USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
II
ALFRED H. BELO
of a military organization. He was in North Carolina at the time of Gen- eral Lee's surrender, and he reported to General Beauregard and was as- signed by him to the command of a force."
When Johnston surrendered he rode off to join the army of General Kirby Smith across the Mississippi, and after all the Confederate armies had surrendered, he pushed on to Texas on horseback, intent on gaining a livelihood. Taking up the first work that offered, he taught a small school at Galveston for some time, but soon found employment with the Galveston News, whose owner, Willard Richardson, quickly appreciated his su- perior excellence as an organizer and manager and proposed a partnership. Entering upon a journalistic career, he became one of the most successful newspaper men and one of the greatest editors of the South. It was a labor vast in its dimensions, for the people were accustomed to the old sentimental Southern way of doing business. The credit system, the sensitiveness of the advertiser and subscriber when the ordinary rules of business were applied to them, made the management doubly difficult. It not only involved a reform in the office, but in education of the people to proper methods of dealing with the newspaper. But through it all the policy outlined by the new manager was un- swervingly enforced. Besides the change in business methods he introduced new purposes in the editorial conduct of the jour- nal. For the most part, the Southern journals had been attached to the fortunes of individuals and sought the elevation to office of those politicians who they preferred should be honored, nat- urally condemning those whose views were antagonistic to the views of the paper, exploiting the virtues of friends and merciless- ly excoriating foes ; but under the new departure, put in force by Colonel Belo, his paper was free from such blemishes. Ab- solute truth, as far as it could be obtained, in the publication of the news, and absolute fairness to all men, were the cardinal principles on which the editorial management was made to stand. The struggle was great. His individual labors extended through- out the day and far into the night. But they were not without avail. His impress was recognized by the people, and the sterling
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worth of his paper became realized by the public. His journal began to prosper. Its utterances on public affairs at a period when conditions and situations existed that had never before been encountered commanded attention and respect. Its refusal to become an organ of individuals or of political parties called upon it the anathemas of ambitious men; but it was always sup- ported by the conservative element of the State, which, realizing the mission of a great newspaper, bulwarked it with an irresistible strength. The growth of the commonwealth was great, but the paper kept step with step in its advance. It became a great power and influence which was wielded for the progress of the people and the advantage of the State.
The immensity of Texas prevented the daily delivery of the Galveston paper to its subscribers in the remote sections. It was therefore determined to establish another and complete paper at Dallas in North Texas, where the immigration into the State had been most important, and the Dallas Newes was the result. Both papers were owned and managed by the A. H. Belo Com- pany. Correspondents were established at Washington and at Austin, who were of the first order of ability and were loyal to their papers and to the State. Wires connecting the two plants were installed and the new experiment in the newspaper business was entered upon. This new departure in journalism eventuated in new conditions that had to be met. Special trains had to be run to convey the newspapers either to other localities or to overtake or connect with other trains; so that now the Galveston News and the Dallas News dispatch three special trains daily to reach patrons who cannot be speedily served by the regular mails as established by the Government.
The papers grew marvellously in wealth and their progress was marked by a wider range of influence, which they exerted invariably for the development and well-being of the State. Each newcomer from across the border was grected by them and quickly learned to depend on them for his daily news. The weekly edition grew into a semi-weekly, and it is doubtful if any paper, not devoted to special lines, has a larger circulation.
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ALFRED H. BELO
Colonel Belo indeed had the true idea of the profession of a journalist. He discussed matters from his own standpoint. His newspaper was the vehicle to the public of his own views on the public questions of interest to the people. Truth, reason and justice were interwoven in the presentation of his thoughts and gained the respectful consideration of the better element through- out the great State of Texas. His position thus became of the first consequence, and he exerted an influence much greater than that which was accorded to any other citizen of the State. Un- trained at first in newspaper management and in the vocation of a journalist, fortunately he was well equipped by his natural char- acteristics and by the business qualities which had been developed under the methods practised by his father and during his trying experiences of the war, so that he rose equal to the demands of his new business, and promptly and effectively solved the questions of business details as they presented themselves, and solved them so correctly that his papers have long stood as a great institution in the most important Southern States.
