USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 37
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and enjoy it to the utmost in all her varying moods in the woods and by the gentle flowing streams of his Eastern home. Like many prosperous farmers of that period, Doctor Whitehead's father bred and reared good horses. The breaking of these fur- nished an outlet for some of the boy's pent-up energy, and culti- vated a love for the race horse, that noble animal illustrating to his mind more fully than anything else his own conception of intense energy in action. During his vacations from the neighborhood country schools, he helped at times actively in the cultivation of his father's farm, gaining thereby a knowledge and experience in agri- cultural interests that have served him many useful purposes. It not only strengthened his muscles and expanded his youthful mind, but taught him the nobility and dignity of human labor. To this he added the proud satisfaction of having been of material help to his father and mother, lifting, although a mere boy, many burdens and cares from their minds. The work on the farm early demon- strated to his mind the necessity and begot the habit of exercising judicious economy. He was taught to recognize that the profits on farm products were generally small even under the best condi- tions. He was also taught the proper respect and sympathy for the laboring man. The care of animals intensified the spirit of innate kindliness and pity not only for the helpless dumb beast, but in after years for his fellow-mortals. Very much of his success in after life can well be attributed to the lessons in economy and in- dustry learned during his early days spent on the farm. But a small boy at the outbreak of the war, he attended the country schools dur- ing that period, and at its finish one year at Graves and one year at Horner's School, Oxford, where he studied the full course, in- cluding the classics, taught at that institution. He was obliged to leave school to work for two years at the time he began to feel the greatest need for an education, and after working for this period, at the immature age of nineteen, when his father's property had been swept away by the fortunes of war, moved by the strong and generous impulse to provide comforts for his mother, all conscious of its grave responsibilities and heavy cares, he took up his life's work-the study of medicine. This he diligently pursued for two
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years at the medical department of the University of Maryland. Graduating from that college in the class of 1870, he located for the practice of medicine at Battleboro, a small village on the At- lantic Coast Line Railroad. The usual drawbacks to the young physician attended him, but patience, industry, prudence and ever- increasing knowledge of his art gradually overcame these in a few years and brought to him a large country practice among the best people of that intelligent and thrifty community. Confidence in himself begot the confidence of his patients.
He has been twice married and happily : first to Miss Bettie C. Powell, January 16, 1872, and second to Miss Bettie M. Marriott, now living, the daughter of Doctor Robert Marriott, a high-class physician of the old school, November 29, 1882. Two children were born from each marriage : one, a son, Doctor Joseph White- head, his father's partner, an accomplished and competent young physician, and inheriting much of his father's talent and profes- sional zeal. For twenty-one years at Battleboro and the country surrounding, Doctor Whitehead worked faithfully and well, gain- ing an enviable reputation as a general practitioner and surgeon, performing many operations requiring great moral courage and skill far beyond that of the general practitioner. Much of his work was single-handed and alone. In 1875 he allied himself with the State Medical Society, at once taking the most intense interest in all the work and progress of that body. Attending regularly its yearly meetings, he was recognized by its ablest members as well fitted for any position within its gift. He was elected by one of the most flattering votes ever accorded a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners, and by that board unanimously its president. . This was the highest gift and gravest trust belonging to the State Medical Society. His term of office lasted from 1890-96. He was the examiner in surgery. His large experience had thoroughly fitted him for the work in this most important branch of medicine. His examinations were recognized as of the most practical kind and characterized by a spirit of perfect fairness to the applicant for license. The rejected candidate never complained at Doctor Whitehead's decision as to his unfitness, and expressed his
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belief of having had even-handed justice from him. His fidelity to his work, gentle and thoughtful courtesy to the other members of the board, and fairness to the young applicants won for him many new, and served to strengthen the ties of attachment of old friends. Doctor Whitehead has been urged many times to accept the presidency of the State Medical Society, but always firmly declined that honor, and gladly gave place to one of his many friends, thus showing a rare degree of unselfishness and sacrifice to the interests of others.
Attracted by his reputation as a surgeon, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company appointed him chief surgeon to its hospital at Rocky Mount, to which place he moved and has lived since 1891, enjoying a large and lucrative practice in that progressive and rapidly growing town, and being the chief consultant to the physi- cians of the adjacent towns. He is local surgeon to the Southern Railway, and consulting surgeon to the Pittman Sanitarium at Tarboro, North Carolina. He is also special surgeon to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. This position was created for him, he being the first to occupy it. It is one of high trust and grave responsibility, its duties requiring skill, knowledge of men, tact, and at times delicate and intricate diplomacy. No better qualified physician could fill this office. The position carries with it, as it should, a handsome salary, and is considered a life-long engagement.
Doctor Whitehead is a Mason, Knight Templar, Shriner, Odd Fellow and Elk, and feels great interest in each of these orders- especially of the high purposes of Masonry.
