USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 14
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ALEXANDER BOYD HAWKINS
It had happened indeed that Doctor Hawkins had become guardian to many orphans, and was trustee of many large landed estates, and he managed them so well that in many cases he added to their value and, in addition to the income, when the trust was over surrendered the property more valuable than when he re- ceived it.
When he removed to Florida he retained his fine plantation in Franklin County and owned a large flouring mill on Sandy Creek in Warren County, and all during the war he continued this mill in successful operation, and for several years afterward, when he sold it. His reputation as a business man was unsur- passed in Florida. For more than five years he held the position of receiver of the Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad, under appointment of the United States District Court. This road was at that period one of the most important in the State, and as re- ceiver Doctor Hawkins had the management not only of its finan- cial affairs, but had practical charge of all the details of its opera- tion. His administration gave entire satisfaction to all interested in its proper management, and he displayed not only unusual financial ability but administrative capacity of a high order. His accounts were large, varied and difficult but were kept with such fidelity, carefulness and skill that when audited they excited the admiration of the auditors and received the praise of the Court.
In 1884 Doctor Hawkins began the culture of sweet oranges and grape-fruit, and he was very successful in this enterprise, that business having since become so important to the State of Florida. However, in 1895 that region was visited by a severe frost, which killed his trees, and he then largely abandoned it. In 1884 he began to make his Summer home in Raleigh, and built his hand- some residence on Blount Street, where he has since permanently resided.
Judge White, speaking of his life in Florida, says :
"In social life he was frank and cordial and had the happy faculty of winning friends wherever he went. His hospitality was dispensed in a free and easy manner, and his guests ever felt honored by the kind and gracious reception accorded them by his charming family. It was in his
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home life where his character shone in its true and brightest light. He has been more missed, and his loss more felt, than any other citizen who has left our State."
Judge White then speaks of the many useful days Doctor Haw- kins spent "among the people of Florida, whom he loved, and who still love and honor him for the good he has done."
Locating permanently in 1894 in Raleigh, Doctor Hawkins at once became an influential factor in the affairs of the city, and for some ten or twelve years has been a director in the Citizens' Bank, which is one of the greatest financial institutions in North Carolina. He has large and varied interests and is justly esteemed not merely for his financial abilities, but for his fine social quali- ties and admirable characteristics.
S. A. Ashe.
TITTOV
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Four Four M.S. Hawkins
NI 8RANT 3 FULLEP FUSS
WILLIAM J. HAWKINS
T HE third son of Colonel John Davis Hawkins was Doctor William J. Hawkins, who for many years was President of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company, and was a well-known business man of Raleigh. While all the sons of Colonel Hawkins were men of fine intellect- uality and filled a large place in business affairs in their respective communities, none of the brothers surpassed Doctor William Hawkins in capacity and in administrative ability. To them all great success came in life, but Doctor Hawkins's career was par- ticularly remarkable, and indeed it has been vouchsafed to but few North Carolinians to equal him in business affairs and master- ful management.
Doctor Hawkins was born at his father's residence in Franklin County, North Carolina, on the 27th day of May, 1819. His father being in affluent circumstances, and his family one that cherished culture and rightfully appreciated the advantages of mental training, at an early age the subject of this sketch was placed under the guidance of private tutors, and when ready for college, he entered the University of North Carolina in 1837. He remained at the University two years, and then it was thought ex- pedient for him to go to William and Mary College in Virginia. He was so well advanced in his studies that after a single year's course at William and Mary he graduated at that institution with distinction. It was proposed that he should seek a professional
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career, and although gifted with a mind that eminently fitted him for the bar, he chose the study of medicine, and in 1842 he grad- uated in the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania. Indeed his gentle manner, his habit of thought, his astute apprehension and his unusual powers of observation well quali- fied him for the duties of the bedside. He located at Ridgeway, not far distant from his childhood's home, and being admirably equipped, entered on the successful practice of his profession. His skill and talents and accomplishments soon found apprecia- tion and he won his way steadily in the confidence of the com- munity. But he was destined to a career in a larger and more useful field.
