USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 35
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There were heroes in those days. Many passed with Jackson, Hill, Pender, Pettigrew, Ramseur and other matchless com- manders across the river and now "rest under the shade of the trees." Others survived to witness and repair the wreck of for- tune- the blight of home and the carnage of death on every hand.
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It is of one of these we write, and his unstained name is William Henry Watkins. The name is Welsh. The earliest known ancestor was James Watkins, who came from Wales to this country more than two centuries ago. Four other ancestors on the paternal side were Captain Carraway Watkins, of Mary- land; Lieutenant Watkins, of Massachusetts; William Watkins, of Virginia, and Captain Cassaday Watkins, who served with dis- tinction in the war of the Revolution. The last named won more distinction than any other member of the family in that war and was afterward a member of the Cincinnati Society.
The name of the father of william Henry was Culpepper Wat- kins, who was a farmer and lived in the county of Stanly, North Carolina, on January 5, 1839, where and when the subject of this sketch was born. The name of his mother was Ann Marshall Tomlinson, whose ancestry has been traced back to Captain John De Jarnette, who fought under General Marion of South Caro- . lina. The DeJarnettes were Huguenots, of the best blood of France. The line extends down through the Tomlinsons, the Covingtons and the Marshalls-the best families of North Caro- lina and Virginia. The great grandfather on the maternal side was James Marshall, whose mother was Mary Malone. He mar- ried Miss Ann Harrison, sister to William Henry Harrison, whose name has been preserved in all succeeding families. It is to be observed, too, that the Marshalls played a conspicuous part in the Revolution. Colonel Thomas Marshall made an enviable record for gallantry.
The limits of this sketch forbid more than a passing reference to the heroic services rendered by the members of this family in the Revolutionary War and in the late war between the States. There never was a draft made by the country upon the courage or patriotism of any member of this family which went to protest. In the darkest hour of war their names will be found on the roll of those who stood and fought and bled and died for what they believed to be right.
William Henry Watkins is worthy of the noble ancestry behind him. In the early days of 1861, this young man, whose days had
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been spent in the corn and cotton fields of his father's farm, with no educational advantages save those afforded by the "old field schools" of his neighborhood and one term at Jonesville High School, responded to the call of his State. Proud of and inspired by the record of a line of ancestors who had never faltered or wavered in the face of danger, and by the memory of a sainted mother encouraged and sustained by the confidence of a fond father, ambitious to bring honor to both and, withal, victory to the cause he had espoused, he dropped a tear in the rapture of his high resolve to put the scenes of childhood's affections behind him and to meet with knightly nerve the stern demand of every duty of the dark future. Enlisting at the call of his State, he was placed in the Fourteenth North Carolina Regiment of the army of Northern Virginia, in which he scored four years of suffering, sacrifice and hardship, sharing with his comrades the joy and the bitter, the defeat and the glory, of that bloodiest of all wars in the annals of time.
Returning with the scattered remnant of that glorious army, he found the scenes of his boyhood and the face of the old common- wealth, in whose name and at whose bidding he had given of his life's wealth, stripped, torn and bleeding-prostrate and helpless, in ruin-in ashes-in poverty and in the depths of sorrow. De- feated in name but unconquered in spirit, bruised of body but un- daunted and unstained in soul-he, like his comrades, faced a new field requiring and exacting a higher courage and a stouter nerve than the bloody field of battle. It was the stupendous task of re- pairing and rebuilding home and State. The accomplishment of this task makes a record not less glorious than the historic pages on which are preserved the deathless deeds of valor of a thousand fields of battle. There is no man in North Carolina who has been. more diligent or more faithful or more steadfast in his share of this great work than William Henry Watkins.
