysis, but continued to practice his profession from Raleigh to Jonesboro (now Tennessee) until a few years before his death, in 1821. He had been rendered speechless by a third stroke of paralysis some months before the first account of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was published in the North Carolina papers, and hence we are de- prived of the benefit of his testimony as to that instrument. It was only when the Declaration was printed that such men as General Graham began to realize the importance of the move- ment as evincing the dogged and daring spirit that animated the people of Mecklenburg. They had never learned before to look upon that movement through the glasses of the succeeding gen- eration, and had never realized that they had been actors in one of the grandest scenes in our history.
The family of Colonel Avery, except his brother. Rev. Isaac Avery, who also came south, remained in New England and were all patriots. In a letter to Colonel Avery from his brother Solomon, written July 11, 1783, the latter said: ** Eleven Aver>'s were killed in the fort at Groton and seven wounde<l. Many Averys have been killed in this county, but there have been no Tories named Avery in these parts." The monument at F'ort Griswold erected to those who were killed there by Benedict Arnold's men has inscril)ed upon it more names of Averys than of any other family. Solomon Avery was the great-grandfather of John D. and William E. Rockefeller, the multi-millionaires.
Rev. Isaac Avery came as far south as \irginia, where he preached at Norfolk and at Bethel. He was colonel of a Virginia regiment from Northampton County, and held the office of lieutenant of that county, a position which made him, under the laws of that State, the ranking officer of the county. One of his daughters married John Murphy, the only son of James Murphy^ who distinguished himself as a soldier at Ramseur's Mill, King's
WAIGHTSTILL AVERY
Mountain and Cowpens. Margaret Stringfellow Murphy was the mother of Mrs. Thomas G. and Mrs. William M. Walton, who reared large families in Burke County; of Mrs. Lx)retta Gaston, who married General Alexander F. Gaston, the only son of Judge Gaston ; and by a subsequent marriage was the mother of Dr. W. A. Collett, of Morganton.
Colonel Waightstill Avery was one of the most thorough and accurate lawyers in the State. In one of the earliest vol- umes of the **North Carolina Reports," when law books were not vcr>' abundant, one of the judges said in an opinion that he had been unable to find authority upon a certain point, but rested his decision upon what Colonel Avery told him was laid down in a volume which the latter had in his private library. Governor Swain said that, until the time of his death. Colonel Avery had the most extensive library in western North Carolina. He was a thorough classical scholar, and during the war for indepen- dence and after it was ended bought, as entries on blank leaves show, copies of many of the works of the Latin writers, and en- tertained himself, even after his second stroke of paralysis, read- ing them in the original.
One of the evidences of the subserviency of all classes of men to an unfortunate public sentiment was found in the fact that Colonel Avery, an avowed Presbyterian of Puritan extraction, accepted a challenge from Andre>y Jackson, then a young lawyer at Jonesboro court, went on the field, and allowed Jackson to shoot at him, though he did not return the fire. After Jackson had fired Coloney Avery walked up to him and delivered him a lecture. Jackson had known Colonel Avery in Mecklenburg, and had ap- plied to him for board in his family and instruction as a law stu- dent. This was after Colonel Avery came to Burke in 1781. Colonel Avery had declined to take charge of him as a student because he was living in a small house in the country and had no room for boarders, whereupon Jackson went to Salisbury and read law with Spruce Macay.
Colonel Waightstill Avery was a gentleman of the old school, and wore knee-breeches, powdered wig and full dress of the time
NORTH CAROLINA
.-r -•
of Washington up to his death. He was a man of great dignity of demeanor, but was remarkably courteous in his language and manner, even toward young people. Writing of him when he first came to the State, Wheeler says : '*He was truly an acquisi- tion to any State. He was a gentleman and a scholar."
Colonel Avery had four children — three daughters and a son. His daughter Elizabeth married William Lenoir, settled at Lenoir City, Tenn., and was the founder of a large and influental family, now scattered from Bristol to Chattanooga- His daugh- ter Louisa married Thomas Lenoir, another son of his old friend. General William Lenoir, and settled first on Pigeon River, in Hay- wood County, and afterward at Fort Defiance, the old Lenoir homestead. The other daughter married first a Mr. Poor, and then Mr. Summey, and lived on Mills River, in Henderson County.
JF. S, Pearson,
T^'S l^Z\i YO?K PULx-i: LIBRARY
A-'C H, LENOX AND Uu^LiS FOUWDATIOM
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ISAAC THOMAS AVERY
POLONEL ISAAC THOMAS AVERY was born at Swan Ponds, Burke County, September 22, 1785, and died December 31, 1864. He was the only son of Waightstill Avery. He was compelled to leave Doak's School, later Wash- ington College, at Jonesboro, Tenn., at the age of sixteen7 when his preparation for college had just been fin- ished. His father had been stricken with paralysis in his lower limbs, and the son was compelled to take the burden of his very extensive business, outside of his practice as a lawyer. His teacher was the distinguished divine who prayed for Shelby's and Sevier's men when they were leaving for King's Mountain.
Isaac T. Avery was a member of the house of commons from Burke County in 1810 and 181 1, and was afterward more than once a member of the council of state and aide-de-camp to Gov- ernor Dudley. In 1824 he was, with Owen Kenan and others, chosen a presidential elector.
He was happily married to Harriet Eloise Erwin in 181 5 and did not afterward seek any political preferment. His wife was the daughter of William Willoughby Erwin, who was a member of the convention that ratified the Constitution of the United States at Fayetteville 1789, and the granddaughter of Colonel Wil- liam Sharpe, a distinguished soldier of the war for independence and the first member of the Continental Congress from the Rowan
8 NORTH CAROLINA
district. He was a man of strong convictions and much firmness and energy, united with broad views and excellent judgment. He was cashier of the Morganton branch of the state bank for many years, and in addition managed an extensive landed estate. He devoted all his leisure time to reading and was well informed upon many subjects. His nature was social, and nothing pleased him more than to dispense a lavish hospitality.
He reared and educated a large family and left an extensive landed estate. He was bowed down with grief near the end of his life for the loss of his three oldest sons, who had fallen in battle within one year (from July, 1863, to July, 1864).
A. C. Averw
TM: 12\. 'iLi'K
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^VILLIAM WAKiirrS'I !I ?
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A'vcry. was hnrn a' - •^.. Coar*y, May 2s. i<"^ '• i '•. "^ hi?5 lK»yh(><>^l itvi cla - u..i . " . . ; in lI'.c p!^'lni.!^f ^t.-' -.' '.!■ {.'Ml atten^'itin;; tu ciit»M •;■ ':• • ':: ' • r«':rid that h** was not tlu r«^'ir • :y i.'-. . •• ! t !<»n;;:'.a^v-«. He tlierefort- t.-m. .: .-i •.'/ i ';::•; < .*; »n ()i I'le fir^t tw-> years f^i '-. ■ ' '-^o .o'l- ; ' hi. -^tutiics iiiuler \he in^t.'.v- •:) .t t'^- l.iti: ! ^'^. A'»rani M<*n*hca(l, aiui -(• t' :.•.•• : ■: 'ii-' « \* ! . :" re the end of two }v'ar- he -• • ' /: i':-, l-* . I-. . r«.«]*iaicvl witli liie fir-t ^;:in)r in i.-" •.,'". "" t... >•• mi. lUi-h' e. Peter liairstoii. I'ti-ii J 'V-x:'. :■.!.. 1 f ^ K 'xi>V\<i\ law with Ju<l,L;rt ^la-ti n. .i-- . w. •• i. ■ ■e ''I I'H^v./- lie was from hovin.'.xi au a-^-.n^ ■'! •f . r, aivl allied him^elt wi-h tlie !^'.ttt-* '. ' •• ' -'^ratic i^ar^y. He wa^ he. J -.mi a< a '.a* ' '< ' ■ ••.••'.":i? in 1^40, hut in 1 "^^ ; j w.is {\.c::o i a T- ,'r«: < ■^r.nty, though the Whi^ caihiMate f i 4 \ •' c^-::.ty hy a large majority. He ha I ,« Liri. • , I- ' • e as a lawyer, and did not api^ear r.iw'w- v t: .:. vvfW 1850. In May of 1846 he na- iv.inli
i I
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WILLIAM WAIGHTSTILL AVERY
tILLIAM WAIGHTSTILL AVERY, the old- est child of Colonel Isaac T. and Harriet E. Avery, was bom at Swan Ponds, in Burte County, May 25, 1816. There were during his boyhood no classical schools of high grade in the piedmont section of North Carolina, and upon attempting to enter college in the year 1833 he found that he was not thoroughly prepared in the ancient languages. He therefore remained at Chapel Hill during vacation of the first two years of his college course, and prose- cuted his studies under the instruction of the late Dr. Mitchell and Mr. Abram Morehead, and so faithfully did he apply himself that before the end of two years he stood at the head of his class and graduated with the first honor in 1837, in the same class with Perrin Busbee, Peter Hairston, Pride Jones, and others.
He studied law with Judge Gaston, and was licensed to prac- tice in 1839. He was from boyhood an ardent admirer of Mr. Calhoun, and allied himself with the States' Rights wing of the Democratic party. He was beaten as a candidate for the house of commons in 1840, but in 1842 was elected as a Democrat from Burke County, though the Whig candidate for governor carried the county by a large majority. He had a large and lucrative practice as a lawyer, and did not appear again actively as a poli- tician until 1850. In May of 1846 he was married to Corrinna M.
lo NORTH CAROLINA
Morehead, a beautiful and accomplished lady and a daughter of the late Governor Morehead.
He served in the house of commons as a member from Burke in 1850 and 1852, and in 1856 he was chairman of the North Car- olina delegation in the National Democratic Convention which nominated President Buchanan, and during the same year was elected to the state senate, of which he was chosen speaker.
In 1858 he was a candidate for Congress, to fill the vacancy made by the appointment of Hon. T. L. Clingman as United States senator. Colonel David Coleman, who was also a Demo- crat, opposed him. Although the district had given Mr. Buchanan a very small majority in the election in 1856, the dissension was such that Z. B. Vance, a Whig, was elected.
In i860 W. W. Avery was again chairman of the North Caro- lina delegation in the National Convention at Charleston, and seceded with the Southern wing of the party, which afterward nominated Mr. Breckinridge. He was made chairman also of the committee on platform. During the same year he was again elected to the state senate, and declined the renomination for speakership in favor of his friend H. T. Clark, of Edgecombe, who became governor after the death of Governor Ellis, in the summer of 1861. When Lincoln was elected, in November, i860, being a lifelong believer in the right of secession, he favored immediate action by the State, and urged the call of a convention during the winter of i860 and 1861.
After the State seceded, on May 20. 1861, he was elected by the convention one of the members of the Provisional Congress. He served in that body until the provisional government was suc- ceeded by the permanent government, provided for in the consti- tution of the Confederacy, adopted in 1862. He was a member and chairman of the committee on military affairs. A majority of the Democrats in the Legislature of 1861 voted for Mr. Avery for senator in the Congress of the Confederate States, but a minority supported Hon. T. L. Oingman, while the Whigs voted for a candidate from their own party. After balloting for several weeks, a compromise was made by electing Hon. W. T. Dortch.
WILLIAM WAIGHTSTILL AVERY ii
After the expiration of his term in Congress, in 1862, he re- turned to his home with authority from President Davis to raise a regiment, but was prevented from carrying out his purpose by the earnest protest of his aged father and four brothers, who were already in active service. They insisted that he was beyond age for service and that it was his duty to his family and country to remain at home. He was an earnest and active supporter of the Confederate cause, and contributed liberally to the maintenance of the soldiers and their families.
In 1864 an incursion was made by a party of so-called Union- ists from Tennessee. This party after capturing a small body of conscripted boys, in camp of instruction about four miles east of Morganton, in Burke County, retreated toward Tennessee. Mr. Avery joined his friend Colonel T. G. Walton, and with a small body of Burke County militia and a few soldiers on sick or wounded furlough pursued the invading party, who retreated toward the mountains. They were found intrenched in a strong position on the Winding Stairs on Jonas* Ridge. Mr. Avery and his party vigorously attacked them, and in the encounter he was mortally wounded. After being removed to his home in Morgan- ton, he died July 3, 1864.
In all the relations of life he was distinguished for his kindness and affability and his unselfish love for the comfort and happiness of others. Few men have ever been more missed and lamented by the community in which he lived. His aged father (then in his eightieth year) went down to his grave sorrowing for the loss of his three sons, who had fallen within one year. Mr. Avery left surviving him three daughters — Mrs. Annie H. Scales, of Patrick, Va., wife of Captain Joseph Scales; Mrs. Cora Avery Erwin, wife of Captain G. P. Erwin, of Morganton, and Adelaide, who married Hon. John J. Hemphill, a representative in Congress from South Carolina, but died soon after her marriage ; and two sons — ^John Morehead Avery, now a prominent lawyer of Dallas, Texas, and Waightstill W. Avery, who resides in Mitchell County, N. C. A. C. Avery.
CLARK MOULTON AVERY
JOLONEL CLARK MOULTON AVERY was born October 3, 1819, and died June 19, 1864, oi wounds received at the Wilderness. iHis left arm was amputated soon after the [battle, and when his broken right leg was being cut off, some weeks later, he died under tlic ufieration. He was the second of the six sons of Colonel Lsaac T. and Harriet E. Avery that lived to years of maturity.
He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina and a man of the most pleasing address. He was fond of the society of young people, entered with zest into their amusements, and was a great favorite with the boys. He did not desire office, though he was one of the most popular and probably the most in- fluential man in Burke County. He had strong convictions upon all questions, and invariably acted upon them in elections. He was prevailed upon by his friends to run for the convention at the election on February 28, 1861, and was elected a delegate over one of the most popular Unionists in the county by an overwhelm- ing majority. The delegates elected did not meet, however, because a small majority of the electors of the State voted "no con- vention."
He was made captain of the first company formed in the county, which became Company G of the Bethel regiment and was en- gaged in the first battle of the civil war. When that company was
CLARK MOULTON AVERY 13
mustered out of service, at the end of six months, he was ap- pointed by the governor of the State lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-third regiment, of which General L. 0*B. Branch was colonel. Branch was soon commissioned as brigadier-general, and Avery became colonel of his regiment. His commission as colonel was dated early in 1862. He was captured with about half of his regiment at New Bern, in 1862, and was kept in prison on John- son's Island, Ohio, until October of that year.
His regiment was the equal in drill and discipline of any in the army. Under his command it came up to the full measure of its duty, and made a history from New Bern to Appomattox of which the State should be proud. It was the only regiment in the division to which it belonged that was in line ready to meet the sudden onset of the enemy at the Wilderness when Grant ad- vanced at the dawn of the day. The other regiments had stacked their arms, and the men were many of them lying down on the ground asleep. In the attempt, without support, to check the ad- vance of the enemy he received the wounds that caused his death.
No man in the county was kinder or more charitable to those in want. It was one of his greatest pleasures to dispense an un- stinted hospitality and t6 exert all his powers to contribute to the enjoyment of his guests. He married Elizabeth Tilghman Walton and left surviving him four children — Martha, who married George Phifer, a gallant boy soldier, and is the mother of a num- ber of rising young sons in North and South Carolina and of two daughters. Another daughter, Eloise, married Rev. James Col- ton, and was the mother of Moulton Colton, Lizzie Col ton, and several other children who are rapidly rising as educators. His only surviving son, Isaac T. Avery, is a prominent lawyer and politician of Burke County. A fourth child is the wife of Rev. John A. Gilmer, of Newton, N. C.
A. C. Avery.
ISAAC ERWIN AVERY
;OLONEL ISAAC ERWIN AVERY was the son of Colonel Isaac T. Avery, and was bom December 20, 1828. He took a regular course at the University of North Carolina, and after leaving college was engaged for several years in supervising a large stock farm owned by his father in Yancey, now Mitchell, County, and in dealing in cattle, as the partner of Colonel Montford E. Stokes, of Wilkes. He was when the war began a contractor on tne Western North Caro- lina Railroad, in partnership with Colonel C. F. Fisher and S. McD. Tate, and had shown himself a most efficient manager of work of that kind.
He undertook to raise a company as soon as his friend Colonel Fisher was appointed by the governor to organize the Sixth North Carolina regiment of state troops to serve for three years or during the war, and was successful in enlisting, with the assistance of his brother, A. C. Avery, the largest company in the regiment. While Colonel Avery was a patient, amiable and most agreeable man, he believed in discipline, and had the firmness in a quiet way to enforce the strictest obedience to authority and orders. He sustained Colonel Pender, who succeeded Fisher, in his efforts to bring the Sixth regiment up to the highest degree of efficiency, and when Pender was made brigadier-general, just after the battle of Seven Pines, he recommended Avery to succeed him, having
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ISAAC ERWIN AVERY 15
already induced the governor to appoint him, over others who ranked higher, lieutenant-colonel to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Lightfoot. Colonel (then captain) Avery received a slight flesh wound in the charge upon Rickett's battery at Manas- sas, which charge was made upon his suggestion. When it ap- peared that the battery was silenced and the horses, artillery, and a number of the supporting Zouaves had fallen. Captain Avery said, "Colonel, let us charge ! Colonel Fisher said in reply, "That is right, captain," and gave the command to his men, "Charge I" Fisher led, but veered to the left, and fell fifty yards in advance of his line. His regiment drove back the New York Zouaves and captured Rickett's battery.
Colonel Avery was again wounded, more seriously, at Gaines' Farm, in 1862. As senior colonel he was in command of what had been Hoke's brigade, which was composed of the Sixth, Twenty-first, Fifty-fourth and Fifty-seventh North Carolina regi- ments, at Gettysburg. He fell mortally wounded in the advance upon Cemetery Heights late in the afternoon of the second day. Captain J. A, McPherson, first lieutenant and afterward captain of Company E, Sixth North Carolina, who was acting as aide-de- camp to Colonel Avery, gives the following account of the move- ments and conduct of the brigade and the fall of Colonel Avery :
"... The brigade attacked a portion of Reynolds' command, entrenched with a strong wire fence in front of the trenches, and after marching across the open wheat field, they drove Reynolds from his position and through the town to the wall on Cemetery Hill. . . .