His father, Colonel Hawkins, and other members of the family, animated by a progressive spirit and an intelligent apprehension of the needs and requirements of the section in which they lived, had for many years been warm promoters of internal improve- ments. They were largely interested particularly in the construc- tion of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, and had given important financial aid in the completion and operation of that road. Doctor Hawkins had been one of the directors of the company and represented a considerable private interest. His fine sense, his unerring judgment and unusual capacity gave him a prominence in the affairs of the company that in 1855 led to his election as its president. He was now in a field well suited for the develop- ment of his particular talents. There were three great railroads in North Carolina at that time : the Wilmington and Weldon, the North Carolina, and the Raleigh and Gaston. The president of each stood high in railroad circles, but Doctor Hawkins enjoyed a rep- utation for management equal to the best. Under his direction the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company entered on a new career of prosperity.
The benefit that accrued to the State from his placing the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad in a condition of high efficiency was incalculable. When the war came on he was ardently attached to the Confederate cause and he threw his whole soul into render- ing efficient service to his State and country. His line was a most
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important link in transportation, for there was no road then from Greensboro to Danville; and all the troops from the South, stores and supplies had to pass through Weldon. In those days of emer- gency he strained every nerve to maintain his line in a good run- ning order. The difficulties that beset the railroads of the Con- federacy during that period were beyond conception. The de- mands for transportation were largely increased and in many in- stances pressing necessity compelled the greatest haste. There were no facilities to renew either rolling stock or the railroad iron or any of the appliances requisite to maintain the engines, cars or road bed in repair. The problems that came up daily taxed the energies of the railroad managers to their utmost, and as the work of the transportation lines was most important, so the services rendered to the cause of the Confederacy by Doctor Hawkins and the other presidents of the railroad companies were not less use- ful than those of successful generals on the field of battle. To- . ward the end of the struggle the various roads were indeed worn out, and it was with difficulty that trains could be run at all. Military necessity had pushed the construction of the Chatham road to the coal fields in Deep River, and after peace was declared that road fell into possession of the Raleigh and Gaston, that sought to complete it under the name of the Raleigh and Augusta Air Line.
Doctor Hawkins had comprehensive ideas of railroad manage- ment. He sought to bring about a close business connection be- tween his roads and the North Carolina Railroad, and had the design to lease the North Carolina 'Railroad, which should in its turn lease a line from Charlotte to Atlanta. His great ideas were somewhat in advance of his time, but his policy has since been adopted and carried into effect by others. While he did not secure for the Raleigh and Gaston the control of the North Caro- lina, his Seaboard system has been pressed to the South and has become one of the three great systems of the South Atlantic States ; and it should not be forgotten that he was the original projector of this closer connection of the several lines that have since his day been consolidated. Indeed it may be said that he was
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one of the wisest, most progressive and far-seeing of the railroad men of the South : and it was only because of the limited financial facilities of his time, when the South was still in an impoverished condition, before the era of its great prosperity, that he did not carry into effect the large projects which he realized would be so much to the advantage of his lines and of the people.
He remained president of his company until October, 1875, when because of ill-health, for he was a great sufferer from rheumatism, he retired, and, abandoning his railroad business, devoted himself to his private affairs.
Doctor Hawkins was a large stockholder and a director in the Raleigh National Bank, which was the first bank organized under the United States Banking Law in this State; and in 1870 he founded the Citizens' National Bank of Raleigh. He selected as the president of that institution Colonel William E. Anderson, who was a well-trained bank officer, and had been connected with the Raleigh National Bank; and on Colonel Anderson's death in 1890 he himself took the position of president. From the first the bank was a success, and his management was most advan- tageous. No one enjoyed a higher reputation for skill and finan- cial ability than he did, and his achievement in connection with the Citizens' National Bank was indeed remarkable. Since his death the institution has continued to flourish, and under the direc- tion of Joseph G. Brown has attained a standing not surpassed by any other financial institution in the South. But it must be re- membered that its unvarying success is only the fruition of his work. He laid the foundations and set the course that has since been pursued.