With little or no capital, save his character, energy and in- domitable pluck, he began the active work of life as a merchant at Norwood in his native county in the year 1865, where he suc- ceeded as he did everywhere. Three years later, on March 17,
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1868, he was happily married to Miss Louisa Eunice Smitherman of Troy, North Carolina, daughter of Mr. Jesse Smitherman, one of the leading and most prominent citizens of Montgomery County. The issue of this marriage was six children, four of whom are still living. Shortly thereafter he moved to Troy, North Caro- lina, where he met with continued success as a merchant until the year 1879. In the meantime, he was elected to and held the office of Sheriff of Montgomery County from 1874 to 1878. In the year 1879 he was attracted by an unusual opportunity for in- vestment in a manufacturing site on Deep River in the county of Randolph, at a place then known as Columbia and now known as Ramseur. After purchasing this property he moved the same year to this place, his present home, and now a growing and thrifty town, which is the terminus of a branch of the Southern Railway and in which is located the large mills of the Columbia Manufac- turing Company and the plants of the Ramseur Furniture Com- pany and the Watkins-Leonard Company. The Columbia Manu- facturing Company is now one of the most flourishing cotton mills of the State and its success is due to the wise management, sleep- less vigilance and tireless energy of Senator Watkins, who, from the organization of the company, has been its active secretary anti treasurer and general manager, as well as its largest stockholder.
He is also president of the Sanford Cotton Mills, located at Sanford, North Carolina ; vice-president of the Ramseur Furni- ture Company and the Watkins-Leonard Company, and also a di- rector in all of them and in several banks of the State, in all of which he is largely interested.
Success has rewarded him in every field of his activity. The town of Ramseur in 1879 was scarcely more than a country post- office with a small store and one mill, and was then called and known as Columbia. The name of the place was later changed to that of Ramseur, in honor of General Ramseur of Confederate fame, who was Mr. Watkins's commander in the late war. The growth of this place into a town, the expansion of the mill into one of the largest manufacturing plants of the county, the estab- lishment of other industrial and manufacturing plants, the ex-
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tension of a branch railroad to this place, the establishment of churches and schools are largely the result of his labor, his fore- sight, his fine judgment and his superior business tact and ability. His has been and is now the leading spirit and guiding genius in the upbuilding, not only of this town but of the immediate sec- tion of the county adjacent thereto.
It goes without saying that in building for others he has built for himself and has accumulated, since the dark days of 1865, a com- fortable fortune. More than that and above all, he has built for himself a character which, in the financial, commercial, social and political circles of North Carolina and elsewhere, commands the unstinted confidence of his fellow-men.
In politics Senator Watkins is a Democrat of the Samuel J. Tilden brand. While loyal and courageous in conviction, he is brave enough to be independent and broad enough to be tolerant. This is another way of saying that he accords to every fellow-man the right of opinion and the freedom to express it at the ballot- box or elsewhere. His independence, his tolerance, his fairness, his superb courage and inflexible honesty have given him a high place in the confidence and esteem of the people. This is amply attested by the fact that he was never defeated in his life, although more than once a candidate in the face of decided Republican majorities against him. Time and again has he been importuned to permit the use of his name for political honors, but of late years, with two exceptions, he has resolutely refused. In 1897 he re- luctantly accepted a place on the County Board of Education, which he filled for two years, and in 1904, at the urgent solicitation of the people, he accepted the Democratic nomination for State Senator in the Twenty-third Senatorial District, composed of the counties of Randolph and Montgomery. It is to be noted that in this contest, as well as in every other political contest, he al- ways led his ticket. It is superfluous to add that in these public positions he brought to the discharge of public duty the same vigilance, diligence, punctuality and fidelity which have marked every page of his private life.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and
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backs his faith with his purse and his works. While modest and unassuming in all things, he responds to the roll-call of duty in all movements looking to the uplifting of his community and the bet- terment of his fellow-men. His public spirit is written into every enterprise and institution of his community. He is a most lovable man. Gentle as a woman, modest as a school boy, generous and forgiving in thought and in speech, highminded and cleanhanded in his intercourse with his fellows, of knightliest nerve and kind- liest impulse, of sunny nature and amiable spirit, brave and true as steel, he loves his fellow-men, and were it within his power this life would be longer, fuller, larger, richer, better and sweeter. If the writer was called upon to express it all in one word-it would be kindliness-the greatest thing, after all, in the affairs of this life.