"The brigade halted in a wheat field near, and just to the right of Gulp House, where it remained all night and until just before sundown on the next day, when it was ordered to move forward with his brigade and attack Cemetery Heights."
In this attack Colonel Avery led the brigade on horseback, being the only mounted man of the advancing column, until he fell from his horse mortally wounded by a ball which passed through his neck and shoulder. After falling from his horse he took from his pocket a pencil and piece of paper, on which he wrote in indis- tinct characters with his left hand (his right being paralyzed) the
i6 NORTH CAROLINA
following message: "Major: Tell my father I fell with my face to the enemy. I. E. Avery/'
"In June, 1896, I visited Gettysburg and located the place where G>lonel Avery fell, which was marked by order of the commissioners. The brigade moved forward, scaling the heights and occupying the entrenchments of the enemy." ("North Carolina Regiments," vol. i., pp. 354, 355.)
Of this charge Chief Justice Clark wrote in "Five Points in the Record of North Carolina in the Great War of 1861-65" as follows :
"That the soldiers of this State went somewhat farther at Gettysburg than any others in the third day's battle is so succinctly and clearly shown by Judge Montgomery and Captain W. R. Bond in the articles by them that it is not necessary to recapitulate. The controverted point . . . was only as to that charge, else we could have referred to the undisputed fact that 00 the evening of the second day Hoke's brigade, commanded by Colonel Isaac £. Avery (who lost his life in the assault), together with Louisianians from Hay's brigade, climbed Cemetery Heights, being farther than any other troops ventured during the three days. The following inscriptions placed upon tablets locating the position and stating the services of Hoke's brigade on the second day and Pettigrew's on the third day amply vindicate the justice of our claim. (The tablets also record their glorious services on the other days, which are omitted here.)
Hoke's Brigade
"Second of July. Skirmished all day and at eight p.m. . . . charged East Cemetery Hill. Severely enfiladed on the left by artillery and musketry, it pushed over the infantry line in front, scaled the hill, planted its colors on the lunettes, and captured several guns. But assailed by fresh forces and having no supports, it was soon compelled to relinquish what it had gained, and withdrew. Its commander. Colonel Isaac E. Avery, was mor- tally wounded leading the charge."
General Early said in his report :
"Accordingly, as soon as John*^n became warmly engaged, which was a little before du^k, I ordered Hay and Avery to advance and carry the works on the Heights in front. These troops advanced in gallant style for the attack, passing over the bridge in front of them imdcr a heavy artillery
ISAAC ERWIN AVERY 17
fire, and then, crossing a hollow between that and Cemetery Heights, moved ap the hill in the face of at least two lines of infantry posted behind plank and stone fences; but this they drove back, and passing over all obstacles, they reached the crest of the hill and entered the enemy's breast- works, and crossing it, gained the position of one of the batteries. But no attack was made on the immediate right, as was expected, and not meeting that support from that quarter, these brigades could not hold the positions that they had attained, because the heavy force of the enemy was turned against them from that part of the line, which the divisions on the right were to have attacked, and these two brigades had, therefore, to fall back, which they did with comparatively small loss considering the nature of the ground over which they had passed and the immense odds opposed to them.
•'. . .1 had to regret the absence of Brigadier-General Hoke, who was severely wounded in the action of May 6th at Fredericksburg and did not recover, but his place was worthily filled by Colonel Avery, of the Sixth North Carolina regiment, who fell mortally wounded while leading the charge on Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg on the afternoon of July 2d. In his death the Confederacy lost a brave and good soldier."
The body of Colonel Avery was brought by his faithful servant, Elijah Avery, in a cart to Williamsport, where it was buried. But some of the over-zealous Confederates, after the war, had it dis- interred and removed to some Confederate cemetery. His friends have tried in vain to trace the removing party so as to bring his remains to North Carolina for final burial.
A. C. Averv.
ALPHONSO CALHOUN AVERY
fANY of the most honored Southern families combine the blood of Pilgrim, Puritan or Scotch-Irish with that of Cavalier, for before the spirit of Garrison alienated the sections, the adventurous men of New England, who have since sought the West, frequently turned to the South for a larger and more promising field for their endeavors than was offered by the granite hills of their native region. Of such a blending of Puritan and Southern blood, with a strain of the Cavalier stock, is Judge Alphonso Calhoun Avery, the grand- son of Waightstill Avery, and the fourth son of Colonel Isaac T. Avery. His great-grandfather, Colonel William Sharpe, married Katherine. the daughter of David Reese, a signer of the Mecklen- burg Declaration of Independence. He was, therefore, descendeti from two men who pledged their lives and fortunes to the sacrc<l cause of liberty by signing that instrument — David Reese an<l Waightstill Avery.
Alphonso Calhoun Avery was bom September ii, 1835, ^^ his father's estate, Swan Ponds, near Morganton, Burke County, X. C, and he there passed the greater part of hi-^ home life. It is an ideal place for a home; the broad valley of the Catawba River, with its extensive plains and low- undulating forest-covered hills, stretches out to the north an<i west, where rise the sharp crests of the mountains, forever
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ALPHONSO CALHOUN AVERY 19
glistening under the mellow southern sun. The Piedmont, it is called, for just so do the Alps rise beyond the fertile plains of the Po.
His boyhood was that of the typical ante-bellimi country life, quiet and simple, yet vigorous and natural, endowing him with perfect health, and hardening a naturally vigorous constitution. While his father was wealthy, owning more than one hundred and fifty slaves, and reared his sons in cultured surroundings, giving them the advantages of the best education which the State af- forded, he believed in their knowing the business of farming thor- oughly, as that was the chief occupation of southern gentlemen, and each of his six sons was raised to follow the plow for at least one season. This part of his education completed, the subject of this sketch was prepared for college at the gingham School at Oaks, Orange County, afterward entered the University of North Carolina, and graduated with the degree of A.B. in 1857, standing first in his class among such men as Colonel Thomas S. Kenan, Major Robert Bingham, Judge Thomas N. Hill of Halifax, and Hon. W. P. McClain of Texas. The ambitious youth, excelling in Latin and mathematics, was not content with his early aca- demic laurels. An address of Governor Swain, heard while at college, pointing out that judicial positions were the most exalted and commonly afforded opportunity for winning the most endur- ing reputation, determined the law as a profession. Young Avery was not able, however, to exercise his choice at once, and for the next two years, until the summer of 1859, ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^hat part of Yancey County which has since been organized as Mitchell, in charge of a grass and stock farm of his father. He then, how- ever, began the study of law under Chief Justice Richmond Pear- son at Logtown, and within a year, in June, i860, was licensed under the old statute regulations to practice in the county courts. Although he was prepared to stand his examination for license to appear before the superior court, the crisis of the war inter- vened, and he hastened to take up arms in defense of his State. Before leaving home to join the army he was married on Feb- ruary 27, 1861, to Miss Susan Washington Morrison, daughter
20 NORTH CAROLINA
of Rev. R. H. Morrison, of Lincoln County, and granddaughter of General Joseph Graham, of Lincoln.
His brother, L E. Avery, was commissioned captain and he was appointed first lieutenant of Company E, Sixth North Carolina regiment, which he joined in April, 1861, at Charlotte, where the regiment was being formed under Colonel Charles F. Fisher. This was one of the ten regiments organized at the beginning of the war, in which the men enlisted for three years* service.
The regiment at once proceeded to Virginia, where, after being reviewed by President Davis at Richmond, it was hurried forward by rail to Strasburg. A forced march was made to Winchester, and thence to Manassas, and, within a week after leaving the drill camp at Company Shops, N. C, it engaged in the bloody battle of Manassas, arriving on the field at a crisis, and was partly instrumental in turning defeat into victory. In the first engage- ment Colonel Fisher and many other officers and men of the regi- ment were slain, and because of its early losses and fine conduct the regiment became famous in North Carolina. In the report of the battle both Captain and Lieutenant Avery were compli- mented for their excellent bearing on the field.
In 1862, when his brother was promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment. Lieutenant Avery became captain of his company, and later he was commissioned as major and assistant adjutant-gen- eral of General D. H. Hill's division of the Army of Northern Mrginia. In 1863, on HilKs transfer to the western army. Major Avery accompanied him to Chattanooga, but when General Hill return to Richmond, after his disagreement with Bragg, Major Avery remained in the West, serving on the staff of Brcck- enridge, Hindman and Hood, and being on the staff of the latter in the retreat from Dalton to the Chattahoochee River. Toward the end of the war, after the death of two of his brothers, he secure<l permission to return to North Carolina, and was given a commi<i- sion as colonel and the command of a battalion in western North Carolina. In April, 1865. just before Johnston's surrender, he was captured near Salisbury by General Stoneman, and was a prisoner of war at Camp Chase and Johnson's Island until August, 1865.
ALPHONSO CALHOUN AVERY 21
In June, 1866, Colonel Avery secured his license to practice be- fore the superior court, and at once entered upon the duties of his profession. In the fall of the same year he was nominated by the Confederate soldiers and elected to the North Carolina senate by a large majority from the district formed of Burke, Caldwell, and McDowell counties. This was the last legislative body con- vened in North Carolina which was elected exclusively by white voters.
Though the youngest member of the senate, he became a favor- ite with older senators, among whom were ex-Governor Clark, Judge Moore, Mr. J. H. Wilson, Colonel John W. Cunningham, Hon. Mason L. Wiggins, and Colonel Edward Hall, and suc- ceeded in originating and securing the passage of laws which proved very beneficial to his constituents. The terminus of the Western North Carolina Railroad was then at Morganton. The charter provided that when solvent individuals should subscribe a million dollars or more to the capital stock of the company, the governor, upon that fact being certified by the president of the company, should cause double the amount so subscribed to be paid by the State in its bonds at par ; but the bonds could not be sold for more than a song, because the interest was not being paid on the outstanding bonded debt of the State. In this emergency the young senator conceived the idea of enhancing the value of the bonds thereafter to be issued for stock in the company by pledging an equal amount of the State's stock in the North Caro- lina Railroad Company for the payment of each state bond there- after issued, and put his plan into execution by securing the enact- ment of chapter 106, Laws of North Carolina of 1866-67. I" less than six months the grading was let to contract from Morgan- ton to Asheville, and within two years was completed to Old Fort. This work was paid for almost exclusively out of the proceeds of the enhanced bonds issued under the act referred to, though the bonds sold for much less than par. The passage of this act gave rise to what is known as the "South Dakota Bond Suit," com- promised by the State, but it enabled the company to complete forty miles of road, extending it almost to the eastern portal of the
22 NORTH CAROLINA
tunnel, and to do much grading on and beyond the Blue Ridge.
Two years afterward, although there had been a readjustment of the senatorial district, he was again elected on the Democratic ticket, but as he had been elected solicitor of Burke County in 1861, the Republican senate, at the instance of Governor Caldwell, decided that he was barred by the provisions of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and his seat was refused him. Thereupon he returned to Morganton and again took up his profession, acting as counsellor in many important cases. Although urged, he declined to be a candidate again for the legislature. In 1875 he was elected from Burke County as a member of the constitutional convention which revised the state constitution. He was one of the foremost members of that dis- tinguished body ; was largely instrumental in perfecting its organ- ization, in adjusting differences of opinion among its members and in drafting the. important constitutional amendments it adopted, which were always revised and made ready for the reports of committees in a Democratic caucus.
Again, the subject of this sketch, being sent by the citizens of Morganton, in 1875, to Raleigh to aid in securing the passage of the bill, offered by Captain Mills in the senate, to provide for building the asylum at Morganton, found while there that some of the creditors of the North Carolina Railroad Company threat- ened to disregard a private agreement with Colonel S. McD. Tate and refused to settle their claims on the terms provided in Tate's bill, whereupon he drew up a resolution, subsequently offered by Major Erwin, representative from McDowell County, which brought the recusant creditors to terms. This resolution will be found on page 405, laws of 1874-75, and provided for reinstating and carrying on a suit in equity involving the validity of their claims, instituted by Governor T. R. Caldwell in the name of the State, in the Circuit Court of the United States, at Greensboro, in which a nonsuit had been entered, reserving to the State the priv- ilege of reinstating the suit within a given time. The resolution cgipowered Governor Brogdcn and Speakers Armfield and James
ALPHONSO CALHOUN AVERY 23
L. Robinson, of the senate and house, respectively, to cause the original suit to be reinstated on the docket pending negotiation for a compromise with the creditors of the Western North Carolina Railroad Company, and the suit was reinstated by them. •
Judge Avery was instrumental in compelling the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Company to submit to taxation. Availing itself of the provisions of its charter exempting it from taxation, the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Company successfully re- sisted all efforts in the courts and by legislation to tax its fran- chise and property up to January, 1891. The charter of the rail- road from Weldon to Petersburg had expired in 1888 and had been reenacted for two years only, with the purpose of refusing a further reenactment unless the other company would consent to pay taxes. But the Wilmington and Weldon people, rel)ring upon the authority conferred by several amendments to their charter, as well as the general law, defied the Legislature. The Supreme Court of North Carolina had held in Railroad vs. Alsbrook, no N. C. 137, that the branches of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, being created by acts passed under the clause of the Constitution of 1868, reserving to the State the right to alter and amend all charters thereafter enacted, were not exempt from taxation, while the charter for the main line, granted in chapter 78, laws of 1833-34, contained a provision exempting that line from taxation, which it was contended was in the nature of a contract, protected from being impaired by the Constitution of the United States. At the request of Elias Carr, afterward governor, but then at the head of the Farmers' Alliance, Judge Avery, in March, 1891, drew what was published as chapter 544, laws of 1891, which repealed all authority for connecting the line of the Wil- mington and Weldon Railroad with the Virginia line between the Blackwater and the crossing of the Clarksville Road over the state line. The bill was offered by Mr. Jones, of Wake, and was passed after a bitter fight in both houses ; but the franchise and property of the railroad was on the tax lists for the next and subsequent years. Mr. Baylus Cade, who is still living, repre-
24 NORTH CAROLINA
sented Governor Carr in getting the bill from Justice Avery and having it offered by Mr. Jones.
In the presidential election of 1876 Judge Avery was a Tildcn elector from the eighth congressional district, and made a favor- able and extended campaign, being a strong, earnest speaker, and exerting a great influence throughout the piedmont region. Two years later he was elected judge on the Democratic ticket for the eighth judicial district, and served until 1886, when he was re- elected as judge of the tenth judicial district, in which position he served until January, 1889, when he ascended the Supreme Bench of North Carolina, having been elected associate justice in the preceding fall. This position he continued to fill until January, 1897. While on the Supreme Bench, Justice Avery prepared many opinions which are noted for iheir breadth of view and the rational manner in which he applied his extensive knowledge ol the law and cited cases of precedents. At the very outset of his service upon the Supreme Bench he rendered marked service to the profession by certain decisions in which were crystallized rules of practice applicable to issues and the granting of new trials upon newly discovered testimony. Later, the rules governing negligence, parole trusts, real estate, constitutional law, and other questions of importance were simplified and made to cover growing conditions of our new civilization.
In reviewing the dissenting opinion of Justice Avery in Emery's case, Mr. Desty, in a legal classic, said the rules governing the du- ties of judge and jury in trials of cases involving questions of negr- ligence had never been more clearly expressed.
On the day before assuming the ermine of the Supreme Court Bench he was married to his second wife. Miss Sallie Love Thomas, a daughter of Colonel W. H. Thomas, of Jackson County, and a great-granddaughter of Colonel Robert Love, of Buncombe.
Judge Avery possesses in a high degree the judicial tempera- ment, as would be inferred from the length of time he has been judge of the superior and supreme courts, resolute and flexible, yet cautious and tempering justice with mercy. The traits which
ALPHONSO CALHOUN AVERY 25
he displayed upon the Bench he has carried with him through life, for the role of judgeship but displayed his qualities in the brighter light of publicity. While an unswerving Democrat, his politics have never influenced his judicial opinions, and he was fair and impartial in administering justice. By belief and early training Judge Avery is a Presbyterian, and he has been an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Morganton for more than twenty-five years, and, indeed, he has carried his religion into his daily life. At college he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He is a Master Mason, an Odd Fellow, a member of the Royal Arcanum, and an honorary member of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. In 1889 the University of North Carolina conferred upon him the honorary degrees of A.M. and LL.D., and the latter degree was likewise conferred by Trinity College, North Carolina.
Judge Avery is a member of the Southern Historical Society. He is especially interested in the history of the civil war period, and has prepared several sketches and articles covering incidents or actions of the war, the most important one being a sketch of certain North Carolina regiments, and he is considering the prepa- ration of a personal memoir covering the entire period.
Among other publications that he has made is an extended his- torical account of Burke County, which is of great interest and value, published in Smith's "Western North Carolina."
Judge Avery has had eleven children, among them being Isaac Erwin Avery, the brilliant local editor of the Charlotte Observer, whose untimely death in 1904 was lamented throughout the entire State. W. W. Ashe,
WILLOUGHBY FRANCIS AVERY
ILLOUGHBY FRANCIS AVERY, youngest child of Colonel Isaac T. Avery, was bom May 7, 1842, at the old homestead Swan Ponds, on the Catawba, in Burke County. He was the Benjamin of a large family, the pride of his father, far past middle life at his birth, and as youth and man was cast in nature's strongest mold.
His early instruction was received in part at the Marion Acad- emy, then conducted by Mr. Morrison, the youth boarding at his aunt's, Mrs. Adolphus Erwin's, at Pleasant Gardens, three miles distant, thus necessitating a daily walk of six miles. In all boyish exercises he was then famous, being of dauntless and most in- trepid spirit, and gifted with a frame of iron and nerve of steel.