As a business man, Doctor Hawkins was unsurpassed. "Al- ways cool and self-poised, cautious and clear-headed, deliberate in counsel, but firm when a conclusion had been reached, gifted with quick perceptions and possessing a remarkably sound judg- ment, he combined those elements that have entered into the char- acter of the distinguished members of his family in past genera- tions and which would have assured him conspicuous success in any department of activity that he might have chosen." His
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tastes, however, led him to a business career and not into public life. He did not care to take part in the scramble for office, and though always warmly interested in political contests, he never held any official station in Government. Nevertheless, he had a strong influence, and this he exerted in public affairs always for the advantage of the public interests. When he had leisure from the pressing calls of his business, in 1881 he became a trustee of the University and continued as such until his death; and he at- tended with much interest to the affairs of that institution, warmly promoting all plans for its improvement.
Doctor Hawkins was united in marriage to Miss Mary Alethea Clark, a daughter of David Clark, Esq., of Halifax County, on January 4, 1844. By her he had two sons: Colin M. Hawkins, an esteemed citizen of Raleigh, and Marmaduke J. Hawkins, of Ridgeway. Mrs. Hawkins died in September, 1850, and on De- cember 27, 1855, Doctor Hawkins married Miss Lucy N. Clark, by whom he had two daughters-Loula, who became the wife of William T. McGee, of Raleigh ; and Alethea, who married J. M. " Lamar, of Monticello, Florida. On October 9, 1867, Mrs. Lucy Hawkins died; and on the 12th of May, 1869, Doctor Hawkins married Miss Mary A. White, a daughter of Andrew B. White, of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. By this marriage Doctor Hawkins had one daughter, Miss Lucy C. Hawkins, who became the wife of Mr. Sherwood Higgs, of Raleigh.
Toward the end of his life Doctor Hawkins was a great sufferer from his old enemy, rheumatism, but his mind re- mained ever clear and strong, and his judgment was unclouded and he continued to transact business with a sagacity that marked him as one of the foremost men of North Carolina. On October 28, 1894, while on a visit to Philadelphia, he passed away, mourned by all who knew him.
A. The semp too poor "S. A. Ashe.
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ANDREW JACKSON
T HE most notable and most famous man ever born in North Carolina was Andrew Jackson. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. His grand- father, Hugh Jackson, was a linen draper, in the old town of Carrickfergus, near Belfast, Ire- land. A son of Hugh Jackson, Andrew married in Ireland Elizabeth Hutchinson, and had by her, born in Ireland, two sons, Hugh and Robert. He was a farmer and a poor man, and his wife's family were also poor, her sisters being linen weavers. In 1765, Andrew Jackson, his brother-in-law, James Crawford, and his wife's brother-in-law, George McKemey, and other relatives moved with their families to America. Arriving at Charleston they located in the Waxhaw settlement, where many of their Scotch-Irish friends had preceded them. George Mc- Kemey bought land on Waxhaw Creek, some six miles from the Catawba River and about a quarter of a mile north of the bound- ary line between North and South Carolina. Andrew Jackson set- tled on Twelve Mile Creek (a few miles from the site of the town of Monroe, the county seat of Union County), then in Anson County, North Carolina. He was too poor to obtain title to his land; and having built a log house and cleared some fields, in the Spring of 1767 he sickened and died. His remains were borne to the old Waxhaw Churchyard and there interred. His widow did not return home from the interment, but went to the house of