This a running sketch of a man whose years have covered the most momentous and stupendous events of his country's history and witnessed the most wondrous transformations in every phase and department of human life, and who has worn and borne through them all and amid it all "the white flower of a blameless life." It is worth while to have lived these years and won success in the fierce and rapid clash of change and growth. The scars of the battlefield are now tender memories whose aroma adds sweet- ness to the fleeting hours of the evening of life. The hard and fierce struggles for victory in the bloodless fields of commercial warfare and in all the every-day lines of life and human endeavor have brought the comfort of rich reward to the declining years of a strenuous and eventful life. The sixty-seven years of this life have been full of toil and trial and struggle. In war and in peace, the full measure of duty has been met at every point and in every crisis. There is not a blot on a single page of its fine record. As a soldier he wore the white plume of a Murat in every test of cour- age and sacrifice and hardship. In the peaceful pursuits of private life, he has illustrated every virtue of the correct business man and emphasized every trait of the model citizen. Truly he has done well his part. He belongs to the flower of North Carolina's chivalry.
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It is not a matter of wonder that Time has dealt gently with this sunny, sweet-spirited, lovable and strongly built man. Nor is it strange that as he enters the realm of the lengthening shadows, his thoughts should turn more fondly and constantly to the church of his faith and his choice, in which he is now a leader and a pillar of strength and at whose altar he will watch and wait for the serene and beautiful sunset of his busy career.
G. S. Bradshawe.
Saften Bweeks.
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STEPHEN BEAUREGARD WEEKS
N North Carolina there was an intermittent interest in the State's history during the greater I part of the last century, confined generally to a few individuals or small groups. The earlier period produced Burkitt and Reade's "History of the Kehukee Association" ( 1803), William- son's "History of North Carolina" ( 1812), and Martin's "History of North Carolina" (1829).
The middle period was more prolific, and furnished a group of able men, who made extensive additions to the literature of the subject. Judge Murphey, Governor Swain, Doctor Hawks, Colonel Wheeler, Jo Seawell Jones, Governor Graham, Judge Battle, Mr. George Davis, Professor Hubbard, Doctor Foote, Doctor Caruthers, Purifoy, Reichel, McRee and others would have brought about a genuine historical awakening but for the Civil War. As it was, they produced Jones's "Defence" and "Memo- rials," Foote's "Sketches," Purifoy's "Sandy Creek," Reichel's "Moravians," Caruther's "Caldwell" and "Old North State in 1776" (series one and two). the "Revolutionary History of North Carolina," McRee's "Life of Iredell," the brilliant series of papers in the old University Magasine, and many addresses, pamphlets and newspaper articles.
The Civil War period yielded one pamphlet, "Nathaniel Macon," by Weldon N. Edwards.
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The later period was characterized by a body of bright and gifted writers, including Mrs. Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Major Sloan, Doctor Battle, Doctor Huffham, Doctor Kingsbury, Colonel Saunders, Judge Schenck, Major Moore, Doctor Bernheim, Colonel Waddell, Captain Ashe, Bishop Cheshire, Chief Justice Clark, Colonel Creecy, Major Graham, Doctor Vass, Doctor Taylor, Doctor Clewell and others worthy of high mention. In this enumeration the younger writers have been purposely omitted, because it is conceived that they represent a distinct class and a new departure in this field of literature. It is to be noted that none of those named were trained to historical investigation, and none of them except the venerable Doctor Battle have followed it as a profession. The seminary method did not characterize their work, and there were times when it was difficult to discover whether the statements of some rested on authority or tradition. They had liberty, and sometimes used it with much freedom. Their culture was broad and their view was large. They were frequently weak on fact, but strong on interpretation. They understood the bearing of things, and translated dry details into living pictures of real life.
Near the ciose of the century a new school of historical writers came to the front, composed of the younger men, who were trained in the science of historical investigation, principally at Johns Hopkins University, which they adopted as a profession. The old school sought such details as were needed for the picture in hand. The new school was not picturesque. It sought to complete the record by giving all the facts and noting the authority for every statement. The one was strong in its generalization .and its interpretation, the other in its investigation and complete- ness of detail. It is not intended to discredit the accuracy of the one nor the understanding of the other, but to note the existence of the two, and to show the trend and emphasis of each. Among the leaders of the new school are Stephen B. Weeks, Charles Lee Smith, J. S. Bassett, E. W. Sikes, C. L. Raper, W. E. Dodd and M. De L. Haywood.
