USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 10
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In 1881 Mr. Gray joined, upon confession of faith, the First
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Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, and remained in that com- munion for the rest of his life. He died April 14, 1891, of an at- tack of pneumonia, contracted a few days before, during a busi- ness trip to New York City. He left a wife and six children : Annie, the wife of J. W. Fry; Robert Percy; Jessie, the wife of E. E. Richardson; Mary, the wife of Doctor J. Allison Hodges ; Eugenia, the wife of George C. Heck; and Morehead. The widow and all the children, except Percy and Mary, who lives in Richmond, Virginia, are now ( 1906) dead.
In positions where the temptations to work primarily for one's self, and to use others as stepping-stones for one's own advance- ment, are so strong, Mr. Gray ever maintained his ideals. The daily papers of Greensboro and of the State at large, and resolu- tions of the organizations of which he was a member or with which he was in any way affiliated, and his friends and associates in private life, with one voice paid unqualified tribute to his in- tegrity of character, his gentleness, lovableness of manner and disposition, his regard for the feelings and the rights of others, and his patriotic devotion to whatever could promote the public welfare. Though not one of the leaders of men in the departments of life which historians usually emphasize-war and politics-he lived to the full his life in that direction which is at the foundation of all healthy commonwealths-loyal, public-spirited citizenship. George Stockton Wills.
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JOHN HALL
J MOHN HALL, one of the Justices of the Su- preme Court of North Carolina at the time of its organization in 1818, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, on the 31st of May, 1767. His father, Edward Hall, was a native of Ire- land, who came first to Pennsylvania, later making his home in Virginia, about the year 1736. In the Spring of 1744 this Edward Hall was united in marriage with Eleanor Stuart, a daughter of Archibald Stuart, Sr., of the noted family from which sprang Judge Archibald Stuart, Jr., the Honorable A. H. H. Stuart, of President Fillmore's Cabinet, and General J. E. B. Stuart, of the Confederate Army. The above lady was mother of a large family, one of her sons being our present subject.
After due preparation John Hall entered William and Mary College, and there formed the acquaintance (among other friends of later years) of John Stark Ravenscroft, a young law student who afterwards entered the ministry and was Bishop of North Carolina at the same time that Hall was a member of the Supreme Court of the State. Young Hall studied law at Staunton, Vir- ginia, under his kinsman, Judge Archibald Stuart. Of Hall's sentiments toward the latter gentleman it has been said :
"He was fondly attached to his legal instructor, and cherished an ardent gratitude towards him for his assistance in the prosecution of his pro- fessional studies as well as for his uniform friendship and kindness. He
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often spoke of him with warm affection in subsequent life, and named a son after him. The intelligence of Judge Stuart's death was received by him with deep emotions of sorrow during his own last illness."
When a young man about twenty-five years of age John Hall, having completed his legal studies, located at the town of War- renton, North Carolina, which was his place of residence through- out the remainder of his life. In his new home the prospects of the young stranger were at first discouraging. He was of a rather diffident nature, and reserved in his intercourse with the public. Nor were his talents as an orator of a high order. But he had a splendid intellect which laborious study had richly stored with legal knowledge, and a profitable clientage was soon drawn to him. Judge Hall was not only ever grateful to those who had befriended him in his early struggles, but it is said that he never lost an opportunity to favor their descendants in after years when occasions offered.
It was in 1800 that Judge Hall took his seat on the Superior Court Bench, and he remained theron until 1818, when the Su- preme Court was established. Then he became one of the Justices of that tribunal.
Judge Hall was distinguished as a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and belonged to Johnston-Caswell Lodge No. 10 at Warrenton. He was Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge from December 18, 1802, till December 12, 1805, and Grand Master from December 12, 1805, till December 16, 1808.
It was January 1, 1818, that the Supreme Court was organized, John Louis Taylor being Chief-Justice, with Leonard Henderson and John Hall as Associate-Justices. This court first sat for the dispatch of business on January 1, 1819. Hall remained on the bench until December. 1832, when he sent in his resignation on account of ill-health. In 1829, while still a member of the Su- preme Court, he was chosen one of the Presidential Electors from North Carolina. Though the station he occupied prevented his active participation in the campaigns of that day, he was a pro- nounced Democrat of the Jeffersonian school.