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her sister, Mrs. McKemey, near-by, and there a few days later, on the 15th of March, 1767, Andrew Jackson was born. Governor Swain says that in a journey in June, 1849, he took some pains to ascertain the precise locality which gave birth to General Jack- son and to James K. Polk, who were born in the same county, Mecklenburg. The spot where Jackson was born could be identi- fied. It was about twenty-eight miles south of Charlotte, and the birthplace of President Polk was eleven miles south of Charlotte. Mrs. Jackson remained with Mrs. McKemey some weeks, and then moved to the house of another sister, Mrs. Crawford, some two miles distant, but in South Carolina; and there she remained as one of that family until her death in 1781. Her son Andrew, al- though born in North Carolina, passed his younger years just across the line. He attended the old field schools and did such work as a country boy would do, until at length, in 1780, war came close to their doors. His brother Hugh was in the battle of Stono and died there. Andrew, then thirteen years of age, and his brother Robert were with the patriots in the attack on Hang- ing Rock, but were not regularly attached to any command. After the battle of Camden, Mrs. Jackson, seeking a more secure lo- cality, left the Waxhaw settlement, and took her two boys to a relative's house some miles north of Charlotte; but she returned to Waxhaw in February, 1781, Cornwallis having then retired. At that time Andrew Jackson was tall and had outgrown his strength, but he had the spirit of a man. In the partizan warfare which ensued when Lord Rawdon approached Waxhaw, both Robert and Andrew Jackson participated. They were taken prisoners in a raid made by Tories and British dragoons, were brutally wounded, and were confined at Camden. Mrs. Jackson, however, was able to secure their exchange after they had suffered much from their confinement and from their wounds; and in the meantime they had besides contracted the smallpox. With great difficulty she managed to get them home. Two days later Robert died ; and it was only after several months that Andrew recovered.
In the Summer of 1781, says Parton, in his admirable Life of Andrew Jackson, "a great cry of anguish and despair came up
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to Waxhaw from the Charleston prison ships, wherein, among many hundreds of other prisoners, were confined some of the sons of Mrs. Jackson's sisters. and other friends and neighbors of hers from the Waxhaw country. Andrew was no sooner quite out of danger than his brave mother resolved to go to Charleston and do what she could for the comfort of the prisoners there. While stopping at the house of a relative, William Barton by name, who lived two miles and a half from Charleston, Mrs. Jackson was seized with ship fever, and after a short illness died. And so Andrew, before reaching his fifteenth birthday, was an orphan, a sick and sorrowful orphan, bereft of parents and without brother or sister, homeless and dependent. It has been said that he taught school for a year or two; and then after one year of hesitancy, during which he gave rein to his horse-racing in- clinations, he concluded to study law. At the age of eighteen, he began the study of the law with Spruce Macay at Salisbury. He seems, however, to have devoted more thought to amusement and pleasure than to his books. After studying a year or so with Judge Macay, he finished his course under Colonel John Stokes, in Surry, and then passed a year at Martinsburg, the old county seat of Guilford County.
At the November Term, 1787, of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Surry County, the following minute was made :
"William Cupples and Andrew Jackson, Esquires, each produced a license from the Honorable Samuel Ashe and John Williams, Esquires, two of the judges of the Superior Court of Law and Equity, authorizing and em- powering them to practice as attorneys in the several Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions within this State, with testimonials of their having here- tofore taken the necessary oaths, and are admitted to practice in this court."
In the Spring of 1788, having his license to practice law, An- drew Jackson was appointed prosecuting officer of the Superior Court, then just established in the Nashville district of Tennessee, which Judge John McNairy was appointed to hold. Shortly after- ward the judge, Jackson, and some other young lawyers met at Morganton and began their horseback ride to Tennessee. It was
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a perilous journey, particularly between Campbell Station and Nashville; and in that part of the route they were attended by a guard, and about sixty families were of the party.
Arriving at Nashville, Jackson at once entered on the practice, which from the beginning was lucrative. His position as prose- cuting officer was one of importance and brought him speedy reputation and influence, and for years he was employed in the greater part of the civil litigation in his courts.