Stephen Beauregard Weeks is second of these in point of time
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and first in the extent of his writing. He was born in lower Pasquotank County, North Carolina, February 2, 1865, of English and Huguenot ancestry.
The Weeks family was of Devonshire, England, extraction, and appeared in North Carolina as early as 1727, when Thomas Weekes settled in Perquimans County, where he died in 1762, leaving five sons and a daughter. He was a large landowner, and is mentioned in the old records as "gentleman" and "school- teacher." He appears to have possessed considerable education and to have occupied a position of influence and leadership. He was sheriff of the county, representative in the Assembly and for many years one of the justices of the county. In the fourth generation from Thomas Weekes, James Elliott Weeks, father of the subject of our sketch, was born. The same sturdy qualities that marked the career of his earliest known ancestor characterized his life. He was without political ambition, and his only office was in the militia. He was a Methodist, with the industrious habits of those excellent people, and was looked up to as a leader. He died when Stephen was eighteen months old, leaving him a fair estate for the times.
Doctor Weeks's mother was Mary Louisa Mullen ( formerly Moullin), and his earliest known maternal ancestor in this country was Abraham Moullin, of Huguenot family, who came from Vir- ginia and settled in Perquimans County prior to March, 1732. Through his mother's mother, who was a McDonald, he claims descent from Bryan McDonald, who was slain at Glencoe.
Upon his mother's death, when he was three years old, he was cared for by an aunt, Mrs. Robertson Jackson, of Pasquotank County, who with her husband reared him as their own child. He was required to work on the farm, and was well grounded in habits of industry, economy and sobriety. He pays this high tribute to the faithfulness and affection of these foster parents : "I knew no other home. . . . I became to them as a son. They were most surely all that parents could have been. . . . God never made a nobler man thân Robertson Jackson, quiet, peace- able, unambitious, unassuming, uneducated, but withal one of
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nature's noblemen, to whom all his neighbors looked up for com- fort, advice and help of any sort that was needed-one of the gentlest of men."
Young Weeks attended the rather poor country schools of his neighborhood until he reached the age of fifteen years, when he left the farm and entered the school of T. J. and W. D. Horner, at Henderson, North Carolina, where he was prepared for en- trance to the State University, at Chapel Hill. This school justly ranked as one of the best preparatory schools of the State, and was noted for the thoroughness of its work. Both principals were men of fine scholarship and studious habits, and the younger was a graduate of the University of North Carolina. The senior, Reverend T. J. Horner, was a Baptist preacher, who ministered principally to churches in Granville County. He was a younger brother of the late James H. Horner, of Oxford, with whom he was associated in teaching for many years. He was distinguished for his scholarship and fine teaching ability, and was very highly esteemed in his community. His age and failing health and the bad health of his son and associate, Mr. W. D. Horner, led to a suspension of the school about the year 1886. He has been dead several years. The son yet lives in Henderson, highly esteemed by his neighbors. Doctor Weeks writes of the father : "His influ- ence was elevating and ennobling, and inspired and encouraged me, as did that of Herbert B. Adams, of the Johns Hopkins." This association of these two names is a high but just tribute to Mr. Horner, who gave to Doctor Weeks his first real intellectual impulse.
From Henderson young Weeks went to the University of North Carolina, where he took the degree of A.B. in 1886. During two years of post-graduate work there in English language and literature, German and Latin, he took A.M. in 1887 and Ph.D. in 1888. He says : "These two years were among the most valuable of my life in giving me ideals and ability to write, and acquaintance with the masters." The three following years, 1888-91, were spent as honorary Hopkins.scholar at Johns Hopkins University in the study of history, English language, political science and
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political economy. These latter studies were more emphasized at first; later, by force of what he calls "invincible attraction," he turned to history, and made that his life work. From this Uni- versity he received the Ph.D. degree in 1891.