At the university he stood first in a large class, but left the institution to volunteer in the Confederate army, his first service being lieutenant in a company of cavalry raised in Burke County by Colonel T. G. Walton, which became Company F, Forty-third North Carolina or Third Cavalry. Later in the war he was com- missioned second lieutenant in the Thirty-third regiment, com- manded by his brother. Colonel C. M. Avery, on recommendation of Lieutenant-Colonel, afterward Brigadier-General, Hoke, while his brother was a prisoner. In this regiment he became, by pro- motion for good conduct, captain of Company C, composed mainly of men recruited in Forsyth and Yadkin counties. He was in
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WILLOUGHBY FRANCIS AVERY 27
many difficult and trying situations, several times wounded, and his death after the war was the direct result of an absolutely shattered nervous system, growing out of a mouth and throat wound received in the battle of the Wilderness in May, 1864. This wound necessitated sharp surgery of the most painful nature and compelled the use of false teeth, which he wore with difficulty owing to the course of the ball.
Willoughby Avery had a remarkably fine sense of humor and enjoyed a joke even when he was the butt of it. One such now occurs to me in connection with his army experience. Late in 1864 or early in 1865, when the thin line at Petersburg was daily growing thinner and desertions had increased in frightful proportions, on a certain dark night a squad of men crossed the lines and took service with the enemy. Among them were some men of Avery's company; and the Federal line reaching up to the Confederate line so close as to permit conversation, a little Irish Federal sergeant mounted in front of the Thirty-third regiment and made proclamation for **Captain Av^y" — so the story was told. The "Johnnies" yelled back to know his reason. "I want him," said Pat, "to come over and take charge of his company."
In humor he far surpassed, in this writer's opinion, any mem- ber of his family; and they are a people, without exception, gifted in this regard. In the years after the war Avery was connected at one time or another with the Asheville, Charlotte, Hickory and Morganton press, and if from their files could be dug out, as has been done in the case of his nephew, the brilliant Erwin Avery of the Charlotte Observer, specimens of his rich and varied vein of humor, a veritable feast of good things would delight the lover of folk-lore.
Nor was his genius confined to things witty and sharp. He could at times blow a bugle blast (in his paper) which roused the patriotism and party pride of men as effectively as the best stump efforts of Vance and men of his like.
Soon after the war he married Miss Mattie Jones, of the Happy \'alley family in Caldwell, by whom he had one child, which died
28 NORTH CAROLINA
in infancy, not long surviving the death of its mother. For years Mr. Avery remained a widower, when in 1875 he married Miss Laura Atkinston, of Johnston County, a stepdaughter of Hon. W. A. Smith, by whom he left a son, Willoughby Moulton Averj-, recently married to Miss Emma Sharpe, of Greensboro, a grand- daughter of Judge Settle.
This writer can never forget the shock which came to him upon receiving a despatch at Statesville from Major Smith announcing Mr. Avery's death at his (Smith's) home in Johnston County. Avery had gone to the meeting of the General Assembly of 1876, intending to be a candidate for one of the clerkships, his paper, the Blue Ridge Blade, having rendered distinguished service in the Vance-Settle, Tilden-Hayes canvass then closed. He left Raleigh for a visit to his people, and our next news was that of his death — the death of young Lycidas in his prime — Nov. 24, 1876.
Willoughby Avery never held public office, never seemeil am- bitious in that way ; he was too much of a lover of a good time for business or business methods ; and yet he worked unsparingly when his heart was in the task, and of newspaper work he was exceedingly fond. That was the work he had taken for his life- work, but its opportunity and emoluments were far less in his day than in ours. Along with W. A. Heme and others of that school he was sowing in a field where J. P. Caldwell and men of the later school reaped a fine reward as the demand grew and general intelligence advanced. But on that account what he did and praise for the power that was in him to have done more should not be passed by lightly. He was an all-round giant intel- lectually, evolving slowly, at times painfully, but a truth-seeker to the core, and having a mind analytic as well as synthetic. His reading was accurate, extensive and solid. As a critic his judg- ments were entitled to respect, and no man in this section ever evinced more of the Thackeray talent for satire upon society.
IV. S. Pearson.
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ISAAC ERWIN AVERY
- \AC ERWIN AVERY was bom at the an- central home of the Averys, at Swan Ponds, about four miles from Morganton, in Burke Coimty, N. C, on the first day of December, 1871, and died at Charlotte, on the second day of April, 1904. He was the second son of Hon. Alphonso C. Avery and Susan Morrison Avery. His parents moved to Morganton when he was very young, and there his boy- hood days were spent, attending the primary schools. He was prepared for college at the academy in Morganton by Rev. John A. Gilmer, now the Presbyterian minister at Newton, N. C, and might have entered college at the age of sixteen, but remained at home for a while, devoting most of his time to reading. His fondness for reading developed when a mere boy, as did his pro- pensity for writing humorous letters and compositions. He spent some months in the service of the Western North Carolina Rail- road Company, at Morganton and Hot Springs. For six months or more prior to entering college he served as collector for the Bank of Morganton. He entered the sophomore class of Trinity College (then located in Randolph County, and later moved to Durham) in 1891, and his course there was marked by a special fondness for history and literature. He was an excellent football player and was universally esteemed by faculty and students. During his senior year he read law under his father, the dean of
30 NORTH CAROLINA
the law dq)artnient of Trinity, and when licensed, in September, 1893, was, to say the least, as well prepared as any candidate in the large class which went before the Supreme Court.
While he was regarded by all who came in contact with him as possessing a mind especially fitted for the law, his tastes and talents were constantly driving him toward newspaper and more general literary work. He had made good progress along this line before leaving college, as editor of the Trinity Archive and as correspondent for different papers in the State. His first con- tribution which earned him money was a paragraph of about thirty lines sent to Town Topics, without hope of reward, during the Christmas vacation of 1892, and for which he received ten dollars. This incident led to dreams of making reputation and support some day as a writer.
Soon after receiving his license to. practice law, Mr. Aver>' re- turned to Morganton and was employed by Mr. W. C. Erwin as associate editor of the Morganton Herald, Here he exercised a free hand in writing for the paper, and attracted considerable outside attention by his original methods and the excellent humor in many of his articles. Upon the invitation of Mr. Thomas R, Jernigan, then a citizen of Raleigh, who had been appointed by President Cleveland consul-general at Shanghai, Mr. Avery left for China in March, 1894, as secretary to the consul-general, and in less than a year was appointed vice consul-general at Shanghai, which office he filled until the spring of 1898, when a new consul- general was named by President McKinley. In China Me. Avery did some writing for American newspapers, but decided not to continue the work, owing to his connection with the consular ser- vice. He was, however, during a large part of his stay in Shang- hai a regular contributor to the North China Daily News, the leading English paper in the Orient. While residing in Shanghai Mr. Avery was prominent in the leading social circle among the foreign residents, and absorbed a rich fund of information which stood him in good stead later and made him a most interesting talker not only about things in the Far East, but in the world at large.
ISAAC ERWIN AVERY 31
When he returned to North Carolina he took up active news- paper work after a few months, reporting the proceedings of the state senate in the legislature of 1899 for a number of news- papers represented by Colonel Fred A. Olds, of Raleigh, and had charge of Colonel Olds* news bureau for a month or more while he was on a trip to Cuba. About May i, 1899, he went to Greens- boro, where he established a news bureau, representing a number of leading papers in North Carolina and elsewhere. As a result of his activity as a reporter, Greensboro became especially promi- nent as a news-dispensing center, and Mr. Avery's reputation as a writer began to expand. On January i, 1900, he became city editor of the Charlotte Observer, which position he filled until his death. It was while there that his unusual literary gifts to some extent gained the recognition which they really deserved.
Personally he was the most engaging of men. Handsome as Apollo, with a countenance clear-cut and proclaiming in every line his gentle birth; tall, massive of frame, he combined with these physical attributes a manner as genial as the sunshine. His cultivation was that of the schools, that acquired by the reading of the best literature and by close association with, and acute ob- servation of, the great world of men. His gifts of conversation were equal to those with which he had been endowed for his pro- fession, and thus he was with these, and his commanding pres- ence, the center of every group in which he found himself. His popularity was unbounded. In his great heart was charity for all mankind, and it was ever open to the cry of distress. None who knew him or followed him in his work will ever forget him or cease to mourn that his life, so rich in promise, should have been cut off before its sun had nearly reached meridian.
Ehiring his four years' sojourn in Charlotte Mr. Avery became thoroughly identified with the best phases of the city's life, and was a recognized leader in almost every movement that promised benefit to the people. While he was a leader in the best social life of the city, he was popular with all classes. He was especially sought after by those in trouble, whether friends or strangers, and while his time was generally taken up to large extent with
32 NORTH CAROLINA
his newspaper work and calls made upon him by society, he always took that necessary to offer counsel to those who called on him. While exceedingly patient and genuinely anxious to aid all who appealed to him, he would, on rare occasions, re- mark with a sigh that he wished he did not know of so much un- happiness — ^had not been made to put himself m the places of so many people in distress. But this feeling was only momentary, for he would immediately turn his thoughts to other things and become again the possessor of that sunny disposition which was one of his most charming characteristics.
While Mr. Avery was designated as "city editor" of the Char- lotte Observer, he was in reality much more, for he was given freedom to criticise or commend the public acts of men which came under his observation, and while he never failed to write what he thought, he did it in a way that made him few enemies, even among those whose actions suffered most at his hand. While he was most widely known because of his manner of handling stories of human interest, either pathetic or humorous, as a mis- cellaneous news-gatherer he was eminently successful, thus com- bining gifts rarely developed in the same nature. So famous did his writing become that it was not unusual for papers published hundreds of miles from Charlotte to reprint his reports of events which, written in the ordinary manner, would interest none save those residing in the immediate vicinity in which the incidents de- tailed occurred. Another rather unusual combination noticeable in his newspaper work was his ability to write pathetic a^ well as humorous articles. He could do either with equal readiness, yet his natural propensity was toward that of humor — the dean, sweet and yet sharp and sparkling kind that would cause a laugh, and no more. In his general newspaper work, where he was con- fined to no special class of events, but had the entire field at his disposal, he seemed never at a loss as to how a story should be written, and he made remarkably few mistakes. This statement is, of course, intended to convey the idea that Mr. Avery was a student of human nature. In fact, he seemed to know men at first sight, and his ability to pick out a fraudulent scheme when
ISAAC ERWIN AVERY 33
first unfolded to him — ^no matter how well clothed — ^was notice- able on many occasions, and the value of this clear-sightedness in his work as dty editor was incalculable.
Mr. Avery could not only gather the news which was on the j>urface, s5 to speak, and put it in the proper shape to go before an intelligent public, but he could readily induce people to give out particulars that are legitimate matters of publicity, but which are often withheld by those who possess the information desired. Therefore he was preeminently known among his newspaper asso- ciates as the best of interviewers. Whenever an occurrence of special importance came to light, no matter where, the first thought in the Observer office was that Avery should be on the ground, and, whenever it was possible to do so, he was sent at once to the scene. Who can ever forget his stories of the mill disaster in South Carolina? or his account of the Greensboro re- union? His paper received numerous requests to have him as- signed to out-of-town meetings and other events which it was desired should be handled in a masterly manner.
In exercising the prerogatives of his position it often fell to his lot to pass unfavorable criticism upon men or systems. He did this in such a manner as he thought appropriate, and now and then a controversy would develop; but he invariably contented himself with merely stating his position clearly, being satisfied to let the public draw its own conclusions. On a few occasions his humorous references to people brought them to see him, to protest that they should not have been referred to in the manner which he had seen fit to employ. Here, too, he was especially gifted, for, without any semblance of a compromise, he would make peace in a way that would sometimes provoke envy in his new^spaper associates, and in rare instances disappoint them when they thought he might have to essay the role to which by nature he seemed especially fitted in a physical sense, owing to the belli- cose vein into which the aggrieved party had brought himself on reading Mr. Avery's description of him.
More significant than his work as a reporter or an interviewer or an editorial writer was his "A Variety of Idle Comment" — a
34 NORTH CAROLINA
department of the Observer which appeared on Monday morn- ings— ^and upon this department his fame largely rests. A man of the world, of contact with all sorts and conditions of human- ity, he had closely studied his fellows and looked *'quite through the deeds of men." A commentator upon their virtues and vices, their merits and weaknesses, he brought to every discussion the subtlest analysis, and with perfect, sometimes startling, fidelity "held the mirror up to nature." His pen was adapted with utmost facility to every subject he touched, and he touched none but to adorn or illumine it. Amiable, sweet of spirit, he yet might feel that a person, a custom or an institution called for invective or ridicule, and he was a torrent. Anon a child, a flower, a friend- less one appealed to him, and his pen caressed them as his heart was attuned to the music of the spheres. His humor was ex- quisite ; his pathos tear-compelling. He was the master of a rich vocabulary — ^the master ; that is the word. It responded immedi- ately to every demand upon it ; and thus he attempted no figin-c that was not complete ; he drew no picture that did not stand out on the canvas in colors of living light. The writers profess some familiarity with the contemporaneous newspaper writers of the South, and are sure that they indulge in no exuberance of lan- guage, that personal affection warps their judgment not at all, when they say that for original thought, for power or felicity of expression, Isaac Ej-win Avery had not an equal among them.
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GEORGE EDMUND BADGER
[HILE there may be some question as to who should be regarded as the greatest North Caro- linian, certainly in any list of the five greatest t!ie name of George E. Badger would be in- cluded. Not so great a lawyer as RufHn or I oarson or Judge Haywood and perhaps some otheiT; noTso great an orator as Joseph Alston Hill or W. W. Cherry or George Davis or General Ransom, he has always been awarded a place in the first rank of the greatest sons of this State because of the comprehensiveness of his mental equipment, his varied attainments, his wonderful power as an orator and de- bater, and his learning.
In both lines of descent Mr. Badger inherited a stalwart pa- triotism. His father, Thomas Badger, sprang from a Revolution- ary family in Connecticut and was bom at Windham, in that State, in 1766. Having been educated at Yale, he came in early manhood to New Bern and taught school at Spring Hill, in Lenoir County, for some time, and was admitted to the Bar, making his home at New Bern. From 1792 until his death in 1799 ^^ ^^ regarded as a brilliant lawyer and one of the ablest men in the State. He married, about 1793, Lydia Cogdell, a daughter of Richard Cogdell, a leading Revolutionary patriot of New Bern. On April 17, 1795, Mr. Badger, the first child and only son of
36 NORTH CAROLINA
his parents, was born at New Bern. His father dying when he was but four years of age, leaving the widowed mother with but little fortune, his prospects in life were not very flattering. After a preparatory course in the local schools of New Bern, however, a rich relative in the North provided the means for his entering Yale College, and at the age of fifteen he became a pupil at that institution. There he was beyond dispute the first boy of his class, but before the completion of his sophomore year his kins- man withdrew his support, and he returned home and studied law under his cousin, Hon. John Stanly, a distinguished lawyer, states- man and orator, who in September, 1802, had killed Governor Richard D. Spaight in a duel, but was pardoned by Governor Williams. Stanly was twice speaker of the house of commons and died in 1834.
In the summer of 1814, at the age of nineteen, Mr. Badger was granted his license to practice in the county courts, and about that time an invasion of the State being threatened by the British under Admiral Cockbum, then hovering on our coast, Governor Hawkins called out the militia and took the field to defend New Bern and Beaufort On this occasion Mr. Badger served as aide-de-camp to General Calvin Jones, of Wake, with the rank of major. Hardly had he obtained his license before he wzs ap- pointed solicitor to prosecute for the State in that district- In 1 816, when just turned twenty-one, he was elected to represent New Bern in the legislature. These marks of favor and appre- ciation indicate that even at that early age he gave evidence of high powers and strong character. In the Assembly he met Hon. Thomas Ruffin, the speaker of the house, who, being then ap- pointed a judge, invited Mr. Badger to take his cases in the Orange circuit. Accepting this offer, he removed to Hillsboro, where he resided for two or three years; but marrying at that time the daughter of Governor James Turner, of Warren, he moved to Warrenton. In 1820, when but twenty-five years of age, so superior were his accomplishments and so high was hi'^ reputation that he was elected a judge of the superior court, and served on the Bench for five years. At the age of thirty he re-
GEORGE EDMUND BADGER 37
tired from the judicial office and, locating in Raleigh, devoted himself to his profession, in which he took rank with the fore- most of his brethren.
"His massive forehead and sparkling eye and a countenance that seemed to have a supernatural illumination attracted the gaze and scrutiny of every one who saw him and subdued every feeling but that of astonishment and wonder, and when he spoke, the rich, musical tones of his voice, the perfection and eloquence of his language, and his faultless pronunciation dianned his hearers and persuaded all who listened to him. The attention being riveted, the spell was never broken till he chose to suspend and permit you to breathe again in freedom. His mind was thoroughly culti- vated; he had read nearly everything in our language and very much in Latin and Greek and was familiar with all the incidents of history. His memory was unfailing and his powers of recollection without a limit. All that he had read and observed were as servants at his hands, ready to illustrate his arguments, to adorn his language or to magnify his elo- quence. It seemed that he knew everything that was beautiful and elo- quent and enchanting, and blended them in harmony as a lovely picture, and then with bewitching words invited the admiration and wonder of his hearers to the scene before them."
He was especially noted as a conversationalist, and with his friends was genial, familiar, jocular, and with such an exuberance of sprightliness that at times it led to apparent frivolity. He had an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes and related them inimitably.
Having now achieved eminence, Yale College enrolled his name among the members of his class who graduated in 181 3 and con- ferred upon him the degree of LL.D., as did also the University of North Carolina, of which institution he became a trustee and so continued for some twenty years.
On the disappearance of the Federal party during the War of 1812 there seemed to be but a single party in the Union, the Re- publican; but there remained factions in every State, and at length, about 1834, various factions cooperating came to be known as the Whig party.
