USA > North Carolina > Historical and descriptive review of North Carolina, volume 1 > Part 23
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TOWN OF FAYETTEVILLE.
plantation life near Warrenton, N. C., which gave him ample time for reading, a recreation to which he has devoted himself with great diligence and enjoys the reputation of being one of the best informed men of our day.' As a statesman perhaps there is no man in the United States Congress that better represents his constituency, and certainly none who are thought more of by the people of their district. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Con- ventions of 1868 and 1876 and in the former year was Presidential elector. In 1882 he was elected from the Third District of North Carolina after a close contest, and last fall was re- elected by an overwhelming majority of 4,600 odd votes. He has shown himself fully worthy of the confidence reposed in him by the intelligent people of this section of country; has de- livered many weighty and well chosen orations before the house treating some very impor- tant subjects in a manner that showed he was at home in them. Col. Green is generous in thought, liberal in word and prompt in action, and combines with an easy adaptibility to cir- cumstances a pleasing presence which ingratiates him into the good will of those who have the good fortune to know him. He is an authority on grapes and wine making and will mail to any one desiring it an interesting pamphlet on grape culture and the wines of America.
Mr. Allen McBuie under whose careful and systematic management, Tokay has been for many years so successfully conducted, was born in Chatham county, 17th November, 1850. His father and mother were both Scotch, the older children of their family being born in that country. Young McBuie was reared so to speak in a vineyard, and received his education at Buffalo Academy, Moore county. and at Mt. Vernon Springs in Chatham, where he gained considerable knowledge of military science. In his 13th year he left home without his father's knowledge and joined the 7th N. C. regiment in Virginia, being wounded at the bat- tle of the Wilderness, and surrendered at Appomattox with the remnant of Lee's army. At the return of peace, as the man most suited to the position he was sent for by the owner of Tokay, which vineyard under his care and attention soon became one of the leading in America. Mr. McBuie in his practical knowledge of grape growing, wine making, and wines has not perhaps, his superior on the continent. He is characterized for his genial and pleasant inanner, and is a general favorite among the people of Fayetteville. He is an influential Mason and Odd Fellow ; he married in 1872 Miss Josephine Burgess of Randolph, and has two children, a girl and boy, and is admirably suited in every way to successfully manage men and large material and financial interests.
FAYETTEVILLE HOTEL, CHAS. GLOVER, PROPRIETOR.
A first-class and well kept hotel is a most important and valuable addition to any city, and Fayetteville is fortunate in possessing in the above establishment not only a building which does credit to the town, but a manage- ment which at once experienced, energetic and sytematic places the hotel on a par with the best hostelries of the South. The hotel as already said has long been a landmark in this old and wealthy trading centre, and is built in that substantial and spacious fashion which was followed in the glorious days of stage coach and horseflesh travelling. The first floor is divided into a large dining-room, where 150 people can easily sit down to meals, a well appointed office, billiard room, bar where a select stock of table wines, liquors and cigars are kept, barber shop, etc. The 4 sample rooms are the largest and best in the
State. The second floor is devoted to ladies' parlors and large sleeping rooms regally fur- nished and appointed; a public hall where the dancing of the community is done, suitable for 3 or 400 guests is on this floor; while the top story is given up to sleeping apartments. There are 65 lodging rooms, fitted up with latest and most comfortable beds and furnish- ings. About 15 polite and competent hands are employed and the whole working of the institution is such as to reflect credit on its management. Mr. Glover the well known and popular proprietor has conducted the hotel since 1882. He was born in Fayetteville, raised in Clarendon and has been some 7 years in the hotel business. He is a man suited in every way to his important position and is a great success as an entertaining host.
In the war he served 33 years in Star's Artil- lery. He is an active Odd Fellow and his spouse ably seconds him in the management of an institution which recommends itself in every way to the traveling public.
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
WALTER WATSON,
MANUFACTURER OF TURPENTINE AND EDGED TOOLS. DEALER IN HARD- WARE, GUNS, &C. REPAIRING IN ALL ITS BRANCHES.
For now two centuries the English work- shop has held the supremacy in the manu- facture of tools, and to-day countries that have become also conspicuous in this line have in great measure owed their prominence to the backing they have received from the aid of those who were nursed and educated in that little land of smoke and factories. As a striking example of the above conclusion we notice the remarkable career of a gentleman who has from almost nothing worked up a business that ranks in size and popularity with any on the continent.