It has brought him not merely wealth but fame and power, which he enjoyed and used for the advancement of his State.
At length, however, falling health superinduced by his old wounds required that he should put his house in order, and under the influence of the affections of his earlier years he turned once more to the home of his childhood, and in April, 1901, he died at Asheville, North Carolina, and was buried in Salem, North Carolina, according to his rettest, amid the surroundings of his youth.
In 1868 Colonel Belo was Happily married to Miss Nettie En- nis, of Houston, Texas. Two children were born to this union : Alfred H. Belo, Jr., who worthily succeeded his father as Presi -. dent of the A. H. Belo Company, and carried the business on to even a higher degree of success until his untimely death in April, 1906, and Jeanette, who married Mr. Charles Peabody, of Cam- bridge, Massachusetts.
S. A. Ashe.
2
JOHN BLUE
T HE career of John Blue is a fine exemplifica- tion of success achieved in life by native North Carolinians without the aid of friends or other influences than capacity and persistent intelli- gent labor. He was born on a farm in Que- whiffle Township, Cumberland County, on August 4, 1845, and so is now just threescore years of age. He was the second son and fifth child in a family of eleven children, while his father- was the youngest of thirteen. His parents, Neill McK. Blue and Eliza Smith, were sturdy Scotch on both sides. His grandfather, John Blue, was born in the Isle of Jura in 1765 and immigrated to America in early childhood with his father's family and settled in the sandhills of Cumberland County.
The Scotch had begun their settlement on the Cape Fear as far back as 1734, about the time that Governor Johnston, himself a Scotchman, came to this colony; and the migration continued until the opening of the Revolution. The causes that led to this movement were not all political, but the industrial condition in · their old homes had changed towards the middle of that century, and life in the New World opened up so many possibilities to improve their fortunes that the emigrants gladly availed them- selves of every opportunity to come to America. The health- fulness, the salubrity, the equable temperature, and the unfailing water supply of the upper Cape Fear attracted the hardy Scotch- men to those parts, where the record is that many of them have passed the century mark, and as strong as they have been in their
Jahre Blue
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JOHN BLUE
physical constitution, equally remarkable are they in the develop- ment of high character, intelligence and sterling worth. The Highlanders of Cumberland County did not generally enlist in the cause of American Independence, and Peter Blue, the father of John Blue, mentioned above, was allied with the Tory leaders of that region. After Cornwallis had gone north and Greene had returned to South Carolina, the Tories became very active on the Cape Fear. On- one occasion when Colonel Wade and Captain Culp, who were Whigs, were returning to their homes, a band of Tories, with whom was Peter Blue, fell upon their camp at Piney Bottom and massacred such of the party as were there. To punish them for this, Colonel Wade and Culp collected about one hun- dred dragoons under Captain Bogan and raided the section about Drowning Creek, and ascertained the names of all the Tories who were in that affair and began the work of exterminating them. Towards the end of their expedition they reached Rockfish and came to the house of Peter Blue, where they found him, and, also, Archibald McBride, who was a patriot Whig. Immediately both of them were shot, McBride unfortunately being killed on the spot, and Blue badly wounded.
On the return of peace these Scotchmen who had been loyalists during the war became entirely reconciled to the triumph of those who had fought for independence ; and in succeeding generations all those partisan. differences have been entirely forgotten, and the families of those who participated in those bloody scenes of partisan warfare have largely intermarried, their descendants reverencing the bravery, spirit and courage of those who fought for their King as well as those who hazarded all for independence.
Mr. Blue's childhood was spent in moderate, healthful toil. His parents were neither rich nor poor, but occupied the happy middle ground, manhood's cradle, where there is nothing to waste, and no actual want; a typical Scotch couple and faithful prototypes of that parent pair, where :
"The mother, wi' her needle and her shears,
Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new- The father mixes a' with admonition due."
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The sublime faith of the mother and the sturdy honesty of the father have left their imprint uneffaceable on the character of their son.
. At the age of eighteen Mr. Blue became a member of Com- pany B, 6th Battalion, Armand L. De Rossett captain, and ren- dered such service as was required of him until he was discharged with Johnston's army at Greensboro in May, 1865.