In 1828 Mr. Badger had supported Jackson for the presidency, and it was expected that he would be made attorney-general of the United States, but General Jackson made another appoint-
38 NORTH CAROLINA
mcnt. In North Carolina, later, Jackson had driven oflf from him many who entirely disapproved of his invasion of the rights of South Carolina by his Force Bill and others who antagonized his violent opposition to the National Bank; and, indeed, the Republicans of that period were divided into Federal Republicans and National Republicans, the latter of whom advocated the exer- cise of extensive powers by the Federal Government, which the former deemed either unconstitutional or inexpedient It was on these lines chiefly that the Republican party, which had admin- istered the government from Jefferson's election in 1800, split into two great factions. In 1836 the Whigs, as the opposition party then was called, were successful locally, although the elec- toral votes of North Carolina were given to Van Buren. Mr. Badger had aligned himself with that party and was among the most distinguished of its leaders in this State. In 1839 the Whigs held their National Convention at Harrisburg and nominated General Harrison and Governor Tyler of Virginia as their presi- dential candidates, without, however, adopting any platform or resolution or principles or making any declaration of purpose, the great demand made on the hustings and through the press being for reform and "to turn the rascals out." North Carolina now gave her fifteen votes to Harrison, and on his inauguration as President he invited Mr. Badger to take the office of secretary of the navy. Mr. Badger, however, remained in the cabinet only six months. In April, 1841, President Tyler succeeded General Harrison, and differences arose that led to Mr. Badger's retire- ment.
The united forces of the opposition embraced many men of many minds. Harrison and most of his friends, including Mr. Badger, were in favor of the reestablishment of the bank ; Gov- ernor Tyler was not only opposed to the bank but considered that Congress had no power to charter one except as a necessity of governmental operations. On his accession to the presidency that question made a split between him and the Whig leaders. Con- gress passed a bill to charter a bank, which Tyler vetoed ; but he assented to the introduction of a new measure somewhat differ-
GEORGE EDMUND BADGER 39
cntly cast. Yet when that bill was passed he likewise vetoed it. His action separated him from his party, who generally declared him a traitor, and Mr. Badger with great indignation resigned his oflScc, along with Mr. Ewing, afterward in Taylor's cabinet, and with Hon. John Bell, afterward the Constitutional Union presidential candidate in i860. Secretary Badger's administra- tion was so brief that he accomplished but little, and yet the measures then inaugurated were later effective in bringing about reforms in the naval service. It may be remarked in passing that at that period whiskers and beard were not usually worn by gen- tlemen, and Mr. Badger found it expedient to issue an order that naval officers could wear beards cut in a certain way, which then became known as "Badgers."
Returning home, he resumed the practice of his profession, and was accorded the leadership of his party in North Carolina, to which he was entitled by virtue of his splendid powers.
In 1846 William H. Haywood, who had been elected United States senator as a Democrat and had been instructed to vote for tariff reform, dramatically resigned rather than vote for the tariff measure prepared at that session, General J. J. McKay, of Bladen, being the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the House, but the bill was commonly called the "Walker Bill" be- cause of the connection with its preparation of Robert J. Walker, President Polk's secretary of the treasury. At the succeeding ses- sion of the legislature; in 1848, both houses were a tie, but Mr. Badger was elected to succeed Mr. Haywood, although the elec- tion was unsought and unexpected by him and he was absent at the time. He continued in the Senate until 1855, taking rank in that body with Mr. Webster and other men of the first ability, although he was not as useful as some others as a business mem- ber. It was his custom when entering the Senate to linger and have a pleasant word with nearly every member before taking his seat. This he would not retain long, for he was less frequently in his own seat than in that of other members. Yet with this apparent carelessness he would catch and remember every word, whether trivial or important, uttered in debate, and was ready
40 NORTH CAROLINA
to answer any questions. He had a certain kind of humor, and would ridicule, in a pleasant way, even the most dignified of the senators if any should happen to make a little mistake or blunder either in speech or conversation. Mr. Webster once remarked : "Badger is the greatest trifler I ever knew ; we are all afraid of him ; he can make more out of a trifling occurrence than any man I ever knew." But Mr. Webster had the highest respect for his legal ability and great powers. In a note to Judge Story intro- ducing Mr. Badger, Mr. Webster said: "I beg to introduce to you Hon. George E. Badger, of North Carolina, your equal and my superior." In some respects certainly Mr. Badger was Mr. Webster's superior.
At that time he was appearing in many important cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, and his reputation was very great as a lawyer and he was regarded as one of the most eminent characters at the Federal capital. As a statesman he had adopted a rule for the construction of the Constitution which he once heard Judge Marshall enunciate from the Bench in North Caro- lina: *The Constitution of the United States is to be construed not strictly, not loosely, but honestly." On the burning question of slavery in the territories, while arguing the justice and expedi- ency of opening the territories to all immigrants without restric- tion as to any species of property, he yet refused to argue that Congress had no constitutional power to legislate on the subject of slavery in the territories. For this he incurred the disappro- bation of the extreme advocates of Southern interests. In 1853. just before the inauguration of President Pierce, President Fill- more nominated him to a vacant position on the Supreme Court. Although the Senate was Democratic, it would under other cir- cumstances have confirmed him without referring the appointment to a committee, but believing that Mr. Pierce could fill the vacancy by a more acceptable appointment, with reluctance it withheld its consent and the appointment was not acted on. Later, President Pierce appointed Judge Campbell, of Louisiana, to the vacancy.
It was about this time that Mr. Badger performed an important
GEORGE EDMUND BADGER 41
service to the Episcopal Church in North Carolina, of which he was a member. He was one of the vestry of Christ Church at Raleigh, and he first moved in the matter of Bishop Ives, whose conduct he did not approve, but who was greatly beloved and revered throughout the diocese. At first Mr. Badger was very severely criticised, but the result proved his wisdom, and his posi- tive action in the matter gave him another title to the esteem and regard of those interested, and illustrated the manliness of his character. A little later Bishop Ives abandoned Protestantism and became an adherent of the Papacy.
Mrs. Badger having died. Judge Badger married a second time, Miss Mary Polk, a daughter of Colonel William Polk by his wife Sarah, a daughter of Philemon Hawkins. Mrs. Badger was a sister of Leonidas Polk, Bishop of Louisiana and general in the confederate army. Colonel William Polk by his first wife, Miss Gilchrist, had two other sons, one of whom was the father of another Mary Polk, who became the wife of Hon. George Davis. On the death of his second wife, Mr. Badger married Delia, a daughter of Sherwood and Eleanor Hawkins Haywood. She had first married General William Williams and was Delia Will- iams at the time of her marriage to Mr. Badger. She was a lady of rare loveliness and enjoyed the affectionate regard of a large circle of relatives and friends. She survived Mr. Badger several years.
After his retirement from the Senate, Mr. Badger, like Chief Justice Ruffin and other characters of the highest respectability, served as chairman of the county court and gave his attention to the administration of the local affairs of the people of Wake County. He held also the position of regent of the Smithsonian Institution. In his professional visits to Washington and in all his correspondence with public men he never departed from that moderation on the exciting subject of the period which had char- acterized him as a senator. He joined in the movement for the organization of a Constitutional Union party; he accepted the nomination for elector on the Bell and Everett ticket and ad- dressed the people in its support.
42 NORTH CAROLINA
Although up to the last moment a Union man, yet when the Convention met on May 20, 1861, being a member from Wake County, he offered an ordinance declaring the separation of North Carolina from the United States, which, after a recital of the reasons that required the separation of the State from the Union, continued:
"Therefore this Convention, now here assembled in the name and with the sovereign power of the people of North Carolina, doth for the reasons aforesaid and others, and in order to preserve the undoubted rights and liberties of the said people, hereby declare all connection of government between this State and the United States of America dissolved and abro- gated, and this State to be a free, sovereign and independent State. . . . And appealing to the Supreme Governor of the World for the justness of our cause, and beseeching Him for His gracious help and blessing, we will, to the uttermost of our power and to the last extremity, maintain, defend and uphold this declaration."
The line of difference between public men at that time in re- gard to the right of secession was that most of the Democrats held that any State having ratified the Constitution of the United States could lawfully abrogate its compact at will, while the old Whig leaders regarded that the right to withdraw from the Union was merely based on the natural right of revolution and not on the reserved rights of the states. Mr. Badger's proposed ordi- nance seemed to be based on the right of revolution. William S. Ashe, Burton Craige and other Democratic members preferred a simple ordinance annulling the ordinance adopted by the State in 1789, whereby the Constitution of the United States was rati- fied and adopted. Mr. Craige moved to strike out Mr. Badger's resolution and substitute one simply repealing the ordinance of 1789. On the motion to strike out forty members voted with Mr. Badger and seventy-two against him. On the motion to adopt Mr. Craige's ordinance the vote was unanimous. Judge Badger, however, was not recorded as voting at all. Still he signed the ordinance and stood foursquare in favor of all meas- ures of defense to the last extremity. The Convention held four sessions, finally adjourning on May 13, 1862.
In March, 1862, upon the fall of New Bern, President Lincoln
GEORGE EDMUND BADGER 43
appointed Edward Stanly military governor of North Carolina. Mr. Stanly was a son of John Stanly, under whom Mr. Badger had studied law, and was his kinsman. He had been a most im- portant member of the Whig party in eastern North Carolina and was a member of Congress with some intermission from 1837 to 1853. He was an actor in the dramatic scene in the house of commons of North Carolina in 1849 when he proposed to the western members to support the Ashe Bill incorporating the North Carolina Railroad Company, his action at that moment paving the way for the passage of that bill.
In 1853 he moved to California, and in 1862 came to New Bern as the military governor of North Carolina. In connection with that appointment Judge Badger wrote a letter to Jonathan S. Ely, of New York, on the feeling in North Carolina. In it Mr. Badger said :
"There is no union feeling in North Carolina, as you suppose and is probably supposed by the generality of northern men. There was in the State a very strong union feeling, a strong love for the Union as estab- lished by our forefathers, but as soon as Mr. Lincoln's proclamation of April, 1861, appeared, offering us the alternative of joining that armed invasion of our southern sister states for their subjugation, or resisting the authorities of the United States, our position was taken without a moment's hesitation. A convention was promptly called, and instantly, without a dissenting voice, that convention resolved to take our side with the already seceded states, and share their fate for good or evil. From that moment, however we may have differed in other things, there has not been and there is not any difference; hence our people with one heart sprang to arms.
"We look with horror at the thought of being again united in any political connection with the North. We would rather far that our State should be a colony of England, or France, or Sardinia. The North may be able (though we do not believe it) to conquer us, and even to keep us con- quered, and if it should be the wise and good purpose of the Almighty that this should happen, we shall endeavor to suffer with patience whatever ills may befall us; but a voluntary return to any union with the North we cannot, will not accept on any terms. A revival of any union senti- ments is an impossibility."
While taking a walk at an early hour on the morning of Jan- uary 5, 1863, he was prostrated by a paralytic stroke, and before
44 NORTH CAROLINA
reaching his residence his mind wandered and his faculty of continuous speech deserted him, never again to return. In this condition he lingered until May ii, 1866, when, after a few days' illness, he expired, having recently completed his seventy-first year.
Judge Schenck, a member of the Secession Convention along with Judge Badger, and writing of him at that period, says :
"I remember him as a grand old man whom I loved and admired and venerated, and I feel proud that he honored me with his friendship and association. He may have had his equals, but I do not believe that his superior as a lawyer, an orator, a scholar and a conversationalist lived in this generation. He was the greatest man I ever knew."
S. A. Ashe.
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46 NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. Boyd was a farmer from choice, and a very successful one, and at the same time owned and conducted a large store and flouring mills, both situated near his home, and it is said at times the **Boyd Place" presented the bustle and activity of a small town.
Being thus situated, he was widely known, and he had the o(>- portunity to study and to know the people, and being endowed with a splendid physique, a commanding personal appearance, a big heart and extraordinary mental powers, he wielded a very wide influence in his day. He was the "people's man," and hi^ wholesome advice, wise counsel and sound judgment, on various subjects and interests of the commonwealth, were eagerly sought after by the common people, and freely given through a long period of years. He was an ardent Democrat, and for many years took an active interest in politics. He was known as ''Squire Boyd," and for many years served the people as a magistrate, but his intellectual endowments and adaptability to the masses called him to higher positions of usefulness. He was first elected as a member of the lower house of the legislature in 1840, with the Hon. R. P. Cardwell. He was afterward elected successively for three terms as a member of the senate, and served in this capacity until 1848. In 1853 Mr. Boyd was the Democratic candidate for Congress in his district, against the Hon. R. C. Puryear, who was the Whig candidate. The Whigs at that time had an overwhelm- ing majority in the district, and while Mr. Boyd was defeated by Mr. Puryear, yet he reduced the majority of more than 1000 votes to about 300, which showed his great popularity with the masses of the people.
After the civil war he was elected a member of one of the con- ventions which never met, and he retained the unbounded confi- dence and esteem of his fellow-citizens unto the end of his long life.
Mr. Boyd, like many of his compeers, suffered not only in the common misfortunes of the civil war in the loss of his property, but he suffered in the terrible bereavement and loss of his noble sons. He gave four sons to the **lost cause" ; two were killed in
GEORGE DILLARD BOYD 47
battle, one died in the service, and one returned to bless his old age. All of these sons were brave soldiers and gallant officers.
Of the five sons born to the subject of this sketch the eldest, James Pinkney, died in infancy. John Hill Boyd entered the Con- federate army as captain of Company L, Twenty-first North Car- olina regiment, and died in Richmond, Va., August 28, 1861, from exposure and disease contracted in the service.
Samuel Hill Boyd entered the service as captain of Company E, Forty-fifth North Carolina regiment, and by his personal bravery was promoted to colonel of the regiment, and fell at Spottsylvania Court House, May 19, 1864, while leading his men and mounting the breastworks of the enemy, bearing aloft the colors of the regiment in his own hand.
George Fulton Boyd first enlisted in a Mississippi regiment and was transferred to the famous Forty-fifth North Carolina regi- ment, became a lieutenant of Company A, and was killed at Get- tysburg, July I, 1863.
Colonel Andrew J. Boyd, the surviving son, is considered in a separate sketch.
Mr. Boyd belonged to that class and tjrpe of men in the ante- bellum days, not so numerous now, who chose the quiet life of the farmer and who lived among the people and with the people, and yet towered above their fellows in intellectual endowments and educational advantages, and therefore wielded a tremendous influence in molding the character of men and in shaping the political destinies of the country. He did his work nobly. He served his generation well. He came to his grave in a full age, trusting in God, "like as a shock of corn cometh in his season," fully ripe, ready to be garnered, and honored of God and men.
D, L Craig.
ANDREW JACKSON BOYD
fOLONEL ANDREW JACKSON BOYD, the subject of this sketch, was bom in Rockingham County, N. C, about four miles southwest of Reidsville, February 24, 1836, and died 00 Friday, August 18, 1893, in the fifty-eighth year of his age.
Colonel Boyd was the son of the Hon. George D. Boyd and Minerva Hill, who were the parents of a family of five sons. One of these sons died in infancy, and the other four lived to mature manhood and were conspicuous and distinguished in the confed- erate army, and all of them except the subject of this sketch gave their lives to the 'lost cause."
Andrew Jackson Boyd entered the service as lieutenant of Com- pany L, Twenty-first North Carolina regiment, and was after- ward transferred to the Forty-fifth regiment, in which he first became major and afterward was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, which position he held until he was forced by broken health to retire from the army.
Colonel A. J. Boyd was reared in the country, and his early academic education was received at Madison, N. C, and at the then famous Smith School at Shady Grove, near Stoneville. N. C He afterward entered Emory and Henry College, Virginia, and from this institution he entered upon the study of law under Judge Pearson at Logtown, N. C, completed his course and
■\
T ■•; i::\,' YcrJC VUu:.i: LIDRARY
'/''•or AND »-' ; N DAMONS
l'. I0N8 I
ANDREW JACKSON BOYD 49
began the practice of law at Wentworth, N. C, before he enlisted in the army.
Colonel Boyd went from the bar to the front, and as a soldier he displayed in a marked degree those characteristics which were so conspicuous in his eventful after life. He was a brave man and in the army often distinguished himself for personal gallantry as well as for being an organizer and leader of men. He was quick to take high rank among his associates. He was naturally of a secretive natiwe, and was often slow in making up his mind, but his convictions always took deep root, and when once formed they were as firm as a rock. He was scrupulously careful and painstaking in his work, mastering every detail of the situation, alert in grasping every aspect of the case, and planning his line of action with marvelous acumen. He was always calm, self-poised, clear-headed, long-sighted ; he never forgot himself, and his fertil- ity of resource and personal courage never failed him. These characteristics made him a favorite soldier and officer in the Confederate service and distinguished him as a bom leader of men.
Colonel Boyd was a man of fine physique, but the exposure and hardships of camp life completely undermined his health, and in the fall of 1863 he was compelled to retire from the service. He at once returned to the practice of law, and endeavored by every means possible to restore his broken health.
On July 7, 1864, Colonel Boyd was married to Miss Sallie A. Richardson, eldest daughter of Robert P. Richardson, Sr. This proved to be a happy union until her death, which occurred June 8, 1869, leaving him with three small children, Samuel H., George D., and Mary E. Boyd. In the winter of 1864 Colonel Boyd was elected and served as a member of the lower house of the state legislature. These were stormy times and required such men as Andrew Boyd to steer and keep afloat the ship of state, no less than those who planned and executed the deadly charge on the field of battle.