Mr. Watson was born in Colchester, Essex. served many years with a leading rifle manu- facturing house in London, Deans, Adams & Deans. and in April 1863. came to the U. S., running the blockade at Wilmington, and located in the arsenal town of Fayetteville as a rifle expert. His training soon gained for him a prominent place in the estimation of the Confederate Ordinance, and he became an accepted authority in all matters connected with this department.
After the war he settled down to making turpentine tools, and soon eclipsing all com- petitors, his goods became the standard throughout the whole turpentine country. He las from time to time added new depart- ments to his business, and to-day makes all kinds of carpenters, builders, masons and mechanics tools. When he started, a small bench and one forge was all the accommoda- tion he had, now his premises in size and equipment would do credit to a Pittsburg or a Leeds. His main blacksmithing shop is 30x80 feet. opening off which is the packing room 20x20 and the finishing room of same dimensions : he has other two blacksmiths shops each 20x80 feet, besides various other storage and outhouses too numerous to notice in detail. His factory is provided with every known facility and every mechanical inven- tion used in this line of manufacture, and in fact he has several improvements in ma- chinery of his own which are not known to the outside world. His 42 hands include men of life experience in their special departments, who all being under the immediate direction of the proprietor himself, work with the har- mony, rapidity and ease of a military organi- zation. A first class engine of 18 horse power runs this array of machinery, which is con- sidered one of the sights of Fayetteville. There are turned out from this establishment all kinds of edged tools, though the specialty of the house are those used in the turpentine industry, in which branch the concern stands as the leading one of the U. S.
Mr. Watson has invented and patented many tools in this line, his " Open Hacker," "Combined Scraper and Shove Down," and "Puller" being among the most noticeable.
It is irrelevant to the subject here to enter into a detailed list of the tools which include every species of cutlery and mechanical in- strument used in the industries and daily life of the civilized and even the savage nations of the known world. A full catalogue with beautiful illustrations of the principal ones, will be mailed free on request.
It is hardly necessary for us to say these tools for lightness, strength, shape, finish and durability, have not their superior and rival the finest products of the Sheffield factories. They are sold to the largest jobbers in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Or- leans, and all the larger cities of the South. through which they find their way into every quarter of the inhabited globe.
Mr. Watson had an exhibit at the N. C. Exposition in connection with the State De- partment of Agriculture, also at Boston, in 1882, and at the present New Orleans Expo- sition. This exhibit, which includes all the products of the turpentine free and the tools used in that industry will hereafter be per- manently on exhibition in the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C.
This enterprising gentleman also conducts a large wholesale and retail hardware busi- ness and carries a full and complete stock, valued at some $10,000, of all kinds of domes- tic and foreign made goods in this line, in- cluding nails, bolts, iron and steel, guns, rifles and pistols, in which latter line he enjoys a reputation and sells over the whole south. He is agent for Lafin & Rand's famous sporting powder, and Herrings celebrated safes.
Mr. Watson is one of that kind of men to whom America owes her national prominence among the nations of the world. Endowed with that aptitude for and knowledge of his business only acquired by the long and labo- rious application of a quick and naturally mechanical mind, by strict attention to his affairs, he has long ago taken his place as one of the most enterprising of Fayetteville's men, and as a leader in the manufacturing world of the Old North State of whose like had she her compliment. North Carolina would take a proud position among the wealthier and happier States of this union.
With a name famous throughout the con- tinent, Mr. Watson is also sociably an influ- ential and popular member of home circles. He is a Mason. many years a Steward in the Methodist church. He married in 1863 Miss Virginia Elam, of Fayetteville, has a family of 4 girls and 2 boys, and his easy and com- panionable manner serve to complete his many qualities as a man and citizen.
A. B. WILLIAMS & CO., COMMISSION MERCHANTS, COTTON AND NAVAL STORES.
As the largest inland house in our State handling the great products of our soil, the yield of the long-leafed pine and cotton plant, the above firm commands distinguished notice at our hands. They occupy on the main street
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TOWN OF FAYETTEVILLE.