Because of the circumstances of the war Mr. Blue's education was limited, but after the close of hostilities his educational train- ing was supplemented by one or two terms in a very efficient high school, which was kept at that time at Jackson Springs by N. D. J. Clark, and he profited very much by the instruction he received at that institution.
In 1867, at the age of twenty-two, Mr. Blue's battle of life be- gan in earnest. He had at that time a capital of not more than $200 ; but so prudent, so enterprising, so active and industrious was he that every year brought him fresh success and inspired him with hope of better things for the future. He became actively engaged as a turpentine operator, and he continued in that busi- ness for more than twenty years, branching out and constantly becoming a more important factor in that line of work. The secret of his success was that from the first he determined to keep inviolate all his obligations, and his reputation in that regard soon secured him unlimited credit, which, however, he has ever been chary of using. To this he added an extreme care at all times in regard to the details of his business, which would have assured him success, even without that intuitive judgment in crises which enabled him to know what to do without apparently having to take the trouble to think it out.
In 1892 Mr. Blue chartered and began to build the Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad, running from Aberdeen eastward through a belt of as fine yellow pine timber as ever grew in the world, large quantities of which he had the foresight to purchase in the days when it had but little money value. This enterprise has proved enormously profitable, and the railroad has been extended until it now forms a connecting link with the Atlantic Coast line,
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JOHN BLUE
a few miles south of Fayetteville. Besides being the owner of nearly all the stock of this valuable railroad, Mr. Blue has quietly invested his earnings in large tracts of timber in Georgia and Alabama, so that now he is easily the wealthiest man in Moore County; but withal he is as unassuming, easily approachable, and as careful of the rights of others as when he had not thought of ever gaining this distinction.
In 1874 Mr. Blue married Miss Fannie A. Owen, of Cumber- land County, and to this marriage there were born eight chil- dren, two of whom died in infancy, the other six still remaining at home with their parents.
In 1881 Mr. Blue, who has always been a member of the Dem- ocratic Party, served his community in the only political office he has ever held. He was elected as State Senator from Cumber- land and Harnett Counties. In that body he took deservedly high rank because of his business qualities and information. He was appointed a member of the committee on the State debt and rendered efficient and valuable service in that connection; and he was also appointed a member of the committee on claims. Among his fellow-members were some of the best men of the State, and he established himself high in their regard.
In his church affiliations Mr. Blue is a Presbyterian, and he served his congregation, Sandy Grove Church, as deacon from 1872 till 1890, and since that time the Bethesda Church as ruling elder. He is deeply religious, with a childlike faith, but entirely free from intolerance and from that spirit which has too often caused cruelties to be committed in the name of the Prince of Peace.
Busy a man as Mr. Blue is, he is never too busy to visit the sick in person ; and his many acts of relieving distressed persons by his personal ministrations, which are always done without ostenta- tion, attest his kindness of heart and human sympathy and stand in refreshing contrast to the tendency of some wealthy men to purchase a reputation for human kindness.
J. McN. Johnson.
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0
ADAM BOYD
A XDAM BOYD occupied no inconspicuous place in North Carolina at the time of the Revolu- tion, as well as before and after that war. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born November 25, 1738, and of Presbyterian antecedents, though he himself later became connected (after the Revolution) with the Church of England under its new name-the Protestant Episcopal Church. Mr. Boyd was a son of the Reverend Adam Boyd and his wife, Jane Craighead. In January, 1764, before he began his first work in Wilmington as an editor (or "printer," as editors were then called), Mr. Boyd was initiated into the Masonic fraternity, probably as a member of St. John's Lodge, now No. I, which had been chart- ered ten years prior thereto and is still in existence.