This sketch is largely drawn from an account of Judge Hall
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written by William Eaton, Jr., and published ( with portrait) in the North Carolina University Magasine for April, 1860. Of the religious views of Judge Hall, Mr. Eaton said :
"He did not become a professor of religion until a few months before he died, although he had at all times great respect for it. His early predilections were in favor of the Presbyterian Church, but he finally joined the Episcopal Church, and the sacrament was administered to him in his own chamber shortly before his death by the Reverend Joseph H. Saunders, then rector of Emmanuel Church at Warrenton, who removed to Florida a few years afterwards and died there."
An oil portrait of Judge Hall adorns the Supreme Court Chamber at Raleigh, and another is owned by the Masonic Grand Lodge of North Carolina.
The death of Judge Hall occurred on the 20th of January, 1833. We copy the following obituary notice of him from the Star, a paper published in Raleigh :
"Died, at his residence in Warrenton, on Tuesday, the 29th ult., the Honorable John Hall, for many years one of the Judges of the Circuit Court, and, since its organization, of the Supreme Court of North Caro- lina. Thus has the cruel and ungovernable discase of cancer of the throat, after a lingering progress of twelve months, at length destroyed one of the best and purest men that ever adorned humanity. Judge Hall was a native of Virginia, but for the last forty years had been a resident of Warrenton. Of the sternest and most scrupulous integrity, of the most unaffected simplicity of manners and feeling, possessing --
"A heart where rich benevolence was found, That beat not for itself alone. But shed its warmth on all around,"
it may well be imagined that as living he was universally beloved. so in death he was sincerely lamented by all. But it is not as a private individual only that we deplore his loss-the State, the country, has been deprived of a useful, a valuable man. Judge Hall, when he lately tendered his resignation as a Judge of the Supreme Court, had occupied a seat on the bench for upwards of twenty years. During the whole time he gave the most entire satisfaction. Indeed, in all the essential qualities of a good Judge, in untiring patience, accurate intelligence, and incorruptible hon- esty of purpose, he never was surpassed. As a politician, he was well informed, frank, faithful and firm. In a word, in all the varied relations of life he was 'an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile.' Let
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not, then, his amiable family indulge in useless sorrows for their loss-let them repose on the sympathy of a whole community -- let them rest on the fair fame that has been bequeathed to them-let them reflect that this, at least, not even can time affect, but that it will prove a 'monument more lasting than brass.'"
On January 31st, when news of the death of Judge Hall reached Raleigh, a joint meeting of the Bench and Bar was held in honor of his memory. Over this inceting Chief Justice Leonard Hen- derson presided, and William H. Haywood, Jr., afterwards United States Senator, acted as Secretary. The following series of res- olutions, offered by the Honorable William Gaston, was adopted on this occasion :
"RESOLVED: That the intelligence which has just been received of the death of the Honorable John Hall, lately a Judge of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, requires of us an expression of the sense we entertain of the merits of the deceased, and the regret we feel for his removal from among us.
"RESOLVED: That the able, faithful and devoted services which the deceased rendered to the community during the thirty-two years in which he has acted as a Judge of the Superior and Supreme Courts of the State entitle his memory to our highest respect, while his private virtues com- mand for his name a firm place in our affections.
"RESOLVED: That, in testimony of this respect and affection, we will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days."
Judge Hall's wife was Mary Weldon, daughter of William Weldon, and granddaughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Wel- don, an officer of North Carolina Militia during the War of the Revolution. By her he left a large number of children, and has numerous descendants now living. Judge Edward Hall, one of the sons of Judge John Hall, occupied a seat on the Superior Court Bench in 1840-41.
Marshall De Lancey Haywood.
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JOHN HAMILTON
HEN the last formidable force raised by the Royal House of Stuart was swept away in the W carnage of Culloden, many Jacobites, who had the good fortune to escape the battle and the axe of the executioner, began life anew in America. Of this number was John Hamil- ton, a mere youth at the time of the battle, which occurred on the 16th of April, 1746. At what time Hamilton came to North Caro- lina is not known. He was a merchant in Halifax when the troubles with Great Britain began, and during the succeeding war was a devoted adherent of King George.
In Halifax, where Hamilton lived, he had for his friends and neighbors such men as Willie Jones, Thomas Eaton, and other fiery Whigs, and it took no small amount of courage to stand forth for the cause of King and Parliament amid such sur- roundings.