After the war Colonel Boyd persistently refused to gratify the wish of his friends to become an aspirant for political
50 NORTH CAROLINA
honors. With the single exception of accepting the appointment of President Cleveland as collector of internal revenue of the fifth district, which office he filled for two or three years, he declined every overture to enter public life. Nevertheless, he took a deep interest in all political questions and was an influential factor in the Democratic campaigns of his time, being an ardent Democrat of the Andrew Jackson type. For many years no man in Rockingham County seemed to question his recognized right to leadership in the Democratic party, or failed to find in him a strong friend or a dangerous foe — a strong leader, strong in intellect, strong in will and strong in character. But he gave his unceasing attention to the practice of law, the profession he loved, and to the study and management of finance. He was an able lawyer and a perfect wizard in the art of managing finances. At the bar he was not conspicuous as a jury advocate, though in addressing the court his style was finished and his statements lucid and luminous in their character. It was always as consulting attorney that he displayed that judicial cast of mind and wonderful legal tact and skill which seemed to have been born with him, and not in the arena of forensic eloquence. In the resolutions adopted by the bar of Rockingham County and spread upon the minutes of the court at Wentworth after his death, the following language is used :
"The county and State have lost a man faithful, courageous and trae in the discharge of all his obligations in every relation of life, both in peace and in war. A man gifted in his attainments, learned in his calling, faithf"! and efficient, painstaking and laborious, lucid in thought, forceful an*i elegant in diction, and, in brief, a sound and excellent lawyer/*
Colonel Boyd was not only an able lawyer, but a man of unrivaled business sagacity and a high-toned gentleman. As a business man he exerted an influence which few men who ha\e ever lived in Rockingham County possessed. Men of wealth a- well as the poor took him into their most guarded confidence, and large estates were left with him to settle, and he was alwa} - able to command money in any amounts he wished, either for himself or for his friends. He possessed the unbounded confi-
ANDREW JACKSON BOYD 51
dence of his fellow-citizens in financial matters, and at the time of his death was president of the Bank of Reidsville, which insti- tution largely owes its origin and existence to him, and he was also president of the Reidsville Hermitage Cotton Mills; and 3ret, it is said, in all these positions of trust and confidence, he was never known to abuse the power he possessed.
On September i, 1875, Colonel Boyd was happily married the second time to Miss Margaret I. Richardson, a sister of his first wife. By this union there were five children, Sallie R., John R., Robert R., Bessie W., and Margaret P., all of whom, and their mother, are still living.
On October 2^, 1889, Colonel Boyd, together with two of his children, united with the Reidsville Presbyterian Church, and were baptized by the pastor, the Rev. D. I. Craig. He was a faithful and consistent member of the church during the re- mainder of his life, and took a lively interest in church affairs, and gave liberally of his means to all benevolent causes. In the throes of death he was the same calm, peaceful and brave soul that he was in life, and realizing that his hour of departure had come, called his family, one by one, to his bedside and bade them an affectionate good-by, commending them to the Lord Jesus, in whom he believed and trusted, and to whom he committed his soul. Z>. /. Craig.
JOHN BRANCH
[IGH on the roll of North Carolina statesmen , stands the name of John Branch, a native of the county of Halifax, whose birth occurred on November 4, 1782, about the close of the Rcvo- ^lution. In that war his father, John Branch, the • elder, had borne a patriot's part, serving as a member of the Assembly in 1781 and 1782, and as high sheriff, bringing Tories before the Provincial Congress and **praying condign punishment upon them." He was also a member of the Assembly after the war, in 1787 and 1788.
The younger John Branch, subject of this sketch, was one of the early students at the University of North Carolina, and grad- uated therefrom in 1801. Afterward he studied law under Judge John Haywood (of Halifax, later of Tennessee), but never prac- ticed. He represented Halifax County in the state senate in 181 1, at five sessions from 1813 till 1817, and again in 1822 and 1834. He was president of the senate in 1816 and 1817. He was elected governor of North Carolina in 181 7, and served till 1819. He was elected to the Senate of the United Sutes in 1823. and reelected in 1829, but resigned upon being appointed sec- retary of the navy by President Jackson on March 9. 18^). Speaking of Branch's appointment to the cabinet, Parton. in hi- "Life of Jackson," says:
"Mr. Branch was not one of those who achieve greatness, nor one
JOHN BRANCH 53
of those who have greatness thrust upon them. He was born to it Inheriting an ample estate, he lived for many years upon his plantations and employed himself in superintending their culture. He was a man of req>ectable talents, good presence, and high social position."
As is well known, there was a disruption of Jackson's cabinet, owing to the fact that the wives of its members (including Mrs. Branch) refused social recognition to Mrs. Eaton, wife of the secretary of war, about whose character so many tales were afloat. On April 19, 1831, Mr. Branch sent his resignation to the President. Replying to this, Jackson wrote :
''In accepting your resignation, it is with great pleasure that I bear testimony to the integrity and zeal with which you have managed the concerns of the navy. In your discharge of all the duties of your office over which I have any control I have been fully satisfied; and in your retirement you carry with you my best wishes for your prosperity and happiness. It is expected that you will continue to discharge the duties of your office until a successor is appointed."
After Mr. Branch's retirement from the cabinet, he returned to his home in Halifax County, but did not long remain in private life, being elected a member of the Twenty-second Congress, and serving from December 5, 183 1, till March 3, 1833. In 1835 he sat as a delegate from Halifax in the constitutional convention of North Carolina, and nominated Nathaniel Macon for president of the body, that nomination being carried unanimously. On the for- mation of the Whig party Mr. Branch did not abandon the admin- istration, but remained an earnest supporter of the regular Repub- lican party, and in 1838, at the first election for governor by the people, he was the Democratic nominee for governor, an office he had held twenty years before, but was defeated by the Whig candidate, Edward B. Dudley. In 1843 Mr. Branch was appointed governor of the territory of Florida by President Tyler, who at that time was affiliating with the Democratic leaders, and served until the establishment of the state government in 1845. This was his last public service. He afterward spent his time partly in Florida and partly in North Carolina. At Enfield, in Halifax Comity, North Carolina, he died on January 4, 1863.
54 NORTH CAROLINA
Governor Branch was twice married. His first wife. Miss Elizabeth Foort, the mother of all his children, was the lady whose reserve in her Washington entertainments and persooal associations helped to split the cabinet of President Jacksoo. After the death of this lady he was married to Mrs. Bond, fUt Jordan, who survived him a few years.
The closing years of Governor Branch's life were passed amid the great sorrows incident to the war between the states. In that conflict his family and kindred were active participants. Though all bore an honorable part in defending the rights of the South, the best-known member of his family connection in the Con- federate service was his nephew, General Lawrence 0*Bryan Branch (son of his brother Joseph), who was killed at the battle of Sharpsburg.
Nearly all of the immediate descendants of Governor John Branch now reside in the State of Florida.
Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
LAWRENCE O'BRYAN BRANCH
bn-
N November 28, 1820, at the village of Enfield, in the county of Halifax and State of North Carolina, was born Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, afterward known to fame as a distinguished member of Congress under the government of the United States, and as a brave and capable ril in the army of the Southern Confederacy. The family of General Branch had been one of prominence long prior to the time when his own career added luster to its reputa- tion. His grandfather, John Branch, was a fearless patriot of Revolutionary times, who served as high sheriff of the coimty of Halifax under the Whig government, was a justice of the court of pleas and quarter sessions, and also a member of the North Carolina house of commons during the progress of the war. One of General Branch's uncles, son of the foregoing, was the Hon. John Branch, member of Congress, governor of North Carolina, United States senator, secretary of the navy of the United States, governor of the then territory of Florida, etc.
At an early age Lawrence O'Bryan Branch was left an orphan, though not unprovided for. His mother died on Christmas day, 1825. His father. Major Joseph Branch, removed with his chil- dren to Tennessee in the following year, where he soon afterward died. Hardly had young Lawrence reached Tennessee when he was brought back to North Carolina by his uncle and guardian.
56 NORTH CAROLINA
Governor John Branch. And when Governor Branch went to Washington as secretary of the navy in the cabinet of President Jackson, his nephew accompanied him and returned with him to North Carolina after the disruption of the cabinet in 1831.
At the age of fifteen he entered the University of North Caro- lina, but in less than a year withdrew and began a course at Princeton. From the latter institution he graduated with the first honors of what was up to that time the largest class which had ever finished a course there. He was then less than eighteen years of age. He spoke the English salutatory, his brother Joseph having spoken the Greek salutatory there in the previous year.
In 1839 ^r* Branch went to Tennessee and studied law, also becoming editor (incognito) of a political newspaper called the Reserve Corps. Going to Florida to practice law, he at first met with some difficulty, owing to the fact that he was not of age, but the legislature of that State passed a special act allowing him to practice, notwithstanding he was under age. Although a student and pursuing his practice, in 1841, when the SemiiM^ war was in progress, his gallant spirit led him to abandon his office and serve as aide-de-camp to General Reid during that war. In April, 1844, it was his happy fortune to be united in marriage to Miss Nancy Haywood Blount, daughter of General Williani Augustus Blount, and granddaughter of Sherwood Ha>'wood of Raleigh, a lady distinguished among her sex for her elegance and intellectual and conversational gifts, no less than for her refine- ment and personal graces. After four years of married life in Florida, Mr. and Mrs. Branch were drawn back to the Old North State, and September, 1848, found them established in the dty of Raleigh.
A man of fine personality, earnest and of strong and vigorous intellect, Mr. Branch proved a great acquisition to the Democratic party, then struggling for supremacy with the Whigs, who had the popular majority in the State, and he soon became a recognized party leader. Entering actively into politics, in 1852 he made a notable canvass as elector on the Pierce and King ticket, and in
LAWRENCE O'BRYAN BRANCH 57
October of the same year he was elected president of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company, but in 1855 he resigned that posi- tion to take his seat in Congress. His first service was in the Thirty-fourth Congress, and twice thereafter he was reelected, serving from December 3, 1855, till March 3, 1861. Just prior to his retirement from Congress the ofEce of secretary of the treasury became vacant by the resignation of the Hon. Howell Cobb, and President Buchanan offered that post to Mr. Branch, but the h<nior was declined, as the latter foresaw that his native State would soon be one of those arrayed against the general govern- ment.
In tracing the military career of General Branch, we are fortu- nate in having as a source of information the able address de- livered in Raleigh on Memorial Day (May loth) 1884, by the late Major John Hughes, of New Bern. Indeed, this sketch is drawn aknost entirely from that excellent address.
In April, 1861, to manifest his zeal and spirit, he entered as a private in the Raleigh Rifles, and about a month later, on the day that North Carolina seceded (May 20, 1 861), Governor Ellis com- missioned him to the joint office of quartermaster-general and paymaster-general. This he accepted unwillingly, wishing to go into active service. In the following September he resigned the above office and was commissioned colonel of the Thirty-third North Carolina regiment, and a few months later, January 17, 1862, he was appointed by President Davis a brigadier-general. His first command as brigadier-general was at New Bern, which was threatened by a large Federal force. On March 14, 1862, the Federals marched to the attack, but were vigorously opposed by General Branch, whose insufficient force, however, was soon driven from before the town. Branch's brigade, consisting of the Seventh, Eighteenth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-third and Thirty-sev- enth regiments, was then ordered to Virginia to join "Stonewair* Jackson, and went to Gordonsville by rail, afterward proceeding on foot After a long march, however, they were ordered back to Hanover Court House. Near that place was fought the battle of Hanover Court House, at first called the battle of Slash
58 NORTH CAROLINA
Church. In this fight General Branch commanded the Con- federate forces, and received a letter of thanks from General Lee for his conduct there. In all of the battles in the Seven Days' Fight around Richmond, Branch's brigade also bore a highly creditable part.
In the address by Major Hughes, already mentioned, he quotes a congratulatory address by General Branch, in the course of which the latter said :
''The general commanding with pride points to the good conduct of this brigade in the recent battles below Richmond. At New Bem« besides a fleet of gunboats, you fought 13,000 of the best troops in the Federml service, they having reserves of 7000. You numbered less than 4000, ooc ten of whom, officers and men, had ever been in battle before.
"After an uninterrupted fire of four hours, which has not been exceeded in severity by any you have since heard, except for one hour at Gaines' Mill, . . . you made good your retreat out of the peninsula, in which the enemy had confidently boasted that he would capture you as be would 'chickens in a coop.'
"At Slash Church you encountered the division of General Porter and a part of the division of General Sedgwick, numbering at least 20,000, and including 5000 United States regulars. You with two addi- tional regiments temporarily acting with you numbered about 400a Voa repulsed the enemy's attack, and boldly advancing, attacked him with such vigor that after six hours' combat you withdrew in perfect order to avoid being surrounded during the night.
"In the late brilliant operations below Richmond you were the first brigade to cross the Chickahominy, you were the first to encounter the enemy, and you were the first to start him on that retreat in which the able combinations of our general-in-chief allowed him to uke no rest until he found shelter under the guns of his shipping. You captured from the enemy a flag before any other troops had crossed the Chicka- hominy.
"Though rarely able to turn out 3000 men for duty, you have in six pitched battles and several skirmishes lost 1250 men in killed and wounded. Of five colonels, two have been killed in battle, two wounded, and one taken prisoner by an overwhelming force."
General Branch's brigade was later engaged in the battles of Cedar Run. Second Manassas, P^airfax Court House, HarrxT- Ferry and Sharpsburg. Sharpsburg (otherwise known as Antic- tarn) was General Branch's last battle. WTiile standing with some
LAWRENCE O'BRYAN BRANCH 59
officers who were endeavoring to get a better view of a detach- ment of the enemy, he was shot through the head and fell into the arms of Major Joseph A. Engelhard, an officer attached to his sta£F. The death of General Branch caused deep regret through- out the army and particularly in North Carolina. His remains were brought to Raleigh by three officers of his brigade, Major Joseph A. Engelhard, Captain James A. Bryan, and Lieutenant A. M. Noble, arriving in the city on the 25th. From the capitol, where his remains lay in state, they were borne with a vast con- course in attendance, on the following day, to the Old Graveyard, at the eastern terminus of Morgan Street in Raleigh. There a white marble shaft has been erected to his memory, and on it are inscribed some of the principal battles in which he participated — viz.: New Bern, Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, Chicka- hominy, Frazier's Farm, Malvern Hill, Cedar Run, Second Manassas, Ox Hill, Harper's Ferry, and Sharpsburg.
General Branch left four children, who reached maturity and married. His only son, Hon. William Augustus Blount Branch, also served in the Confederate army, being at one time a lieutenant on the staff of General Hoke; and from 1 891 to 1895 he represented the Pamlico district in Congress; in 1905 he was a member of the legislature. The three daughters of General L. O'B. Branch were Susan, who married Robert H. Jones, Esq. ; Nannie, who married Armistead Jones, Esq. ; and Josephine (now deceased), who married the late Hon. Kerr Craige, of Salisbury. Mrs. Branch survived General Branch more than forty years, and was ever esteemed as an ornament to society and as one of the most distinguished and admirable of her sex.
We cannot better close this sketch of General Branch than by quoting language which the Rev. James A. Weston uses with reference to him :
"He was the truest of patriots. He loved his country with a deathless affection, and there was no sacrifice, however great, that he would not have noade for the good of his people. His moral power was very great. Like Sir Galahad, his strength was as the strength of ten, because his heart was pure." Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
FREDERICK LYNN CHILDS
lURING the last years of the war between the states, Fayetteville became a point of great interest. There were eight cotton factories in that vicinity, a paper mill, the machinery of the navy ordnance works, and the Confederate States' arsenal of construction. This arsenal had been built many years before by the United States Government and used as a place of deposit for arms. At the beginning of the war it was under the command of Colonel Bradford, who had a few soldiers there ; later Colonel De Lagnel was assigned to the command, and he began to buy and store there iron and e\-ery other commodity that could be of use in the ordnance service, an«l the business of construction was begim. The great development, however, of work there was when Colonel Frederick L Childs was the commandant. Under his supervision the arsenal became a great workshop, employing several hundred artisans and en- gaging the services of several hundred laborers, and its work in supplying the needs of the army was most important.
Colonel Childs was a descendant in the eighth generation frc>m Samuel Childs, one of the Plymouth Colony of 1620, who wa^^ slain by the Indians on March 25, 1675. In the fifth generation was Captain Timothy Childs, who, on hearing of the battle of Lexington, led a company of minute-men from Dccrficld, Mass., to Boston; his son, also Timothy, marching at the
FREDRICK LYNN CHILDS 6i
same time from Pittsfield, Mass., in a similar corps as lieutenant. The latter, afterward known as Dr. Timothy Childs, rendered, as did his father, great service to his country, was senator from Berkshire and an eminent physician. His youngest son, Thomas, at the age of sixteen years, entered the Military Academy at West Point, in May, 1813. The next year he was ordered to join the army in the defense of Fort Erie, and behaved with such dis- tinguished gallantry that he was presented with a quadrant, cap- tured from the British and engraved as follows :
"Presented to Lieutenant Thomas Childs by order of the President of the United States for gallant conduct in the sortie from Fort Erie, and for spiking the guns of the enemy's batteries, at the age of seventeen years, September 17, 1814."
Throughout his life, in every position, the same conspicuous bravery was displayed by him. He served with distinction in the Florida war in 1836 and 1840, and in Mexico, where he com- manded the battalion of artillery under General Taylor. Par- ticularly at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma was his conduct the subject of eulogium. Colonel Belknap, command- ing the brigade, said in his report: "Lieutenant-Colonel Childs needs no praise from me ; his well-earned fame, won on many a field, is known to all." For his Florida service he had been brevetted lieutenant-colonel, and now he was brevetted colonel. At Monterey he won imperishable renown, General Worth say- ing : '*The gallant Colonel Childs is safe, and covered all over with glory." And so it was at Vera Cruz, and in every other engage- ment of that campaign. For the defense of Puebla Colonel Childs was afterward brevetted brigadier-general. Of this defense Gen- eral Scott said : "Though highly arduous, gallant and triumphant, it has not exceeded what was expected of that excellent com- mander, his officers and men."
General Childs married Miss Ann Eliza Coryton, whom he met at Judge Bushrod Washington's home at Mount Vernon. He was stationed at Eastport, Me., in 183 1, and there, on February 15th of that year, the subject of this sketch was bom.
Colonel Frederick L. Childs graduated at St. James College,
62 NORTH CAROLINA
Maryland, in 1851, and at the age of twenty entered West Point, where he graduated in 1855, and became second lieutenant of artillery. For two years he served in the Seminole war, and then for two years was assigned to duty as professor at West Point. For some months he was on garrison duty at Fort Moultrie ; and at the close of 1859 was on frontier duty at Fort Oark and Fort Duncan in Texas, where he remained until, on March 4, 1861, when he resigned his commission ; and on March i6th he was ap- pointed captain of artillery in the Confederate army. In the first days of April, 1861, he was detailed for duty at Charleston, as assistant to the commandant of batteries on Morris Island.