It was on October 13, 1769, that Mr. Boyd began the publica- tion of the Cape Fear Mercury at Wilmington. This was the second paper published in that town, and its editors used the presses of Andrew Stuart, whose publication was called the North Carolina Gazette. Another North Carolina Gazette was published at New-Bern a little later. In 1767 Stuart's paper was discontinued, and this left the field occupied by the Mercury alone. In the troublous and uncertain days preceding the Revolution, as well as during that war, Mr. Boyd was a firm and uncompro- mising foe to British oppression, and his paper was the mouth-
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ADAM BOYD
piece of the patriots of the Cape Fear section as well as elsewhere in North Carolina. Could a full file of the Mercury be obtained, it would settle the long-standing controversy about the Mecklen- · burg Declaration of Independence of May 20, 1775. What pur- ported to be a fac-simile of a copy containing that Declaration appeared in the issue of Collier's Weekly, of Philadelphia, for July 1, 1905. The paper from which this fac-simile was made was afterwards examined by Dr. Worthington Chauncey Ford, of the Library of Congress, and pronounced by him a "clever forgery." Several gentlemen from Charlotte, who were deeply in- terested in proving the authenticity of the Declaration, also ex- amined the alleged Mercury and were of the same opinion as Doctor Ford. About the end of the year 1773 Mr. Boyd married Mrs. Mary De Rossett, relict of Moses John De Rossett, who had distinguished himself by his patriotic action while mayor of Wilmington in the Stamp Act times, but he died on Christmas day, 1767. When the troubles with the mother country broke out afresh in 1774, Mr. Boyd was a brother-in-law of Colonel James Moore, and otherwise was connected with leading patriots on the Cape Fear. He himself was an ardent patriot and a member of the committee of safety. He served with Har- nett and others on the local committee of correspondence, and entered with enthusiasm on the execution of measures that the situation required. Upon the opening of active hostilities with Great Britain, Mr. Boyd entered the Continental Army on Jan- uary 4, 1776, as ensign in the Ist North Carolina Regiment, then commanded by Colonel James Moore, his brother-in-law. On March 3, 1776, Ensign Boyd was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, but soon thereafter-in May, 1776-resigned his com- mission. Something more than a year later, Mr. Boyd re-entered the service, being commissioned chaplain of the 5th Regiment on October 1, 1777. By what authority he then acted in a minis- terial capacity is not positively known. In his younger years his religious affiliations were probably Presbyterian, and he was not ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church until after the war.
In May, 1775, "Reverend Mr. Boyd" presented to the Pro-
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vincial Congress at Hillsboro two hundred copies of the pastoral letter of the Synod of Philadelphia on the subject of the war ; and it is thought that this gentleman was Mr. Adam Boyd, and at that time he was probably a Presbyterian Licentiate. Hav- ing in the first flush of patriotic ardor enlisted as a soldier, he later appears to have considered it more seemly that he should render service as a chaplain.
On August 18, 1778, Mr. Boyd became brigade-chaplain. Dur- ing his service he went with the army through its terrible north- ern campaign in the Winter of 1777-1778, and served on a number of courts martial, as well as in other military capacities. He re- signed on June 1, 1780.
After his return home Mr. Boyd was not idle, but set about to devise means for the relief of suffering among the American prisoners at Charleston. On June 3, 1780, he wrote Governor Abner Nash as follows :
"As soon as I got home I wrote a letter to General Hogun, requesting him to acquaint ne of the wants of himself and his fellow-sufferers, that I might endeavor to supply them. I took the liberty of assuring him that Your Excellency would give me all the assistance therein that was in your power. . As I am very certain our officers are in great want of many articles of clothing. I submit it to Your Excellency if it would not be well to send a flag, either with a letter to know their particular wants, or with such articles as we know they must stand in need of. I shall most cheerfully go in with the clothing, should Your Excellency think proper to grant me a flag, for I think it my duty, as a servant of the States, to do every service in my power ; but for that corps it is more especially my duty to exert myself in everything."
In the same letter he adds :
"I have a large quantity of paper, very fit for cartridges, both small and large. Would it not be proper for the Commissary of Stores, or some other State officer, to get it for the use of the State?"
On June 5th, a few days after this letter was written, Mr. Boyd was still at his old home in Wilmington.