His religious affiliations are with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he has been a life-long Democrat. While taking an active interest in county and State politics, he has never held or wished to hold, a political office, and has repeatedly re- fused all overtures in this direction.
He is a member of the State Board of Health, this being a branch of the State Medical Society. In 1902 he was appointed by Governor Aycock a director of the State Hospital for the In- sane at Raleigh.
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To the management of this institution he has brought his years of accumulated business experience. His judicious counsel is sought and highly valued by his fellow members. His sympathies for the poor unfortunates under his directorship are fully enlisted, and the best effort of his life is now being exerted for the lighten- ing of their affliction. He was active in securing the necessary appropriation for the building of additional room by which one hundred and twenty-five more female patients can be admitted.
In whatever cause his interest or sympathy is enlisted, it can be safely said that he is never satisfied or relaxes his vigilance. To his persistence in many lines of effort is due his marked suc- cess in all of his life's undertakings. In all of the various branches of medicine he is widely and thoroughly read, but his love for surgery has directed his reading more fully in that branch. To keep pace with all of its wonderful and rapid advancement in late years, he has taken two post-graduate courses in surgery at differ- ent periods at the most modern and best equipped New York hospitals. As an operative and consulting surgeon, and authority upon surgical subjects, he has but few equals and no superior in the State. His great physical strength, power to resist fatigue, coolness, self-possession in emergencies, capacity to think clearly and quickly have made him the successful surgeon. Coupled with these attributes of the surgeon, he has a broad mental grasp and sound judgment. With no vagaries, no hobbies, and a follower of no fads, he accepts in science all that has been proven.
Although a lover of general literature, because of his work but little time has been given him to indulge in its pleasures. His sincerity, candor and cheerful help to his brother practitioners always appeal to their respect and confidence. His high profes- sional and personal honor, added to his consideration for the young doctors, has made his help widely sought for by that class. Doctor Whitehead is methodical and systematic in matters of busi- ness. and by industry, economy and judicious investments has laid by a competence for his advancing years.
He has always been held in high esteem for his executive ca- pacity, and his advice has been sought by his friends in matters
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of business. He is public-spirited and eager for the advancement of the interests of his community.
He is genial and social in his nature, companionable, a warm and sincere friend. Courageous, physically and morally, inde- pendent in spirit and action, with well pronounced opinions as to men and measures, he has never "bent the pregnant hinges of his knee where thrift might follow fawning." But he is tolerant of the opinions of others. Of striking personal appearance, he is courtly and dignified in manner without any show of pomposity. He is charitable to the poor and afflicted, without ostentation, and has given largely of his time and services to that unfortunate class. He is generous to his friends, kind and affectionate to his family. His hospitality is so marked that the "latch string to his house hangs outdoors."
Still in the prime of vigorous manhood, long years of honor and usefulness should be left him.
L. J. Picot.
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HUGH WILLIAMSON
ORTH CAROLINA has always warmly wel- comed strangers within her borders. In the de- N velopment of a new country it follows naturally that the few natives who have had opportunities of education sufficient to make them leaders must be assisted by new blood from the out- side in the organization and upbuilding of infant commonwealths. The history of North Carolina in this respect is more like that of the newer States than of the older ones. True the State was set- tled as early as 1663, but the settlements were few and far be- tween, and there was hardly a continuous and certainly not a har- monious development. Add to this the further fact that no other American colony saw its efforts for local self-government and control more frequently and ruthlessly broken into than North Carolina, and we have some of the reasons why her development was retarded. It is true to say that the period from which the real growth of North Carolina may be said to date is much nearer 1763 than it is 1663, and this will account for the further fact that so few of her leaders in the Revolution were natives. Thus Har- vey, Hawkins. Moore, Ashe, Bloodworth, Blount, Harnett, Hill, Allen and Willie Jones, Sitgreaves, and Spaight were natives, while Caswell, Martin, Person, Penn, Hooper, Hewes, Henderson, Davie, Johnston, Iredell. Burke, Nash, John Williams (of Gran- ville), Sumner, and Williamson were natives of other States or countries.
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But while North Carolina has welcomed outsiders to her fire- side, the conditions of her settlement and growth have not been such as to make her as attractive a residence to men of thought as to those of action. Being a rural State, with no large cities then or now, with no large collections of books or other literary or scientific materials where investigations might be conducted, with no literary feeling and no sympathy for scholarship, she could offer few inducements to a man of the scholarly tastes and habits of Hugh Williamson, and yet, by reason of inherent ability and sheer force of character, he made while in the State a most worthy reputation for usefulness.