General Childs had been stationed during his son's boyhood at Smithville. General Woodbury, who married a daughter of General Childs, had been employed in constructing sea walls to deepen the mouth of the Cape Fear, and Mrs. Childs for some years resided at Wilmington; and thus that town in a measure was regarded as the home of the family. Immediately after the fall of Fort Sumter, Major Whiting and Captain Childs came from Charleston to put the forts on the Cape Fear in a stale of defense, and Captain Childs was assigned to that duty as chief of artillery. The writer of this sketch accompanied him, and together they were engaged in that work for some two months. The fort was quite defenseless. The work was one of creation. It was entirely novel. But Captain Childs addressed himself to it with surpassing zeal and intelligence, and was so suc- cessful that he soon had Fort Caswell and some of the neighbor- ing batteries in a fair condition for defense. In June, 186 1, the writer was ordered by the state authorities to go to Harper's Ferry and superintend the removal of the rifle machinery there to the arsenal at Fayetteville, and about the middle of July Cap- tain Childs was transferred to the command of the arsenal at Charleston. Here his constructive work became very important. Within the short period of two months, twenty-eight private estab- lishments, of which twenty-two were in Charleston, and the others in Greenville, Columbia, Wilmington, etc., as well as every avail- able mechanic, were employed by him in preparing ordnance
FREDRICK LYNN CHILDS 63
stores. Because of the scarcity of proper supplies every sort of substitute had to be resorted to ; and by his forethought and wise suggestion he induced the merchant firm of John Fraser & Com- pany to import many articles of great value to the Confederacy. On November 26, 1862, Colonel Wagner of that company wrote : '*Every ounce of saltpeter imported into the Confederacy they are indebted to you for, besides many other of the most essential arti- cles for our defense." On November 30, 1862, Captain Childs himself wrote: "I have been much pleased to-day to find that an important recommendation of mine has been approved at the War Department, and I am ordered to carry it out. It is to freight the ship Mackinaw with 2200 bales of cotton and send her to Liverpool on a dark and stormy night." With unflagging zeal, great intelligence and an energy unsurpassed by any one, Captain Childs admirably performed the duties of his position and ren- dered incalculable service to the Confederacy. It was the fortune of the writer to have been with him at the arsenal at Charleston a few months in the spring and summer of 1862, and he was a witness of the wonderful powers of endurance of this patriotic officer.
During the month of November, 1862, Captain Childs was pro- moted to be major of artillery. He remained at the arsenal for eighteen months, in which time its operations had developed from an expenditure of a few thousand dollars per month until it reached (including imported stores) nearly two millions of dol- lars for the last quarter of 1S62. In that fall Brigadier-General Ripley, district commander at Charleston, assumed to give orders to Major Childs relative to the work at the arsenal, and his right to do so being questioned the matter was referred to Colonel Gorgas, the chief of ordnance at Richmond, who sustained Major Childs' position; and thenceforth throughout the war the prin- ciple of the independence of arsenals of the local division com- manders was established and acted on. In this particular matter both General Beauregard and General Ripley behaved discredit- ably. In zeal and patriotism and in a devoted performance of duty. Major Childs was much superior to either of them. They
64 NORTH CAROLINA
were very fussy; somewhat negligent of the business committed to their charge ; were surrounded by staff -officers some of whom, at least, were apparently incompetent; and on the occasion of the conflict with Major Childs were both disobedient to the army regulations, and lacked candor and the magnanimity which gentle- men in their position ought to have displayed. Because of this affair, although Major Childs was sustained by the War Depart- ment, he was early in 1863 transferred to the arsenal at Augusta, where he succeeded Brigadier-General Raines in command; and on April 17, 1863, was assigned to the still more important post, commandant of the arsenal at Fayetteville. In the meantime, however, he had urged with some vehemence that he should be permitted to take the field ; but the secretary of war unhesitatingly affirmed that he could render much more important service as commandant of an arsenal than with the army. At Fayetteville he addressed himself with great vigor to his work. He turned out new rifles as rapidly as possible for the army, at the same time making heavy gun carriages, carriages for light batteries, all sorts of ammunition — even the hexagonal, twisting Whitworth shell — rockets, fuses, caps, harness, every article known to the Ordnance Manual and serviceable to the army.
The raw material for the work he had to pick up as he could, adapting some substitute where the proper article could not be obtained. He caused furnaces to be constructed in the Deep River section and got iron there and from South Carolina. Coke he had made at the Deep River coal mine ; heavy white oak timber and lime he got from Rocky Point, on the northeast branch of the Cape Fear, and leather was made for him in several counties. He erected many large government buildings, first making the bricks for the purpose. Those buildings alone would form a monument to his indefatigable zeal had they not been burned at the close of the war. Several hundred operatives and their families had to be maintained, and for this purpose he rented farms and had them cultivated, established fisheries along the Cape Fear and Black rivers, curing the fish with pyroligneous acid, and obtaining from the sturgeon quantities of fish oil needed for his department-
FREDRICK LYNN CHILDS 65
To feed, house and clothe this army of operatives and their families was in itself no inconsiderable work; and when we re- call the buildings he constructed, the many necessary machines he had to make in order to do the work of the arsenal, and, above all, the difficulty of obtaining the raw material at that time, and, in spite of this difficulty, the great quantity of supplies of all kinds he manufactured for the Ordnance Department, his per- formance was indeed a marvel. Indefatigable, persistent, wise, prudent, overcoming every obstacle that presented itself, he built up in time of war, when the country was denuded of men, of pro- visions and of all sorts of supplies, a great arsenal furnishing immense quantities of needed supplies to the army.
But this work, creditable as it was to the energy of Colonel Childs, could not have been accomplished except for the industrial capabilities of his operatives and the men working under him. It is an evidence of those latent characteristics of the southern people, which, since the war, have been developed and made prominent by the great industrial progress that has rendered this era so memorable in southern life.
On November 19, 1863, Major Childs was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and in 1864, on the organization of a bat- talion of troops for local defense, was commissioned as colonel.
In April, 1865, on the approach of General Sherman, Colonel Childs evacuated the arsenal, sending the most valuable govern- ment stores to Greensboro and moving his force and material into the Deep River country. General Sherman destroyed the arsenal, and Colonel Childs, together with the writer, who had been on duty with him at Fayetteville since September, 1863, ^"^ several other gentlemen, went to Charlotte, where President Davis and his cabinet and General Gorgas were, to obtain orders. When they reached Charlotte the Confederacy was in its last agonies. Johnston was surrendering his army; the Federal cavalry were in the vicinity; President Lincoln had been assassinated; some of the troops were in a state of demoralization, and President Davis and the higher officers of the Confederacy were holding their last consultations preliminary to a hasty departure. General
66 NORTH CAROLINA
Gorgas at first gave Colonel Childs orders to cross the Mississippi, but subsequently left it discretionary with him and his officers to return to their homes. It being evident that the Confederacy had fallen — with heavy hearts the party returned to Fayettevillc.
Colonel Childs married, June 12, 1856, Miss Mary Hooper An- derson, only daughter of Dr. W. W. Anderson, of Stateburg, S. C, and a sister of General R. H. Anderson, "Fighting Dkk" as he was called. Mrs. Childs died at the Fayctteville arsenal in June, 1863, leaving several children. At the end of the war Colonel Childs removed his family to Stateburg. For a few years he engaged in farming there, and then accepted service un- der the New York and Charleston Steamship Company. In 1878 he was appointed inspector for the Government on the public works at Charleston and Savannah, which position he held until 1886, and during the last years of his life he was in the govern- ment service at Charleston.
Colonel Childs married a second time, but had no children by his last wife. He died at Stateburg, South Carolina, June 10, 1894. One of his daughters, Miss Mary Childs, is in the United States Forest Service at Washington; a son, William Wallace Childs, is in the United States service at Panama.
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WALTER CLARK
f ALTER CLARK, the distinguished chief jus- tice of the State, was born in Halifax County, August 19, 1846. The first of the name coming to North Carolina was a clergyman of the Church of England. His son, David Clark, attained a position of great prominence in Hali- imty. He was one of the Board of Internal Improvements and one of the originators and a director of the Roanoke Naviga- tion Company, which constructed the canal from Weldon to Clarksville, which before the era of railroads was such an impor- tant factor in the trade of Roanoke River. He had a son named for himself, David Clark, who was the father of the subject of this sketch.
At an early age this David Clark was placed at school with Dr. Joseph G. Cogswell, the principal of the Episcopal Male School established at Raleigh, which subsequently became the famous St. Mary's School for young ladies. Young Clark, along with his schoolmates, John Devereux and Thomas D. Hogg, had also been a pupil of the academy at Round Hill, Mass., and had there received his education in part under Mr. Bancroft, who afterward attained renown as the eminent historian, and Dr. Cogs- well, subsequently known as the learned and venerated librarian of the Astor Library in New York.
Mr. Qark entered neither professional nor public life. He
68 NORTH CAROLINA
was one of the wealthiest planters on the Roanoke; a man of wide reading, and with a great landed interest ; he found ample occupation in superintending his estates and among the books of his large private library. He was one of the most progressive planters in the State. In politics he was an early follower of Henry Clay, but realizing that the safety of the southern states depended upon the preservation of the rights of the states as declared in the Federal Constitution, he adhered to the doctrine of states' rights. He possessed a strong influence among the people of his section, and during the war between the states was com- missioned by the State of North Carolina as a brigadier-general, and in January, 1862, was assigned to the command of the de- fenses of Roanoke River. The milHia of seven contiguous coun- ties were placed under his orders, and authority conferred on him to impress slaves, teams and supplies for the purpose of carr^nng on the work he had in charge. When Roanoke Island fell, be assembled his militia at Plymouth, but subsequently fell back to Williamston ; he remained in command until April, when Colonel Leventhorpe relieved him, that being the only instance of a gen- eral of militia in North Carolina being called into active service during that war; and General Clark was assigned to this dut>* particularly because of his capabilities, his superior intelligence, and his influence over the militiamen of those counties.
General Clark married Miss Anna M. Thome, of Halifax County, who became the mother of the subject of this sketch. Through the Qarks Judge Oark is descended from the Blounts, Grays, Norfleets, McKenzies, and other prominent families of northeastern North Carolina, and the Bryans of Southampt'»n, Va., the same family as that from whom William Jennings Brj-an is descended. His mother's grandfather. Dr. Samuel Thome, came to North Carolina just after the Revolution and located in Hali- fax, and through her Judge Qark is connected with the well- known families of Hilliard, Davis, Alston and Williams. CHie of the latter, Captain William Williams, was adjutant of the Fourth regiment of the Continental Line, served with distincti< ^n throughout the Revolutionary war, and fell severely wounde<i at
WALTER CLARK 69
the battle of Germantown. Through him Judge Clark is de- scended from Gilbert Johnston, a brother of Governor Gabriel Johnston. And through the Thomes he is also related to General Warren, the distinguished corps commander of the United States army.
At an early age Walter Clark became a student first tmder Professor Ralph H. Graves in Granville County, and in i860 at Colonel Tew's military academy near Hillsboro. In the spring of 1861, before he was fifteen years of age, being proficient in the drill, he was among the cadets of that institution who on recom- mendation of its officers were appointed by the governor to drill the troops assembled at Camp Ellis, near Raleigh. Upon the organization of the Twenty-second North Carolina regiment in July, he was assigned to duty as drill-master for that regiment, commanded by Colonel J. Johnston Pettigrew, and proceeded with it to Virginia. He continued to act in that capacity in its camp at Evansport, on the Potomac, until November, when he returned to Camp Mangum, at Raleigh, where the Thirty-fifth North Caro- lina was being organized. In February, 1862, resigning, he re- turned to the military academy and resumed his studies. On Au- gust I, 1862, he was appointed, upon the solicitation of its officers, who had known him at the camp of instruction, first lieutenant and adjutant of the Thirty-fifth North Carolina, of which Matthew W. Ransom had then become the colonel, and joining his regiment he participated in the first Maryland and Fredericksburg campaigns. In the latter battle his brigade held Marye's Heights and drove back, among others, Meagher's famous Irish brigade.
Being then just sixteen years of age and rather small, the soldiers of the regiment called him endearingly "little Clark," and as he performed his duties with great acceptability he became a general favorite and enjoyed the esteem and respect of both offi- cers and men. It is narrated that when going into the battle of Sharpsburg all the field officers had dismounted except "little Qark," who remained unconcerned in the saddle, when a big mountain private from Company B ran forward and seizing him exclaimed : "Git off'n this horse, or you'll git killed," and just at
70 NORTH CAROLINA
that moment a minie ball struck the young adjutant on the hand, the mark of which remains to this day. He behaved in that battle and in the battle of Fredericksburg with coolness and distin- guished intrepidity, and was of particular service in handling the men.
In February, 1863, ^^^ regiment having returned to North Caro- lina to recruit and to render local service and being thus tem- porarily detached from the Army of Northern Virginia, there seeming to be no early prospect of further active service, Adjutant Clark resigned with the purpose of completing his education, and entered as a student at Chapel Hill, where he graduated with first distinction on June 2, 1864; for he had always been an excellent scholar, and even in camp had continued to study his Latin and Greek. The day after he graduated he was elected major of the Sixth battalion of Junior Reserves, then organized for active ser- vice by Lieutenant-General Holmes ; and under his command the battalion did service at Goldsboro, at Weldon, and at Gaston, pro- tecting the railroad bridge from a threatened cavalry raid*
On July 4th his battalion and the First were consolidated into a regiment, that became the Seventieth North Carolina regiment of state troops, and in pursuance of orders the company officers proceeded to an election of field officers for the regiment. Charles W. Broadfoot was elected colonel, Walter Clark lieutenant- colonel, and N. A. Gregory major, and they accepted their posi- tions. Lieutenant-Colonel Clark was then seventeen years of age and the youngest officer of his rank in either army. Subse- quently, however, at the request of Lieutenant-General Holmes, who desired that his chief of staff, Lieutenant-Colonel Armistcad, should have the position of colonel of the regiment, as he felt con- fident that Colonel Armistead would in that case without delay be appointed brigadier-general of a brigade to be composed of the Junior Reserves, and Colonel Broadfoot and Lieutenant-Colonc! Clark would then by promotion resume the respective positions to which they had been elected, they relinquished their positions f* .r this temporary purpose, and consented that a new election shouM be held, at which F. S. Armistead was elected colonel, C. \V.
WALTER CLARK 71
Broadfoot lieutenant-colonel, and Walter Clark major. Although this arrangement was expected to last for only a brief period, for some reason Colonel Armistead was not appointed brigadier-gen- eral, and Major Clark continued to serve during the remainder of the war as major of his regiment.
In October the regiment was sent to repel a threatened Federal raid on Boykin's Depot, Va., and toward the end of that month was ordered to the defense of Plymouth, which, however, was captured before it reached that point, although the march was so expeditious as to have won a high compliment from General Baker, the commanding general. The regiment then went into camp near Hamilton and rendered arduous and important out- post service, covering the approaches to Martin, Edgecombe and Pitt counties, whence large supplies were being drawn for the support of Lee's army.
Early in November four companies under Major Clark were despatched to Williamston, and Major Clark took command of the post, embracing cavalry and infantry as well as artillery. For one so young this was an important command ; and perhaps no other instance occurred during the war where an officer only eigh- teen years of age was intrusted with the responsible duty of hold- ing such an exposed outpost, defended by a force embracing every arm of the service ; but Major Clark bore himself so well as to justify the confidence reposed in him. Captain Moore, speaking of him at that time, says : ''He had the bearing and command of a bom soldier and displayed the executive talent which he has since shown." "The enemy," says Captain Moore, "made many attacks, especially at Foster's Mills and Gardner's Bridge, but were always driven back." On one occasion Major Clark, having driven them oflF, pursued them, with a part of the cavalry, three companies of infantry and a section of artillery, nearly to Jamesville, but they escaped.
In December, 1864, receiving a furlough, instead of spending it at home, he visited his old commander, General M. W. Ran- som, and his old comrades in the trenches around Petersburg, though he had to go by way of Greensboro, as the Weldon
72 NORTH CAROLINA
route was closed by the enemy. The regiment was at the repulse of the gunboats at Poplar Point, December 25, 1864, and in many minor encounters, and continued to perform active and arduous service in that part of North Carolina until about the middle of February, when it was ordered to Kinston and attached to Hoke's division as a part of the First Brigade of Reserves, General L. S. Baker being in command of the brigade. On March 8th the regi- ment participated in the battle of Kinston, moving into acdoo handsomely and driving the enemy from behind their temporary breastworks, and captured some prisoners, but lost some of their own men. From Kinston the brigade moved to Smithfield to join General Johnston, and on March 19th, a bright Sunday morning, it engaged the advance corps of Sherman's army at BentonviUe, which was held in check three days, the 19th, 20th and 21st of March. Some two hundred yards in front of the Confederate line was the skirmish line of each brigade on the 20th and 21st of March, and Major Walter Clark was in command of the skirmish line in advance of Nethercutt's brigade. During the two days that Hoke's division held its position, the enemy repeatedly charged and generally drove in the skirmishers along the front, but being favored by the ground or for some other cause, the skir- mish line under Major Clark gallantly .held its position the entire period. No brigade made a finer appearance on that field than the Junior Reserves. It was the largest brigade m Hoke's di- vision, and it bore itself with such bravery and gallantry a*; to win the highest encomiums from General Hoke and all the veterans on that last field of battle. While Sherman was resting at G<»l.is. boro. General Johnston remained at Smithfield, but on April loih Johnston began to retire before Sherman's advancing army. On the 1 2th the Seventieth regiment passed through Raleigh, and then to Red Cross in Randolph County, where, on the afternoon of May 2d, Major Clark with his associates in arms were paroled ; and then they dispersed to their respective homes.
As soon as order was restored. Major Qark, who had enterc i upon the study of the law under Judge William H. Battle while a student at the university, became a student in a law office in Wa"
WALTER CLARK n
Street, New York. Later, completing his course at the Columbian Law School in Washington, D. C, he obtained his license to practice in January, 1867. At first he located at Scotland Neck, but subse- quently removed to Halifax, where he entered into partnership with Hon. J. M. Mullen and soon established a lucrative business.