The experiences of the war had made their impress on his char- acter and disposition, which was fiery, brave and determined ; and now in the wilderness of Tennessee he was brought into close con- tact with unfriendly Indians. Between 1780 and 1794, within seven miles of Nashville, the Indians killed one person in about every ten days. In Jackson's travels he was constantly in peril from the murderous red man. And so the circumstances of his life de- veloped in him courage, coolness and intrepidity, and his natural .combative characteristics were fostered and became so fixed that they dominated his course throughout his entire career. Whether . engaged in the court-house or in military operations, or in the ad- ministration of civil affairs in the high positions to which he at- tained, he would brook no opposition and was a fighter of the most determined character. An incident is recorded that will il- lustrate his promptness to right a wrong. In the trial of a cause in a court in Tennessee, he conceived that Honorable Waightstill Avery had insulted him, and tearing the flyleaf from a law book, he wrote him in a minute a challenge and handed it to him. The duel came off on the adjournment of court, but fortunately neither was wounded.
His education was not a finished one; he did not have the ad- vantage of collegiate training, and while he never overcame his deficiencies in the use of words, and never perfected himself in spelling or pronunciation according to the most correct standards, yet his ideas were clear, and he could express them with a vigor and force that begot a natural eloquence.
In 1791 Andrew Jackson married a Mrs. Robards, a daughter of a Mrs. Donelson, with whom he found board on first reaching
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Nashville; and although they had no children, they were devotedly attached to each other throughout life. She, however, died just before his inauguration as President in 1829.
In 1796 the Territory of Tennessee formed a State Constitution. Jackson was elected a delegate from Davidson County to the Constitutional Convention, and was a member of the special com- mittee that framed the Constitution. By that time he had attained a high position in Tennessee, and doubtless he impressed himself strongly on the Constitution, which was a very admirable funda- mental law of a new State. Tennessee being admitted to the Union, Jackson was in the same year elected the only representa- tive in Congress the State was entitled to, and took his seat in that body. His political views were strongly Republican, and he voted with Macon and others who thought like Jefferson. A va- cancy occurring in the Senate the next year, Jackson was elected by the Tennessee Legislature to that body, but after one session as Senator, he resigned and returned home. It was in 1796, while Jackson was on his way to Philadelphia, that he accidentally ob- tained information that the land frauds, in which Glasgow and his associates were engaged, were being perpetrated, and his honest nature at once led him to bring the matter to the attention of Governor Ashe of North Carolina. The explosion of which he was thus the innocent cause was attended with great consterna- tion among those holding fraudulent titles in Tennessee, and Jackson became an object of their malevolence. But soon after he retired from the Senate the Legislature elected him a Judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, a court that tried causes in the different counties : and he served on the bench for six years.
At the age of thirty-seven Jackson had served some eight years as Solicitor, two years as Representative and Senator in Congress, and six years on the highest court of his State. Retiring from the bench in 1804, he devoted himself more particularly to planting, his home being then near the subsequently famous Hermitage, in the vicinity of Nashville. He also engaged in mercantile business, which, however, was chiefly conducted by his partner, General Coffee.
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He had always kept in touch with military affairs, and was gen- eral of the Tennessee militia. His influential position led Aaron Burr, when contemplating his movement at the Southwest, to visit Jackson and seek to enlist his aid in the enterprise. To some ex- tent Jackson helped him, but on learning that there was a pos- sibility of a treasonable intent, he warned Governor Claiborne at New Orleans. However, he became reassured that Burr had not contemplated treason, and on being summoned as a witness against Burr at the trial at Richmond, he was loud in Burr's defence, and he then broke with President Jefferson, but continued to be a Re- publican in his political views. It is not proposed here to develop those events in his career which belong to general history and have but little bearing on North Carolina matters ; suffice it to say that Jackson allowed no man to excel him in devotion to the Union, in lofty patriotism, in personal honor, and high ideals, while his military career was fortunate and glorious, and he became the hero of his day because of his victory at New Orleans and un- varying success on every field of battle.
Whatever had been Andrew Jackson's early deficiencies of edu- cation, they had almost entirely disappeared, and he took rank among the first men of America. He was not only a popular hero, but was recognized as a clear-headed statesman.
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