Some time after the great American victory at Moore's Creek Bridge, North Carolina, on the 27th of February, 1776, Hamil- ton (who was probably not in that action) gathered together as many of the demoralized Loyalists as could be induced to join the King's standard, and repaired to St. Augustine, Florida, where he drilled his recruits and organized them into a formidable regi- ment.
The chief scenes of Hamilton's military activities in 1779 and
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1780 were in South Carolina and Georgia. He held a command at the Battle of Kettle Creek, Georgia, on the 14th of February, 1779, when the British were defeated; but a short while thereafter (March 3d) was at Briar Creek, Georgia, where his side triumphed ; later, on June 20th, he materially aided in the victory of the Royal forces at the Battle of Stono. In the Fall of 1779 he was at the siege of Savannah. He joined the army under Sir Henry Clinton in South Carolina in March, 1780; and, on the 27th of that month, was taken prisoner by the cavalry forces of Colonel William Washington. In recounting this occurrence, the South Carolina historian, McCrady, observes : "Colonel Ham- ilton, of whom we have before spoken, was a valuable prize, but Washington was hunting for much bigger game, and came near capturing Sir Henry Clinton himself."
After being made a prisoner Colonel Hamilton was taken to Charleston, but his captivity was of short duration; for, on the 12th of May; 1780, the American garrison there surrendered to Sir Henry Clinton. During the British occupation which fol- lowed Hamilton was indefatigable in his efforts to promote the comfort of American prisoners-especially his old friends from North Carolina-and thereby increased the respect in which he had always been held by the Whigs.
In the Spring of 1780, the Americans being apparently over- awed by the great forces gathered against them in the South, James Moore, of Lincoln County, North Carolina, returned to his old home and announced himself a Lieutenant-Colonel of Hamilton's regiment, and that he was sent into North Carolina to raise the King's standard. He ordered a rendezvous of the Loyalists; but on news of this reaching the Whigs a force of the latter was gathered, and at the Battle of Ramseur's Mill (June 20, 1780) the Tories were defeated and scattered.
At the Battle of Hanging Rock, South Carolina, on the 6th of August, 1780, Colonel Hamilton was present, and he also aided in gaining the great British victory at Camden ten days later.
Hamilton was with Cornwallis on his march through North Carolina, was present at the Battle of Guilford Court House
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(March 15, 1781), and his military career probably ended with the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He was in St. Augus- tine, Florida, in the Fall of 1783, and in London in the Spring of 1785.
During the course of the war some of the hardest fighting done by Hamilton's regiment was when it was pitted against troops from North Carolina; and the latter were often commanded by former friends. At the Battle of Briar Creek, where the Ameri- cans were routed, Thomas Eaton was one of those who fled for life. Speaking of Eaton, McRee, in his biography of Iredell, says :
"He had a very small foot and wore a boot of unusual finish and neat- ness. In the haste of his flight, he left his boots behind. They were recognized and purchased of a soldier by John Hamilton, who afterwards' commanded a regiment of Loyalists in the British service. After the war. at a dinner party at Willie Jones's, Hamilton, with some good-natured raillery, produced the boots and passed them to their former owner, who, greatly incensed, threw them across the table at Hamilton's head."
Hamilton's estates in North Carolina were confiscated during the war along with those of many other Loyalists.
As a reward for his fidelity to King George, Colonel Hamilton was appointed Consul at Norfolk, in Virginia, and there he re- mained for some years. The great poet, Thomas Moore, visited him there during a tour through America. In a note on a piece of verse entitled "To George Morgan, Esq., of Norfolk, Virginia," who served in the consulate under Hamilton, Moore says :
"The consul himself, Colonel Hamilton, is among the very few in- stances of a man ardently loyal to his King, and yet beloved by the Ameri- cans. His house is the very temple of hospitality; and I sincerely pity the heart of that stranger who, warm from the welcome of such a board, could sit down and write a libel on his host. in the true spirit of a modern philosophist. See the 'Travels of the Duke de la Rochefoucault-Lian- court,' Vol. II."
Colonel Hamilton did not remain in Norfolk permanently, but finally returned to Great Britain. In his work on American Loyal- ists, Sabine says that Hamilton died in England in 1817 at a very advanced age. Marshall De Lancey Haywood.