of Fayetteville a handsome 3-story building 52 ft. high 70x100 ft. in extent, the largest structure in town, twostories of which is used for business purposes. The third floor is an opera hall seated for 900 persons. They han- dle annually some 12,000 bales of fleecy sta- ple, about 6,000 barrels of spirits, and 40,000
of rosin, and their general relations with planters and customers are most satisfactory. They also do a large commission business, principaliy in groceries and feed-stuffs, ex- tending over a wide territory in North and South Carolina. This business was founded about 1840 by John D. Williams, who is gen- erally regarded as one of those men that have made this town the great market for this section of the country. He was born in Chatham county ; he started 30 years ago the Clarendon Bank, and is President of its suc- cessor the Fayetteville National Bank. IIe has always personally held the respect of the people, is Chairman of Board of the District, is President of the N. C. Improvement Com- pany, and has many years been a prominent member of the Presbyterian body. In 1875 his son joined the firm. and in 1881 the pre- sent name was adopted. Capt. A. B. Wil- liams possesses his father's astonishing abil- ity as a financier, and is well suited to propa- gate and augment the high material and honorably place the firm has always held, He is a native of Fayetteville, for four years gallantly served the Confedercy, first as a 2d Lieut. in the regular troops and later com- manded a light artillery battery of Hill's Corps. He was wounded at Spottsylvania, was six months laid up, again took to the field and surrendered at Appomattox. He has been Mayor of the town, and personally a pleasant gentleman, is, without invidious comparisons, perhaps the most popular man in Fayetteville. He married Miss Whitted of Bladen county, and has a family of 3 sons and 5 daughters.
The house is also interested in the steamers on the river, owns about 1000 acres of cotton
and corn farms. They also own and run the Cottton Seed Oil Mill here. They started this two years ago, the first in the State ; the ca- pacity is 10 tons of seed daily, and the oil commands a ready sale in the New York mar- ket, while the meal for stock and fertilizer is easily disposed of in the surrounding country. 25 hands are employed, an engine of 60-horse power drives the machinery, which is the lat- est and most approved ; the concern, like everything this house puts its hand to, has proven a financial success. and they are ready to consume and pay good prices for all the seed parties will ship them. In conclusion. it is but just to expect that this financial fabric. a pillar of Fayetteville's prosperity in the past and present, will long live to be an extensive motor and solid bulwark in her future prosperity.
E. J. LILLY, President. BEAVER CREEK AND BLUFF MILLS.
LEI
Men who give both impress and impulse to commercial history are not only the abstract chroniclers of their day, but the guides of the people in mercantile education and heralds of the broad progress that marks the paths of trade. The true American statesmen, of broad views and successful action, are the leading merchants, the founders and the heads of great commercial and manufacturing en- terprises. It is, therefore, with more than ordinary satisfaction that we pen this histori- cal sketch of one who has made a rare record of mercantile success and gained an enviable position among the commercial leaders of the age in this State and country and who fur- nishes an encouraging example to the actors yet young in the exciting drama of modern mercantile life.
Mr. E. J. Lilly moved to Fayetteville from his native county Montgomery in 1831. He first entered the house of Henry L. Jones,
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STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
was later with James Jones, then clerked with John McArn from whose employ in 1836 lie branched out into business for him- self. With a capital of $2,000 largely saved out of his five years earnings as an employee he started near the market house and as years went on he from time to time improved and enlarged his premises and increased his trans- action till he took the lead as the largest dry goods house in town. He handled dry goods. clothing, boots and shoes, hats and caps, and shipped them over the whole State, besides doing an extensive local retail trade. When the civil war ended, undaunted by the misfor- tunes that the ravages of hostile armies had brought upon this city, the seat of a Confed- erate arsenal, and the unsettled state of the country, Mr. Lilly prepared himself for still greater achievements and bought the large three-story building he still occupies for stor- age of his mill's goods. It has a highly orna- mented iron front, is 30x75 feet in extent. is fire proof and substantially built.
In 1874 Mr. Lilly retired from the worry- ing cares of retail trade and a few years later, unsuited by an active career to remain alto- gether idle, bought, in partnership with his brother Henry, the Beaver Creek and Bluff mills, as President of which he has since en- joyed that easy business life, the just inheri- tance of those who amass capital by hard work, financial foresight and above all sterl- ing integrity.