Active and energetic and a leading Democrat in his county, he was twice the local standard-bearer of the Democratic party ; and although the Republican party had a majority of more than 2500 which he could not hope to overcome^ he made his campaigns with such address as to largely reduce the vote against him. In January, 1874, he had the good fortune to marry Miss Susan Graham, the only daughter of Hon. William A. Graham, and they have an in- teresting family of children, full of promise and much admired.
Being desirous of residing at the state capital, where larger op- portunities would be opened to him professionally, he had removed to Raleigh in November, 1873, and soon became one of the lead- ing influences in the Democratic party. He became interested in the Raleigh News, which had been established by Stone and XJzzell, and for some years contributed editorially to its columns and directed the policy of the paper. His writings were remark- able for their conciseness and clearness, and were marked by bold- ness and vigor and a thorough mastery of the details of every sub- ject he touched upon. Perhaps the most famous of his editorial discussions was that known as the **Mud Cut Boom," in which he pointed out a great obstacle that had arisen in the construction of the Western North Carolina Railroad in crossing the Blue Ridge, and which soon after led to the sale of that road by the state.
Judge Clark was not only a student of law but had a fondness for literature, was an indefatigable worker, and admirably exe- cuted such literary work as he undertook. He prepared a very interesting and valuable historical summary of Methodism in North Carolina, and because of his accomplishments and strong character attained a high place in the regard of the members of his church. In 1881 he was chosen as the lay delegate for North Carolina to the Methodist Ecumenical Council in London, and availed himself of that occasion to travel extensively in Europe.
74 NORTH CAROLINA
He was twice a delegate to the General Conference, and it wa> largely due to him that all the Methodists of this State were or- ganized into two North Carolina conferences, instead of being in part portioned out among the Virginia, South Carolina and Ten- nessee conferences as before.
In April, 1885, Governor Scales appointed him judge of the superior court for the metropolitan district, and the next year he was nominated to succeed himself and was elected by the people. In 1888 his friends brought him forward as a candi- date for governor, another aspirant for the nomination being lieutenant-governor Charles M. Stedman; but during the pre- liminary discussion the name of Hon. Daniel G. Fowlc was brought forward, thus making two candidates from Raleigh, and Judge Clark, unwilling to embarrass the mutual friends of him- self and Judge Fowle, withdrew from the contest. Judge Fowle was elected, and somewhat later, Judge Merrimon, of the Su- preme Court, becoming chief justice, Judge Clark was transferred to the Supreme Bench in November, 1889, and was subse<iucntly elected to that position in 1890. In 1894 he was nominated bv the Democratic party, and being also indorsed by the Republican and Populist parties, was unanimously elected by the people. In 1896, being still on the Supreme Court Bench, he was virtually tendered the nomination for governor by the Democratic state convention, but did not accept it. preferring at that time to remain on the Bench. In that year also his name was presented by ih^ North Carolina delegation to the National Democratic Conven- tion for the vice-presidency. In 1902 he was nominate<l for the office of chief justice and was elected to that position, which In his learning, virtues and character he adorns. His opinions to date appear in thirty-four volumes of North Carolina Supreme Court Reports, beginning with 104 N. C.
Judge Clark has been an indefatigable worker, and his am- tributions to literature have been numerous and notable. lie- sides the preparation of his judicial opinions, he has annoutcil and edited forty-three volumes of North Carolina Supreme Court Reports and has other volumes in preparation. He is the
WALTER CLARK 75
author of an "Annotated Code of Civil Procedure," of which three editions have been issued. This has been a great boon to the pro- fession, his thoroughness equaling his industry. He is the editor of the well-known article "Appeal and Error," consisting of about 500 pages in the Cyclopedia of Law, and has prepared another important article for that work on "Indictments and Informa- tions." He is also the author of two or three other legal works of lesser importance. He has wandered beyond the domain of legal lore, and gained much reputation by his translation of Con- stant's "Private Memoirs of Napoleon," in three volumes. He has contributed many articles to the leading magazines of the country and made many addresses, among them to the Bar As- sociation of Tennessee, Kansas and Virginia, and before the Na- tional Association of Railroad Commissioners at Denver, Colo. For the most part he has directed attention to new subjects and has taken advanced ground on many public questions; one of his addresses in 1906, pointing out needed amendments of the Federal Constitution, attracted wide attention. His views on these public matters have clashed with many whose interests lead them to adhere to the existing status, so that he has been an object of their unremitting warfare, and when the time approached for his nomination for the position of chief justice, he was vigorously opposed and violently assailed; but the weapons of his adver- saries fell harmlessly at his feet, and the Democratic convention conferred upon him the nomination with unparalleled unanimity and he was elected by nearly 61,000 majority. He stands for the broad interests of humanity and the rights of men rather than for the conservation of the privileges that aggregated wealth has secured through the powerful influences it has been able to wield ; and so widely has he become known as an earnest and progressive statesman and so highly is he esteemed that, in 1904, Mr. Wil- liam J. Bryan, who had twice been the Democratic nominee for the presidency, suggested that Judge Clark was one of the few he deemed worthy to be nominated by the Democratic party for the presidency.
Many of his articles are of an historical character, relating
76 NORTH CAROLINA
to qjisodes in North Carolina history ; his chief work in this line has been the preparation of the** State Records/' a continuation of the valuable publication begun by Colonel Saunders, running through sixteen quarto volumes, which entailed on him vast labor and is of the highest historical value. Another great work of still higher interest is that known as the ** Regimental Histories," em- braced in five volumes, in which is preserved the record of each North Carolina regiment, battalion and division during the war between the states. To Judge Clark is due the conception as well as the compilation of this memorial of the courage and patriotic services of the soldiers of North Carolina in that great war. The method employed in executing the design is admirable, recording the story of each organization, while the articles pre pared by some competent member of each regiment are themselves of unusual merit. In accomplishing the publication of these two great works of the State, Judge Clark has rendered a most im- portant service to the people of the State and to posterity. Beth of these works have been executed by him as a labor of love, without any pecuniary compensation whatever.
During his whole career he has been astute to place the State on a high plane and promote such action as would redound to the credit of North Carolina ; indeed, it was at his suggestion that the motto for the seal of the State was adopted : **Esse quam videri," and he has also brought into prominence the expression, "First at Bethel and last at Appomattox."
His own contributions to war literature have of themselves been valuable and excite admiration. He was chairman of the commit- tee to make reply to the strictures of the Virginia Camp of Con- federate Veterans upon the claims of patriotic action by North Carolina during the war, and he performed the duty assigned him to the eminent satisfaction of the people of the State. Indeed, there has been no man of more versatile gifts and unremitting labor than Judge Clark, nor has any other of North Carolina's sons done more to preserve the memorials of her f)eoplc anil to perpetuate a remembrance of the glorious deeds that have em- blazoned the annals of the State. 5". A, Ashe,
HERIOT CLARKSON
HE bar of the city of Charlotte has always held an enviable place in the legal annals of North Carolina. As one generation of success- ful practitioners passes away, another supplies its place, and the Queen City loses none of its past prestige. Among the lawyers who have grown to manhood since the war between the states, and now are located in Charlotte, few have succeeded so well as Heriot Clarkson, of the firm of Clarkson & Duls. Mr. Clarkson was born at Kingsville, a small village in Richland County, S. C. At the time of his birth (August 21, 1863) his mother had come with her family of children from Charleston to escape the attack upon that city by the five monitors. Mr. Clarkson's father was Major William Clarkson, of Charles- ton, whose wife was Margaret S. Simons. Major Clarkson was an officer in the Confederate army. As lieuttnant he commanded the sharp-shooters in Fort Sumter on April 7, 1863, when the Federal forces attacked Charleston. Prior to the war, Major Qarkson was a planter, and afterward engaged in the railroad service. Both the families of Qarkson and Simons were held in high esteem in South Carolina, and they now have a joint repre- sentative in the person of Heriot Clarkson, whose life in his adopted State has well measured up to the record of his ances- tors. Among the patriots of the Revolution from whom he is
78 NORTH CAROLINA
lineally descended were Colonel Maurice Simons and Lieutenant- Colonel Robert Heriot. The first of the Simons family to settle in South Carolina was Benjamin Simons, who came to America from France shortly after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685. Among the other ancestors of Heriot Clarkson was Gabriel Marion, father of General Francis Marion, of Revolutionary fame. He is also a lineal descendant of Thomas Boston, the great Scotch divine.
As was the case with so many southern families, the Clark s<m family had its entire property swept away by the vicissitudes of war, and in early boyhood Heriot Clarkson was forced to acquire those habits of industry which have so distinguished him as a lawyer of maturer years. His first labor, however, was not brain- work, but manual labor of a varied character — working the gar- den, cutting wood, and in other ways aiding to lighten the bur- dens of his parents. At the age of sixteen it became necessary that he should give up his studies at the Carolina Military Insti- tute of Charlotte (conducted by Colonel John P. Thomas), where he was a pupil, and seek some remunerative employment- He entered the law office of Colonel H. C. Jones and General R. D. Johnston, and there made himself useful in various capaci- ties, doing the chores of the office, keeping books, etc At the end of four years he had saved three hundred dollars, and with this capital he set out for the University Law School at Chapd Hill, where he spent about nine months in 1884, as a student under Dr. John Manning, then professor of law in that institution. He made the highest marks in the class. He received his license as a lawyer from the Supreme Court of North Carolina at Octo- ber term, 1884. Immediately thereafter he began the practice of law at Charlotte. He was alderman and vice-mayor of Charlotte in 1887-88, and held the same posts in 1891-92. In 1899 he was a member of the house of representatives of North Carolina. He was a strong advocate of "white supremacy." It was at this ses- sion that the constitutional amendment was submitted to the people and was passed which eliminated to a great extent the negro vote from politics in North Carolina. In 1901 Mr. Clark-
HERIOT CLARKSON 79
son became city attorney of Charlotte, and held that office for four years. He twice codified the city ordinances of Charlotte, once in 1887 and again in 1901. In the North Carolina Booklet for Oc- tober, 1901, he contributed an article on Charlotte, entitled "The Hornets' Nest"
As a Mas(»i, Mr. Qarkson belongs to Phalanx Lodge, No. 31, A. F. and A. M., at Charlotte ; he is also a noble of the Mystic Shrine (Oasis Temple), a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He also holds a membership in the Society of Sons of the Revolution and is an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He is a member of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, joining through the Marion, Horry and Simons families. Mr. Clarkson was for some time a lieutenant of the Hornets' Nest Riflemen of Charlotte, and was chief marshal at the time of the unveiling of the monument to the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He is an Episcopalian in religion, and has been closely identified with church work. He built as a memorial to his father St. Andrew's Chapel, near Charlotte. For many years he has been a vestryinan of St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Char- lotte. Few men in North Carolina have been so closely identi- fied with the cause of temperance as has Mr. Clarkson. Speaking of his sentiments on this subject, he says : "My strongest ambi- tion as a boy was to see the saloons abolished in Charlotte. I saw early the great evil they did. Every public office I ever held I held as an opponent of the saloon. On July 5, 1904, Charlotte was carried for prohbition by 485 majority, and I led the contest as chairman of the Anti-Saloon League."
He has always been a strong party Democrat and has never voted any other ticket, often disagreeing with the party, but be- lieving that unwavering alliance to the Democratic party was the only course to obtain good government in the South. He has been a member for many years, and is now, of the State Demo- cratic Executive Committee. He was opposed to fusion on the electoral ticket in 1896, but followed the standard-bearer of his party loyally.
8o NORTH CAROLINA
The first "White Supremacy" club in recent years formed in North Carolina, with "white supremacy" and "white labor" as its only platform, was organized by him and a few others in Char- lotte before the election of 1896, and numbered about six hundred members. Then Asheville, Winston and Wilmington formed simi- lar clubs. He was a strong advocate of the white man's resolution passed by only two votes by the Democratic Executive Committee of the State, which did so much to help redeem North Carolina. He is an advocate of a registered primary for white men to nomi- nate all state and county officers under the auspices of the Demo- cratic party. He drew up the platform on which Hon. John D. Bellamy was nominated, and which was unanimously adopted without change by the committee and convention. The platform was received with enthusiasm by the convention which was held in Wilmington. Subsequent events show how nobly the people carried out the declaration : "We do hereby de- clare our determination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina." The platform reads as follows :
"Wc do most heartily reiterate the resolution c^ the State Executive Committee in which all white electors are cordially invited to participate in our primaries and conventions, and do call upon all white men who love their home and native land to join with us in the great battle in North Carolina now waged for the supremacy of the white man and against the corrupt and intolerable government now given us by designing white men joining with the negro, and we do hereby declare our deter- mination that white supremacy through white men shall control and rule North Carolina."
He has been in full sympathy with the industrial upbuilding «>f the State, and was one of the charter members of the Piedmont Fire Insurance Company, established a few years ago in North Carolina. He was, in the leprislature of 1899, an advocate <»! a textile school for North Carolina, and is a firm believer in ''tracle education." Through his efforts there passed the house, in 180Q. by twenty-two votes, a bill establishing a textile school in o^n- nection with the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh. This was the beginning of the agitation which ended in the buiM-
HERIOT CLARKSON 8i
ing and equipping of the present textile building at the Agricul- tural and Mechanical College. He with his partner did much to have Elizabeth College located at Charlotte and is on the ad- visory board. He also started the Building and Loan Association of Charlotte.
In 1888 he formed a partnership to practice law with Mr. C. H. Duls.
On December 10, 1889, Mr. Qarkson was married to Miss Mary Lloyd Osborne, and to this union have been bom eight children, five of whom are now living. Mrs. Clarkson is a daughter of the Rev. Edwin A. Osborne, now archdeacon of the Convocation of Charlotte, who won fame in the Confederate army as colonel of the Fourth North Carolina regiment, and was afterward chap- lain of the Second North Carolina regiment of United States Volunteers in the war with Spain. Archdeacon Osborne belongs to the historic Osborne family which has so conspicuously figured in the annals of North Carolina.
Mr. Clarkson was appointed solicitor of the twelfth judicial district by Governor C. B. Aycock in 1904. Judge W. A. Hoke was judge of the district, and was elected to the Supreme Court Bench. Mr. J. L. Webb, the solicitor, was appointed to succeed Judge Hoke. If the appointment of judge had fallen to Governor R. B. Glenn he would have appointed Mr. Clarkson. He was nominated by the Democrats by acclamation for solicitor to suc- ceed himself in 1906. Marshall DeLancey Haywood.
STUART WARREN CRAMER
^ITHOUT reference to the career of Stuart Warren Cramer, of Charlotte, an engineer, con- tractor and manufacturer, the history of the industrial development of the South cannot properly be written. Though he was specially educated for warfare, being a graduate of the I'jiite^l St.itr Maval Academy at Annapolis, he chose to construct rather than to destroy, and his achievements justify the as^rr- tion that "peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.**
He is a native North Carolinian, born at Thomasville, March 31, 1868. By heredity from his father's side of the house an«i by education he is national; by maternal heredity and by birth and association he is southern. His father, John T. Cramer, was a Federal soldier stationed at Thomasville when he met Jennie Thomas, Stuart W. Cramer's mother. After the war he married her and made her native village his home.
Stuart W. Cramer comes honestly by his industrial talent"^. His great Tgrand father, John Cramer, was a German mechanical engineer who emigrated to Pennsylvania in the beginning of the last century, and was employed by his adopted State to aid in opening up the Western Reserve and in building water-power grist mills. His grandfather was, and his father is. intere-te*! and active in industrial enterprises. His father organized the Cramer Furniture Company at Thomasville in 1901, of whic!;
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STUART WARREN CRAMER 83
company his father and himself are respectively president and vice-president. The plant is the largest of its kind in the South. Moreover, his father has not employed all his energies as a manu- facturer, but has taken part in politics and has been alert to the other demands of good citizenship. He has, for instance, repre- sented his district in the state senate.
So much for the pedigree of Stuart W. Cramer as an American. From his mother he derives his distinctively southern strain. Thomasville was founded by and named after her father, John W. Thomas, who was a planter and a man of affairs. He was a director in the North Carolina Railroad and a number of other financial and educational organizations, and was a member of the state senate.
Mr. Cramer's preparatory education was under the care of the noted teacher, the late I. L. Wright, whose school was two miles from Thomasville. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1888, resigned from the navy, and, in order to complete his education as an engineer, spent a year as a post-graduate student in the School of Mines, Columbia University.
In 1889, having finished the course at Columbia, Mr. Cramer was married to Miss Bertha Hobart Berry, of Portland, Me., and the same year returned south to take the position of assayer in charge of the United States assay office at Charlotte, where he has since resided. His wife died in August, 1895, and was survived by two children. Some time thereafter he was married to his first wife's sister. Miss Kate Stanwood Berry, who after her marriage lived but a few months. His third marriage, in January, 1902, was to Miss Rebecca Warren Tinkham, of Boston, a great-granddaughter of Joshua Bennett, of Bennett Hall, Bil- lerica, Mass. By this last marriage he has one son.
During the time when Mr. Cramer was in charge of the assay office in Charlotte he made a number of reports on the gold and silver production of the South ; prepared the. chapter on gold and silver mining in the South for the census of 1890; and acted as a special correspondent of the Engineering and Minittg Journal of New York and other technical periodicals. For two years at
84 NORTH CAROLINA
this period he was commander of the Naval Reserve for North Carolina, having organized it himself at the request of an old friend of his grandfather Thomas, Governor Thomas M. Holt,
He held the position of assayer nearly four years, resigning in 1893 ^^ enter the employment of the D. A. Tompkins Company, of the same city, of which company he soon became manager.