The parents of Hugh Williamson were John Williamson, an in- dustrious tradesman of Dublin, and Mary Davison, a native of County Derry. They came to America about 1730 and are thought to have been of Scotch-Irish stock. It is certain that they showed the qualities of frugality. honesty, industry, and fear of God which have characterized that remarkable people. Hugh, the eldest son, was born in West Nottingham township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, December 5, 1735. His preliminary edu- cational training was received at the academy established at New London Cross Roads by the Reverend Francis Alison, and after leaving this school he devoted himself closely to the study of the mathematical sciences. He entered the first class of the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) in 1753; at the first commencement of the college in 1757 he received the degree of A.B., and while a student had been employed as a teacher in both the Latin and English schools.
In the choice of a profession Williamson's thoughts first turned to the ministry. In 1759 he went to Connecticut to pursue theo- logical studies, was licensed, and admitted as a member of the Presbytery of Philadelphia. He preached for about two years only, was never ordained, and never took charge of a congrega- tion. His leaving the ministry seems to have been caused in part by ill-health and in part by the quarrel then agitating the Presby- terian Church between the followers of Whitefield, or New Lights, and the old orthodox party.
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In 1760 Williamson was made an A. M. by the College of Phila- delphia and appointed professor of mathematics. This position he heid for about three years and then resigned. In 1764 he sailed for Europe and entered the University of Edinburgh as a medical student ; he studied also in London and then in Utrecht, from which university he received his medical degree. On his re- turn to America he practised for some years in Philadelphia with success ; but his health, always more or less delicate, and his natu- ral tendency towards speculative studies, drew him off from medi- cine, induced him to embark in mercantile pursuits, and later brought him to North Carolina. In the meantime his philosophi- cal studies were eagerly followed. He was a member of the com- mittee appointed by the American Philosophical Society to ob- serve the transit of Venus across the sun's disk June 3, 1769. He wrote the report of that committee and also published numer- ous other papers on kindred subjects in the "Transactions" of the society. He was also on the committee to observe the transit of Mercury, November 9, 1769, was interested in the comet of that year, and evolved a comet theory of his own. His publications on this and similar subjects in abstract science brought him recog- nition from the scientific men of Europe and the degree of LL.D. from the University of Leyden.
In 1772 Doctor Williamson made a tour of the West Indies in the interests of an academy at Newark, Delaware, of which he was a trustee ; in 1773 a tour for a similar purpose was undertaken in England, Scotland, and Ireland. It was during this tour that, by a bold stroke of diplomacy, he came into possession of the Hut- chison-Oliver letters, which when published in the colonies tend- ed still more to widen the growing breach with the Mother Coun- try, and Lord North is reported to have said that Williamson was the first man to suggest to him civil war as the logical conclusion of the policy which he was then pursuing.
Williamson returned to America March 15, 1777, and found the American army organized and every position on the medical staff that he could with propriety accept already filled. He thereupon resolved to retire to private life, and undertook a mercantile specu-
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lation to Charleston, South Carolina, with a younger brother. The brother sailed to the West Indies, and Dr. Williamson, with as- sistance, purchased a sloop in Charleston, loaded her with a suit- able cargo for Baltimore, and ordered her to stop at Edenton, North Carolina, then a port of considerable importance. In the meantime General Howe had entered the Chesapeake on his way to Philadelphia, and this fact determined Williamson to remain in Edenton, from which he traded to the neutral islands of the West Indies and resumed the practice of medicine. It was not long be- fore he acquired the confidence of the people of Edenton, and was soon invited to New-Bern to try the newly discovered remedy of vaccination.
It does not appear that Williamson entered public life in North Carolina till 1780, when the State was preparing to send aid to Charleston, where General Lincoln was then besieged. In Octo- ber, 1779, the Assembly had passed an act by which the Governor was authorized to send 3000 men to the aid of South Carolina and Georgia. In April, 1780, the Assembly passed an act by which 4000 men were to be enlisted for three months and sent to South Carolina, and a supplementary act under which 8000 others were to be sent later if "absolutely necessary." Of the levy of 4000 North Carolina militia Richard Caswell was made major-general, and he appointed Williamson his surgeon-general (North Caro- lina State Records, XIV, 452). From this time till the end of the war Williamson was intimately connected with the North Carolina troops and served them faithfully and well. He was at the disas- trous defeat at Camden, made a report on the wounded and prison- ers there, and of his own motion was sent with a flag of truce to care for the sick and wounded who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. He remained with them two months, rendered essen- tial service, and was held in such high esteem by the British that he was called in as consulting physician during the illness of a general officer.
In the Fall of 1780, the British having taken possession of Nor- folk and Portsmouth, Virginia, a camp of American troops under the command of General Isaac Gregory, who had done good work
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with the raw militia of Eastern North Carolina at Camden, was established on the borders of the Dismal Swamp. By special re- quest Williamson was permitted to serve with him, and as a win- ter campaign was expected he was anxious to see how far atten- tion to diet, dress, and lodgings would preserve the health of the troops. By giving particular attention to diet, sanitation, and sleeping quarters Williamson so far overcame the silent foe of armies that in six months, with from 500 to 1200 men in camp, only two died from disease and none were furloughed on account of sickness.