At the close of his student work at the University of North Carolina, he was on June 12, 1888, united in marriage with Miss Mary Lee Martin, daughter of Reverend Joseph Bonaparte Martin of the North Carolina Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, from 1844 until his death in 1897. Mr. Martin was a grandson of General Joseph Martin, pioneer, Indian fighter, Indian agent, early settler of Tennessee and legislator in Virginia and North Carolina ; he was a man of marvelous devotion to his work, and more pleased with its fruitage than concerned for its emoluments. Mrs. Weeks died May 19, 1891 ; two children were born of this marriage, and one, Robertson Jackson Weeks, a youth of seventeen years, survives his mother.
His second marriage was with Miss Sallie Mangum Leach, at Trinity College, North Carolina, June 28, 1893. She is the · daughter of Colonel Martin W. Leach of Randolph County, North Carolina, and niece of General J. Madison Leach, member of Congress, who is yet remembered as one of the most remarkable . and versatile political campaigners in the State. She is grand- daughter of Honorable Willie P. Mangum, representative and senator from North Carolina in the Congress of the United States, and president of the United States Senate, 1842-45, whose career was highly distinguished and altogether honorable to the State. She is also a descendant of the Cain and Alston families. There have been four children of this marriage, of whom two are now living.
The active career of Doctor Weeks began with his entrance upon the professorship of history and political science at Trinity Col- lege (old Trinity, Randolph County), in September, 1891. He continued with the college during the first year after its removal to Durham, and successfully organized its Department of History, established the Trinity College Historical Society, created an interest among the students in historical work, and or-
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ganized the college library, which has since grown into such splendid proportions under intelligent administration and the lib- eral gifts of the Messrs. Duke, He resigned in June, 1893, owing to differences between President Crowell and members of the faculty and spent the Summer lecturing in Philadelphia, and in historical investigations in Wisconsin. In the Fall he returned to Baltimore and spent the following year as a fellow by courtesy in Johns Hopkins University, giving a portion of his time to the study of Roman law and comparative jurisprudence, and the re- mainder to original investigations along historical lines.
Even before this time Doctor Weeks had become interested in North Carolina history, and a collector of the historical materials of the State. His first impulse in that direction came from his appointment, 1884-87, by the Philanthropic Society of the Uni- versity of North Carolina, to edit its register of members. He writes : "By my study of the old register I became acquainted with the great men of the University; they became my familiar friends, and I knew them as perhaps no one else has known them; from these, through Wheeler's Reminiscences, I branched out into the general history and biography of the State and the work was done." He became an untiring collector of everything pertaining to North Carolina. It has been a hobby in which he has surpassed all others. He now has more than 3300 books, pamphlets and magazines dealing in whole or in part with that State. It is prob- ably the most complete collection of books on North Carolina; certainly, outside of newspapers and State publications, it is better than any owned by the State. To a collector a most interesting feature of this collection is one in which Doctor Weeks himself takes great pride and for which he makes this claim :
"I have beyond question one of the finest collections of North Caro- lina autographs in existence, including the greater part of the corre- spondence of Calvin H. Wiley. that of Daniel R. Goodloe, the extensive and varied correspondence of Willie P. Mangum and a part of that of Willie P. Mangum, Jr. Speaking roughly. I have perhaps 3000 letters and autographs from men who have been prominent in North Carolina from the Lords Proprietors to the present day."
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During his educational period of which we have spoken, Doctor Weeks had already given to the public the first fruits of his studies in the following monographs: "History of Young Men's Christian Association Movement in North Carolina, 1857-88" (Raleigh, 1888) ; "The Press of North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century" (Brooklyn, 1891) ; "The Lost Colony of Roanoke; its Fate and Survival" (New York, 1891) ; "The Re- ligious Development in the Province of North Carolina" (Balti- more, 1892) ; "Church and State in North Carolina" ( Baltimore, 1893) ; "The History of Negro Suffrage in the South" ( Boston, 1894) ; "General Joseph Martin and the War of the Revolution in the West" (Washington, 1894).
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