After something more than two years' service with the Tomp- kins Company, Mr. Cramer, in the fall of 1895, went into busi- ness for himself as an engineer and contractor. His specialty was the designing and equipping of cotton mills. The backbone of the great business which he has built up has been the agency in the South for the Whitin Machine Works, of Whitinsvillc, Mass., the Woonsocket Machine and Press Company, of Woon- socket, R. I., and the Kitson Machine Shop, of Lowell, Ma^^s. He is and has been either the agent or southern manager fttr numbers of other large manufacturers of textile machinery and the miscellaneous and sundry equipment, including power plants, that goes to the building of cotton mills. He has had much to do with electric-power mills, and has contributed much to the science of their construction. One of his gifts to the art of elec- tric transmission of power, so far as the driving* of textile ma- chinery is concerned, is the well-known **Cramer spinning drive/'
So nearly perfect is the organization of his great business that he has been able to do an immense amount of work. As an enc- neer he has designed and furnished complete plans and si)ecihca- tions for over a hundred and fifty cotton mills; and as a con- tractor he has furnished not only those mills their machinery an.i equipment, but approximately an equal number of other mills designed by other engineers. In short, as contractor he has suiw plied some three hundred southern cotton mills, from Virginia to Texas, with machinery, many of the contracts ranging from a quarter million to a million dollars each.
In the course of such a business Mr. Cramer naturally con- tributed to the improvement of methods both of designing and equipping mills. Many of his inventions have been patented, some of them in foreign countries as well as in the United State*
STUART WARREN CRAMER 85
His system of air conditioning, known by his name, for the pur- pose of improving atmospheric conditions in cotton and other mills, is patented in this and foreign countries, and is unique in being the only system that provides for complete ventilation, humidifying and air cleansing, accompanied by an automatic reg- ulation which maintains any desired and predetermined scale of temperature and humidity. This invention has in mind not only the economic success of the manufacturer in the lessening of waste and in the general improvement, of the conduct of manu- facturing, but also the comfort and health of the operatives, ren- dering it possible at moderate cost to maintain hygienic atmos- pheric conditions in mills superior to those found in even the best auditoriums.
The work by which Mr. Cramer is best known to the cotton- mill trade, however, is the second edition of his handbook of "Useful Information for Cotton Manufacturers," a compilation which he first edited and published in a volume of pocket size, containing about a hundred pages. The grateful reception by the trade of this little pocket handbook soon impelled Mr. Cramer to the preparation of a second edition. With the purpose of making it a standard reference book, he went into it more ambi- tiously— so ambitiously that its preparation and publication re- quired some seven years of close application. It is comprised in three volumes of over thirteen hundred pages in all. No con- tribution similar to this work has been made to the commercial and scientific literature of any other industry. It covers, in all its details, the complete equipment of a cotton mill, embracing not only the architecture and engineering, the complete outfit of machinery, but a vast accumulation of contributory and valuable information relating to the mill itself, its organization and its operation. Though the work was not for sale, it cost seven years of time and toil and many thousands of dollars. It was for free distribution to cotton-mill men upon application, particularly to the mill men of the South, for which section it was especially prepared and is especially applicable.
With this great record of achievement behind him, Mr. Cramer
86 NORTH CAROLINA
is a young man, thoroughly wrapped up in his business and alert to keep his standard of mill engineering abreast of the best in the world. Only recently he has traveled in England, France, Germany, Austria and Belgium, where he enjoyed courteous treatment and was received as a visitor in many of the largest factories of Europe and allowed to investigate their equipment, operation and construction. He has kept in close touch with tbe cotton-milling industry in our own eastern states and in Canada. A few years ago he traveled through the West Indies, looking into the possibilities of those islands for the development of cotton milling. His business has so grown that only the first of this year ( 1907) he has completed and moved into a fine new oflBcc building on the court-house square. He is now erecting, in con- nection with his office building, a shop for the manufacture of air conditioners and automatic regulators. The whole building is occupied by his main offices, drafting rooms, etc. He also has a branch office in Atlanta, Ga.
Mr. Cramer is a member of the Graduates' Associations of the United States Naval Academy and Columbia University*: of the United States Naval Institute and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers; of the Engineers* Qub of New York City; of the Southern Manufacturers' Club, of Charlotte, N. C. ; of the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers and the American Cotton Manufacturers' Association; of the National Association of the Manufacturers of the United States; and of a number of lesser societies, clubs, and so on. He is a director in many cotton mills, banks and other institutions, and owns the controlling interest in the Cramer Furniture Company at Thomas- ville, N. C.
Judging merely from the foregoing statement of facts, one would hardly wager that Mr. Cramer is in any degree given to social pleasures or that his tastes would run to art and sport <. This, however, is true. He has a passionate love for music antl a highly cultivated discrimination in it. He has several time* been president of musical festivals in the Carolinas. In his resi- dence he has installed the largest and most valuable pipe organ
JOSEPH J. ERWIN 103
Colonel Josq^h J. Erwin's early years were spent at his birth- place, the home of his father, Bellevue, three miles north of Mor- ganton, near the banks of Upper Creek, in Burke County. After the usual training in the village academy at Morganton, he went to Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Va., where in 1829, at the age of eighteen, he grad- uated with honor; he afterward studied law. He was aid-de- camp, with rank of colonel, to Governor William A. Graham, who was his lifelong friend and for whom he had the highest esteem, honoring him as one of our purest statesmen. Like his father and grandfather before him, he became clerk of the court of Burke County. He afterward served several terms in the state legislature. While there, in 1864, he was the able and trusted adviser of Governor Vance, his friend and kinsman, who says of him in this connection :
"He stood square up to me and rejected all weak-kneed prospositions looking to North Carolina obtaining separate terms for herself, saying again and again that we all ought to hang together and take a common fate. He was the soul of integrity and moral courage and had as nice a sense of honor as any Paladin of romance."
On June 9, 1847, he married Miss Elvira J. Holt, the daughter of Dr. William R. and Mary Allen Holt, of Lexington, N. C. She was a woman of great strength of mind and nobleness of char- acter. The first years of their married life were spent in Ruther- ford County, where Colonel Erwin was engaged in gold mining. After the death of his father he acceded to the wish of his mother and took possession of the old homestead, Bellevue, in 1853. Here he spent the remaining years of his life, cultivating to a high degree the many acres which comprised this splendid prop- erty.
From his youth up till his death, November 20, 1879, little short of three score years and ten, Joseph J. Erwin lived a life of spot- less integrity. While holding many offices of public trust, he yet preferred to do good in the quiet walks of life rather than in the glare of publicity. Blessed with a superb body, slight and active.
I04 NORTH CAROLINA
a well-balanced mind, and a pure and childlike nature, he looked life straight in the face, endured with courage its ills and reverses and thankfully partook of its joys and blessings. Of singularly modest deportment, that charity that never faileth was one of the chief graces of his life. He never lost an opportunity of giving a kindly word of sympathy or advice to those in need, while his face and alms were never turned away from any poor man. His methods of farming were exceptionally intelligent and scientific and much in advance of those then used in that section of country. His lands were kept constantly in the highest state of cultivation and their yield was both bountiful and of more than usual quality. He was preeminently a man of peace, loved the Union and the old flag, and hoped to the last that the civil war might be averted, believing that the enlightened nations of the Christian world should not go to war, but arbitrate their differences. When his State seceded, however, he went with the State and was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, though too old to bear arms. While his soul wearied of the horrors of war, he longed for peace and said, **I want peace, but only an honorable peace."
I can hardly do better in this connection than quote an estimate of Colonel Erwin's character, written at the time of his death, by a friend and neighbor. Colonel W. S. Pearson, of Morganton :
"Colonel Erwin was a model of the old time southern planter a* de- veloped under the mild partriarchal form of slavery. Shall we erer tec successors more worthy of the bountiful esteem, less loving of self, more loving of country, less afraid of what man could do unto them, more humble in the worship of the living God ? Have we forgotten the example of those to whom we owe the goodly heritage of residence and citixenship in this blessed Old North State of ours? They are entitled to the highest praise for having organized society on the basis that made hospitality oni- versa! among people, honesty the pole star of the rulers and godliness the test of the priest. Nothing written of Colonel Erwin would be complete without reference to his Christian character, the key to the whole machiiH cry of the man. Though bred a Presbyterian, he never connected himself with any branch of the church till the summer visitation of Bishop Atkin- son in 1858, when he was confirmed. To believe and act upon the bebef. that all things work together for good to those that love the Lord, to
JOSEPH J. ERWIN los
bear afflictions and losses without complaint, to visit the widow and father- less, to obey those in authority, all these were cardinal maxims often re- peated and steadily adhered to. He remembered that the great apostle to the Gentiles had enjoined the duty of hospitality. Who that has ever enjp3red the delightful welcome of his roof can forget his old-time courtesy, the merry twinkle of his fine dark eye when an apt word of humor was thrown into the dialogue, his companionable freedom with the younger members of his household, the charity of his criticism, his un- speakable scorn for a mean act duly proven? His patriotism, his intelli* gent approval or disapproval of public men or measures, his acquaintance with crop statistics and the improved methods of farming, his wise con- servatism in matters of church, his fondness for good roads and other public improvements — these were the topics on which he could best be persuaded to converse with freedom and friendly ease. He was the steady and interested friend of all young men who wished to do something in the world. With such he was companionable, frank, advisory, and sympathetic Not cjrnical nor given to the denunciation of the world and the world's treatment of men, but hopeful and ever urging self-reliance as the key- stone to the archway of success.
**For many years he was a faithful vestryman of Grace Protestant Epis- copal Church. He was also one of the early members of the Catawba Valley Lodge of F. & A. Masons.
"An ample purse, a noble country seat and the most cultured family surroundings enabled him, until the general wreck of the State in 1865, to dispense the old-fashioned southern hospitality. He had loved the Con- federacy with a great, deep, heroic love and had hugged the hope of her admittance among the nations, to the very last. Long past the age of active service and having no son who had reached it, he spent his efforts in relieving the cry of the widow and orphan for bread, in encouraging the doubters, and in keeping up the tone of his country in general. When at last the curtain fell on that scene of blood. Colonel Erwin felt that grum- bling was the last business in which a true man could engage. Sadly hurt in heart and purse, advanced in yeafs and having on him the care and education of a large family, he resolutely set to work with the spirit of an eighteen year old. Proud of his farm and his skill in farming he made the old acres to yield as they had never done before. Prudent management was finally able to relieve him of heavy security obligations, and so while the country was undergoing the greatest of her many political revolutions, be shouldered his own heavy burden and bore it with a quiet, uncomplain- ing spirit such as all who witnessed must have envied, till at last his shat- tered frame and wearied limbs gave way and he fell back on a support which he had long before provided for his time of trouble, and had per- fect rest"
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I quote again from another of Morganton's gifted sons, the late Isaac Erwin Avery, the occasion being the death of Mrs. Joseph J. Erwin :
**Bcllevuc, a magnificent property, situated on the banks of Upper Creek, had been granted to Alexander Erwin in 1780, though the Erwins had lived on the estate prior to that time. For a century Alexander, James, and Joseph Erwin were prominent men highly esteemed in public and private life. For fifty years they held consecutively the office of clerk <>t the county court of Burke County, and they always worked for the practi- cal betterment of the life around them. Joseph J. Erwin is still held op as a model in Burke County, as a man who filled a long life so worthily that when he died no man found sign of error in all the years nor any- thing but good deeds and righteousness and gentleness and fearle>sncs4 and lovableness. He died in 1879, and there survived him his wife and ten children. The children are: Miss Mary Louise Erwin, Miss Lizzie Matilda Erwin, Mrs. Lawrence S. Holt, Mrs. John Q. Gant, Mrs. Thomas P. Moore, Mrs. E. K. Powc, Mr. William Allen Erwin, Mr. James Locke Erwin, Mr. Jesse Harper Erwin and Mr. Joseph Ernest Erwin."
Just as their ancestors fought heroically for American independ- ence and for so many generations lived honored and useful lives in public and private station, so the sons of Colonel Erwin arc among the leaders in the industrial development of the State as well as inheritors of the personal worth and integrity of character that adorned the life of their father. Likewise, of the six daugh- ters, two continue to live at Bellevue, four have married North Carolina men, who, like the sons of Colonel Erwin, arc successful manufacturers of cotton and constructive in the State's projsn^s*, and all, gentle as they arc in birth and breeding, keep alive in themselves the best traditions of southern womanhood.
It was in August. 1903, that this family of four sons and six daughters met* beside the death-bed of their good and honnreii mother, who passed away at the age of seventy-nine. The old estate of Bellevue still remains undivided, although it has Ir^-h more than twenty-seven years since Colonel Erwin's death. An-I this fact typifies the abiding influence and good name of this excellent man. /. H. South^jtc.
EDWIN W. FULLER
[DWIN WILEY FULLER was born in Louis- burg, Franklin County, X. C, November 30, 1847. His father, Jones Fuller, was the son of Rev. Bartholomew Fuller and Sarah Cooke, a sister of Captain Jones Cooke. His mother was Anna Long Thomas, a daughter of Jordan Thomas and Anna Long, and sister of Dr. William G. Thomas, of Wilmington, X. C. His maternal grandmother was a daughter of Gabriel Long and Sarah Richmond, and a granddaughter of Wil- liam Richmond, who came from England early in the eighteenth century with his brother-in-law, Sir Peyton Skipwith. William Richmond settled in eastern North Carolina, and married Anne Milleken, daughter of Colonel James Milleken. Their only daugh- ter married Gabriel Long, as above stated, and he was a son of Colonel Nicholas Long and Mary Reynolds. Colonel Long was the founder of the Long family of Halifax, and his residence, "Quankce," had more than a state reputation. When General Washington visited the Carolinas he and his staff were the guests of Colonel Long for several days.
Mr. Fuller's connections on both sides were among the most prominent families in Virginia and North Carolina.
At a very early age, while then a student at the Louisburg Male Academy, he developed a decided taste for literature. In 1864 he entered the University of North Carolina and was there until
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April, 1865, when, with three other students, he obtained passes through the Federal lines and walked home. While at Chapel Hill he became a member of the Delta Psi Fraternity and in 1864 was chosen its anniversary orator. While a student there he fre- quently expressed his thoughts in verse, but nothing written at that time has ever been given to the public. His first literary pro- duction was "The Village on the Tar" ; this was soon followed by **Requiescam."
In 1867 he entered the University of Virginia, where he con- tinued his literary pursuits. A prominent Tennesseean who was there at that time writes of him thus :
*Those young men of ea^t Tennessee, north Georgia, and south western Virginia who were students of the University of Virginia during the term of 1867-68 will readily recall a youth of fragile frame and somewhat diminutive stature, who came among us at the opening of the term, whose eagle eye attracted the attention, while his gentle, winsome mamier soon won our hearts. They will remember how soon we bowed before the splendid intellect of him who seemed only a boy of tender years, and they will readily concede him to have been the leading spirit of the band with whom he was almost an idol. His versatility of talents, his modest, retir- ing nature, his chivalric sense of honor, his calm, deliberate judgment, hi« htgh-souled integrity of purpose, his boundless ambition, his devotion as a friend, his exalted manhood, all these rise fresh before the minds of a'l who knew him at the University, and even more vividly will they recall the pure unsullied character he bore."
During his college life in Virginia '*The Angel in the Goud** was written and published in the University Magazine. Dr. Scheie De\'ere, Dr. Gildersleeve and Professor Holmes all ex- pressed decided opinions as to the real worth of this poem, an<l it soon gained for the young author an enviable reputation. Wliile here, as at Chapel Hill, he gave a whole-hearted service to the Delta Psi Fraternity.
In 1868, after receiving diplomas in the schools of English lit- erature and moral philosophy, he returned to his home in Louis- burg, N. C. For a while business cares and his father's failing health compelled him to lay aside his literary pursuits, but a* soon as possible after his father's death he resumed his work, and
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in 1871 "The Angel in the Cloud" was published in book form. This poem attracted complimentary notices not only from the press of his native State, but from the West and North as well. The New York Times says :
*'It is a matter of some surprise to meet with a hundred pages of blank verse in these days of discouragement for poets, and that surprise is changed to utter astonishment at finding any tolerable degree of merit in the lines. Any one, however, who will take the trouble to read this poem through will be forced to admit that it has merit, and will find the perusal a pleasure rather than the tedious process he had a right to anticipate. His subject does not appear an attractive one for poetry, but there is so much thought displayed, such ingenious reasoning and skillful handling of language that one finishes the book without feeling any of the anticipated weariness. The versification is smooth and varied in cadence, and the writer's command of language *and of fine illustration is quite remarkable."
The St. Louis Advocate is responsible for the following:
"If he (Mr. Fuller) choose to devote himself to song he may take first rank among our American poets. We do not remember that the first pro- duction of any of them equaled this. It would be easy to point to blemishes in Longfellow and Bryant, and there are blemishes in this volume — blemishes of crudity, exhibitions of want of experience, but these are 410th- ing compared with the acuteness of perception, the nobility of thought, and the richness of fancy everywhere displayed by Mr. Fuller."
In September, 1871, he married Mary E. Malone, daughter of Dr. Ellis Malone and Martha Hill, and she was a lineal descendant of Colonel Nicholas Long. In 1873 Mr. Fuller revised and re- wrote **Seagift," a novel written by him when only about eighteen years of age. This production was also kindly received. The Sew York World, in its criticism, has this to say :
"It is not often that a southern novel comes up to us so free from rant and cheap sentiment as this one. . . . The author introduces himself with a model preface, and so shortly that it may safely be quoted : 'Reader, my book is before you. If it has faults, you expect them; therefore, excuse. If it has merit, you are surprised; therefore, applaud.' He will be an ex- acting reader who does not find more cause for applause than excuse."
The two little poems **The Last Look'' and "Out in the Rain" were written in 1875, 21^^^^ ^^e death of his only child, Ethel
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Stuart. A second daughter, Edwin Sumner, was born just five weeks before his death, which occurred April 22, 1876.
In recognition of his literary attainments he was invited to de- deliver a poem at the reunion of the Delta Psi Fraternity to be held in Philadelphia in June, 1876. Having ever felt a loyal devo- tion to this order, it caused him bitter regret to refuse this honor, but his delicate health forced upon him this necessity. He was also invited to write an ode for the Ladies' Memorial Society* of Wilmington, N. C. This he composed, but his continual physical suffering prevented his putting it on paper. Regretting, however, to leave a promise unfulfilled, he attempted to dictate this poem just a short while before he died, but only three of the stanzas were written.
"Lines