CUSHING BIGGS HASSELL
C USHING BIGGS HASSELL was born near Williamston, in Martin County, North Caro- lina, on the 14th day of October, 1808. His father, John N. Hassell, was an honest and hospitable man. His death occurred in the year 1824. He left no property. His wife, Monha Biggs, was a woman of remarkable sagacity, energy and decision of character. For the thirty years prior to her death she was confined to her bed with severe rheumatism. In this affliction she displayed wonderful resignation and cheer- fulness. She was a zealous member of the Primitive Baptist Church.
During the life of his father Cushing Biggs Hassell attended the neighborhood schools at irregular intervals. Here he im- bibed a thirst for knowledge and acquired habits of thoughtfulness and studiousness that became the ruling factor in his life. During his idle hours as a merchant he pursued his studies in the classical languages. "While at school he was noted above his fellows for aptness at learning, steady moral habits, and serious disposition. At the age of eighteen he entered into some excellent resolutions, to which he steadfastly adhered through life-to wit: To abstain from the use of liquor and tobacco; not to indulge in profanity or gaming ; and to be strictly honest, truthful and upright in all his dealings."
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Before attaining his majority be entered upon a mercantile career which he followed until his death. His business was large and generally prosperous. He was an indulgent creditor. He said that in this way he helped many needy persons. He preferred to suffer these losses "rather than grind the faces of the poor." At his death he left a comfortable fortune for his family. He was twice married. In 1832 he married Mary Davis, who bore him seven children and died in 1846. Three years afterward he mar- ried Martha Maria Jewett, widow of Elder Daniel E. Jewett, of Warwich, New York. She bore him four children.
To illustrate his usefulness as a citizen, it may be stated that he energetically and successfully filled the following positions of usefulness and honor : Trustee of the University of North Carolina, trustee of Williamston Academy, founder, Secretary and Treasurer of Williamston Library Association ; Clerk and Master in Equity of Martin County; Treasurer of Martin County ; Presi- dent of the Roanoke Steam Navigation Company ; member of the Constitutional Convention of 1861 and also of the Constitutional Convention of 1875. These important positions show the versa- tility of his usefulness. When first elected treasurer of Martin County only four votes were cast against him. In politics he was a Democrat, and in the struggle of his party to redeem the State in 1875 he exerted all his great power of mind and body. As a campaign speaker he was eloquent and convincing. His state- ments on public questions were not questioned by his opponents. But his great services to his community, county and State in sec- ular matters were all overshadowed by his work in the ministry of his church.
In the Winter of 1827-28 he felt himself arrested by some super- natural power. It is told by his son in an excellent sketch that he was first a religious skeptic, and read the Bible simply to demonstrate its inconsistencies and seeming absurdities. That Winter was a time of unusual religious excitement in his com- munity. He tried to hide his broken heart from the world. He fled to the law for refuge and safety, and resolved to live a still more moral life. These things were but dross, and bowing low
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to the stroke of the Master, on January 13, 1828, he arose a be- liever in His mercy and goodness and power. Then and there he felt the burden of sin removed and he experienced a sensation of joy unspeakable. He was then living in Halifax. There was no Baptist Church there. He was deeply impressed with his duty to be baptized. In March of that year he went to Williamston and was baptized by Elder Joseph Biggs and by him received into the fellowship of Skewarky Church. The great doctrines of that faith-election, total depravity, particular redemption, ef- fectual calling, and final preservation of the saints-were at an early period firmly settled in his mind. In 1833 he was chosen a deacon of Skewarky Church. In that year General William Clark, a man of wealth and talents and a minister of one of the churches of the Kehukee Association, withdrew from her communion and wrote a pamphlet defamatory of that body. Mr. Hassell replied in a pamphlet of sixty pages which the association adopted and circulated. The reply was crushing. Clark was silenced and went to the Southwest in new fields of labor.