When Craig took Wilmington, Mrs. Boyd remained at her
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ADAM BOYD
home, and she witnessed the cruel treatment of Cornelius Har- nett, who, when taken in Onslow County from a sick-bed and exhausted by the fatigue of his journey, was brought into the town, thrown across a horse's back, like "a sack of meal." Later she herself was driven from town by the British commander, and took refuge at the residence of her sister, Mrs. Moore, on the North East; and once that house was bombarded by the enemy, who alleged that some of the patriots were harbored there. When later in life Mr. Boyd went to the West, she did not accompany him. Indeed, during the last years of her life she was afflicted with total blindness, and remained with her daughter, Mrs. Toomer, a child of her first marriage. Her marriage with Mr. Boyd was without issue.
Just after the Revolution Mr. Boyd aided in organizing the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, and was one of the original members of that order. A little later he went to Georgia.
On August 18, 1788, Mr. Boyd was ordained to the priesthood in the Protestant Episcopal Church, by the Right Reverend Sam- tel Seabury, Bishop of Connecticut, and for a while was rector of St. James's Church at Wilmington. He had remained only a short while, however, when the poor state of his health forced him again to leave Wilmington, and return to Georgia. At Augusta, in the last-named State, he held a charge from 1790 to 1799. His health there was poor and he met with little encour- agement. In a letter written to Judge Iredell on February 15, 1792, he stated that he had sought the post of chaplain in the event that a garrison should be stationed there.
While at Augusta, in 1799, Mr. Boyd repulsed from the com- munion table a woman of questionable character, and this gave rise to a controversy which finally caused him to abandon that place. He went to Tennessee, and was at Nashville in 1800. Shortly thereafter he went to Natchez, Mississippi, and there re- mained until his death, on March 7, 1803. In Natchez he found some friends from North Carolina, and their society was a source of great satisfaction to him. -
Mr. Boyd was afflicted with almost every physical malady that
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human flesh is heir to during his later years-gout, asthma, lame- ness and other infirmities. On April 18, 1800, he wrote :
"I shall not repine, and hope to preserve such a sense of the goodness of God as shall secure for my mind such a calmness which is natural to a trust in that Power. Yet with grief and shame I confess I am not as tranquil as I was. Continual disappointments and losses I now fear have an influence I did not expect. If you knew all, or one-half, you would say that to be serene under such a mountain requires more strength of mind than is commonly the lot of man. Indeed, I do not think it attainable without superior aid. Perhaps I failed in this in being too secure or too confident in myself; the first I think the cause: as to the last, I know I have no strength. I am too thoughtless in everything ; hence all, or nearly all, the evils of my chequered life."
Marshall De Lancey Haywood.
JOHN FLETCHER BRUTON
OHN F. BRUTON'S success has been marked perhaps as much by the obstacles he has over- J come as by what he has done. In either case his career has been one at which he may justly feel gratified. Without a collegiate education, he has become by self-training a learned lawyer and a cultured scholar. Without wealth, he has become the trusted counsellor of the wealthy. Without help from influential friends, he has won for himself a high place in the confidence and esteem of his people. Paradoxical though it may seem, these very obstacles have had much to do with his success. In the struggle against them was forged the character which lies at the foundation of his career.
John Fletcher Bruton was born at Wentworth in Rockingham County, North Carolina, May 29, 1861. His ancestors were Huguenots, who sought refuge in America from the persecutions in France which followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Strong men, of deep religious feelings, home-loving and hard- working, their characteristics have reappeared in their posterity. Colonel Bruton's father was David Rasberry Bruton, a Methodist preacher of more than average ability. Possessed of great com- mon sense, strengthened and broadened by close and diligent study, a speaker of force and eloquence, a practical Christian without cant, the influence of his character and life left a deep
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trace upon the character of his son. Colonel Bruton's mother, Margaret G. Nixon, died while he was an infant. His father married a second wife, Jennie V. Matiney, to whom the child's training was committed. She gave him regular duties about the house-cutting the wood, working in the garden, feeding the horse, milking the cow-which taught him early in life the mean- ing of responsibility and the value of methodical habits. In more important ways than this, however, the character and influence of the step-mother were felt. At that period educational ad- vantages were limited. The ravages of Reconstruction had de- stroyed the public school system of the State, which had not been fully restored.
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