This work seems to have closed the career of Williamson as an army surgeon in the field. He was now to render the same sort of valuable service in the council chamber. He was a Member of the Assembly from Edenton in 1782 and from Chowan County in 1785; when in the legislature he became at once a working men- ber and took high rank. He served on the committees on privi- leges and elections, propositions and grievances, on depreciation, on North Carolina Line, on claims, and on many special commit- tees; was active in the introduction of measures which were thought to be of advantage to eastern North Carolina, and in 1785 brought in and secured the passage of a bill for securing literary property -- an early instance of a copyright law. (North Caro- lina State Records, XVII, 281.)
That Williamson impressed his fellow-legislators is evident by . the fact that as early as May, 1782, he was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. This honor he accepted and was in Philadelphia as early as July 27, 1782, perhaps as early as June (North Carolina State Records, XVI, 338, 630). He was elected again in April, 1783, and in April, 1784, and so served three terms continuously.
He was appointed with others as one of the commissioners to meet at Annapolis in September, 1786, to consider the trade of the States and of the United States. Nash, Blount, and Williamson accepted appointments, but the latter was the only one who actu- ally represented North Carolina. He collected statistics on ex- ports and commerce for use there, but poor traveling facilities kept
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him from reaching the city before the Convention rose on Sep- tember 14th. Of this service he says :
"As I accepted of this appointment from a zealous desire to promote the mercantile interests of this State, I should on the same principles have attempted faithfully to discharge the duties of the appointment. though they had been much more arduous, without the expectation of reward." (N. C. S. R. XVIII., 772-3, 655.)
The Annapolis Convention of 1786 was of importance only as it led up to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, of which William- son was appointed a member by Governor Caswell in March, 1787, vice Willie Jones, who declined to serve. The Constitution is signed on behalf of North Carolina by William Blount, R. D. Spaight, and H. Williamson, although Alexander Martin and W. R. Davie were present during some of the sessions. Williamson was present in Philadelphia as early as June 14, 1787, and there as elsewhere he showed by his devotion his "constant and sincere de- sire to serve the State."
There was present here, as everywhere else, the unseemly scramble which has always disgraced our political annals for power between the North and the South, and Williamson came up to the full measure of his duty in supporting as thoroughly as might be the interests of his adopted State.
In December, 1787, Williamson was again chosen a delegate in the Continental Congress, and was still planning to be at his post when the Old Congress died of inanition in 1789, for on March 9th of that year he writes to Governor Johnston :
"On the fourth instant . . . sundry members of the New Congress . met: . . . since that time the members of the Old Con- gress have not attempted to form a House; some of them are in the New Congress, the remainder are chiefly gone home." (N. C. S. R. XXI, 533.)
In his capacity as delegate in the Continental Congress William- son was a steady worker and a tireless correspondent who kept the executive of North Carolina informed of everything that
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seemed of State or public interest, seasoned with occasional flashes of wit or biting sarcasm. His letters show a devotion to the in- terests of the State which no other man could have surpassed. Painfully diligent in business and even morbidly eager to gain the good-will of his fellow-citizens, a reading of his letters while in the Continental Congress must be followed by an increased admira- tion for the man who wrote them. As he himself expresses it : "With whatever fidelity or abilities I may serve the State, the journals will show that I have not eaten the bread of idleness ;" and again : "Whatever inclination I may have had occasionally to borrow a holiday, I have it in my power to assure you that from the time I received the instructions of the State I have not been ab- sent from the Chamber of Congress a single day at the usual time of meeting, lest the forming of a Congress should chance to be prevented, and the interests of the State suffer by such absence." (N. C. S. R. XX, 495 and XXI, 534.)
In December, 1788, Williamson was elected along with Abishai Thomas by the Assembly as agent to superintend the settlement of the army accounts between North Carolina and the United States. He was then in the Continental Congress, but his duties as dele- gate were nil, for the Old Congress was dying. He worked on the accounts during 1789 and 1790, resigning in December, 1790. He reports time and again on the carelessness with which North Carolina had conducted the raising of troops. While other States sent not a militiaman into the field without obtaining in advance orders from the Continental Congress or from the proper Conti- nental officer, North Carolina poured out such troops whenever there was need and rushed them into service-patriotic but re- gardless of history and accounts. The result was that North Carolina was in danger of losing for lack of sufficient proofs much of the money justly due her for Continental services. William- . son urged the collection of muster rolls and similar documentary evidence of service, and we are no doubt largely indebted to him for the small amount of material of this sort which we possess on our first War of Independence.
Doctor Williamson was not a member of the Convention which
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