For many years he was an active worker in prayer meetings and church conferences. In 1840 he was licensed to preach, and in 1842 a presbytery composed of Elders James Osborn, Joseph Biggs, and William Whitaker ordained him. His first pastorates were at Skewarky and Spring Green churches. In 1859 he was chosen Moderator of the Kehukee Association, and to this honor- able and responsible office he was annually re-elected until his death. For the first ten years of his ministry he received no dona- tions from any one ; but he then concluded that for the donors and himself such a course was wrong, and during the last thirty years of his life he received from marriage fees and preaching an average of less than a hundred dollars a year-an amount barely sufficient to defray his actual traveling expenses. He did not labor in his Master's vineyard for earthly reward. His own dona- tions to others amounted to large sums. His religious life was lived in his family, and at its altar daily morning and evening prayers were said, after Scripture reading and the singing of a hymn. He sang well and taught his children to sing. Each Sab-
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Gunef sim per fif ad In gdonse ont of
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bath morning after prayers it was the custom to instruct his chil- dren in Scripture history and the plan of salvation.
For years the Primitive Baptist Church of his community held prayer meetings at each other's homes every Sunday night. After the war all these meetings were held at his home.
Few excelled him in extemporaneous oratory. All the ser- mons were preached without written preparation and frequently without moments for forethought. He said he preferred to search the Scriptures before preaching. In order and method, in neatness and cleanliness of person and attire, in self-control and evenness of temper, in untiring industry, he had few equals. He wrote his autobiography up to the year 1847, and kept a diary of his life ever afterward. He recorded in blank books, with interesting particulars, all his ordinations, baptisms, texts, marriages, and the donations made to him. He rarely retired before midnight and almost invariably arose at five o'clock in the morning. He frequently said he would rather wear out than rust out, and that he wished to live so that he would be missed when he was gone. He was appointed in 1876 by the Kehukee Association to write a history of that body and of the Church of God from the creation to the present time. He devoted most of the year 1879 to this work. At the time of his death he had completed the history of the Kehukee Association and of the churches composing it, a statistical table of all the old school Baptist associations in America, a series of articles on the distinctive tenets and practices of his denomination and a history of the church for 4300 years -- from the creation to the year A.D. 350. This was the crowning work of his life and it sapped his strength. He felt that his time was short. He preached in his favorite pulpit-Skewarky-for the last time on February 8, 1880. His last discourse was the in- troductory sermon at the meeting of Skewarky Union meeting at Conoho, February 27, 1880. The next day his fatal illness seized him. In all those hours he exhibited no anxiety about the future state. Not a cloud dimmed his prospect for a blessed im- mortality. A little while before he died he said : "I am passing to a better world. I am going from the land of the dying to the land
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of the living." For almost every one that called to see him he had some special message and heavenly advice. When quite restless and tossing about, toward twelve o'clock Saturday night, April Ioth, he was asked if he wanted anything, and he said, "Nothing in the world." A little after midnight, just as the Sunday was coming in, without a struggle he died. A placid and heavenly smile rested upon his countenance, and he was at peace.
Every store and shop of his town was closed at his burial, such was the universal esteem and love in which he was held by all classes.
Cushing Biggs Hassell was a strong man, in mind, in body, in character, in love and in tenderness. He added to the sum of human happiness. His was a simple life. Hear his words on his death-bed : "Bury me in a plain wooden coffin, and without display, or ceremony, or preaching, in the simple manner of the Apostolic age. I have never engaged in funeral preaching. Just let my friends gather in silence around when my body is deposited in its last resting-place. Bury me at Skewarky by the side of my children."
F. D. Winston.
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SYLVESTER HASSELL
E LDER SYLVESTER HASSELL was born in Williamston, Martin County, North Carolina, July 28, 1842. He was the son of Elder Cush- ing Biggs Hassell and Mary (Davis) Hassell, daughter of Colonel Durham Davis. His paternal and maternal ancestors were English, the former coming to Tyrrell County, North Carolina, in the eigh- teenth century, and the latter coming during the same century to Virginia. When he was four years old his mother died, and three years afterward his father was married to Mrs. Martha M. Jewett, of New Hampshire, widow of Elder D. E. Jewett, of New York. At the age of seven he was left to her care, and for forty- eight years she exercised her kind and motherly influence over him. He says of her : "She was the most spiritual-minded person I ever knew, and her teaching was a powerful inspiration to me, and her influence particularly strong on my moral life." In chil- hood he was healthy, but in youth he was frail and delicate. A great fondness for reading and much interest in religion were manifested early in life. He was very moral in his habits, having the noble example of his learned and pious father, who held in his family religious services twice each day, morning and evening.
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