These two mills are located about seven miles from Fayetteville, one and one-half miles from the C. F. & Y. V. R. R. They stand within three-quarters of a mile of one another and are situated on streams with a superabundance of water power. The Beaver Creek factory one of the oldest in the South runs 3,232 spindles and 71 looms, consumes about 1,510 pounds of cotton per day, produc- ing 40 bundles of yarn and 3,391 yards of sheet- ings. This is a four-story frame building. the machinery being run by a 60 inch Tur- bine wheel. 1t is lighted by a Springfield gas machine (80 burners) and heated by a 25 horse-power engine. The Bluff factory is three-story brick, built in 1872 and has con- tiguous to it boiler house, cotton storage warehouse, gas house, etc. This is also run by a 60 inch Turbine, has 3.056 spindles and 62 looms, consumes about 1,340 pounds of cotton and produces 3,622 yards of sheeting daily; the machinery here is also of modern pattern. The mills employ a well organized army of some 150-60 competent operatives who with their dependencies make up a com- fortable town of 500 or 600 inhabitants. There are 1.736 acres of land and 50 odd tene- ment houses belonging to the factories, and two stores supply the hands with the neces- saries of life. The mills turn out a fine class of three-yard sheetings, and number seven and ten yarns; also cotton paddings. The products are very popular about one-half of them, including all the yarns, are sold in North Carolina. The New York agents are Woodward, Baldwin & Co., and in Baltimore Woodward, Baldwin & Norris, through whose
hands the "Lake Gorge " and "Lebanon " 4-4 heavy brown sheetings of the Beaver Creek and Bluff mills find their way through- out the world. A stock of these goods are kept in the store in Fayetteville where the president has his office. This gentleman is ably assisted by his son, Dr. H. W. Lilly, and until recently by Mr. John Shaw who was for many years his most confidential em- ployee and second; he died on the 13th March universally respected by the community.
Mr. Lilly was President of the Fayetteville Bank towards the end of the war and is share- holder in the North Carolina Improvement Co. He is generally conceded one of the wealthiest individuals in Cumberland co. He has been 40 years a steward in the Methodist Church: he married, in 1840. Miss Leak of Rockingham, Richmond co., and has a fami- ly of seven, five daughters and two sons. His elder son is in business in Wilmington, and the second one has been already spoken of. He is a physician by profession practiced three years till his father called him in to help him. He was educated at Randolph Macon. and studied medicine at the University of Virginia, and Bellevue, New York, where he was also two years resident physician in Blackwell's Island Hospital.
S. J. HINSDALE, DRUGGIST.
It is a singular fact, but one no less true, that the drug trade is almost invariably conducted by men who individually are prominent and influential factors in the community where they happily reside. Here we have a striking example of the truth of our remarks and we are consequently called upon to note on these pages, the gentleman, one of the best known citizens of Fayetteville, whose fami- liar name forms the caption of this sketch.
Sam. Johnson Hinsdale was born in Middle-
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TOWN OF FAYETTEVILLE.
ton, C'onn., in which town he learned his pro- fession, being five years in the business there; after a year at Bridgeport, Conn,, moved to N. Y. city, entered the house of Rushton Aspinwall and attended lectures at the College of Pharmacy there. He received his diploma in 1838 and remained in all three years in the Empire City. from where he moved to Buffalo, N. Y. After 3 years in business there he came South in 1843, settling in the then young, Honrishing and progressive town of Fayette- ville. He at once started in business and naturally soon built np a large custom which he has over since continued to enjoy. The doctor is the father of the drug business here, the founders of the other three establishments having been all clerks of his.
In 1851 he built the store he still occupies on the corner of the market square. This has long been looked upon as one of the land- marks of the town, and is fitted with all the conveniences for carrying on business. Mr. Hinsdale also has warehouses in the rear and several separate rooms used for laboratory purposes. His stock contains a full line of foreign and domestic drugs and chemicals. paints and oils, all the standard proprietary medicines, perfumery and toilet articles and fancy goods; also garden and field seeds and fertilizing chemicals, by the purchase of which farmers can compost their own fertilizers, and in fact everything found in a first-class estab- lishment. It is hardly necessary for us to say that all goods are well selected and of the best manufacture, and that special care is taken in the prescription department, the long stand- ing of the house being a sufficient guarantee thereof. Dr. Hinsdale is one of the best known and most valued members of the pro- fession in this State. He has always been an ardent student and now gives much attention to the study and advance of chemical science. Ile has a full library of all the latest scientific works connected with the profession, and more than that he uses them to great purpose, for in his knowledge of drugs and questions on medical jurisprudence he is considered one of the best authorities in North Carolina.
He has been many years a member of the National Pharmaceutical Association, and has in the natural course of events been President of the State Society.
The doctor is one of those easy and affable men who are often heard of but seldom met. He is very influential in the community, has been many years Warden of the Episcopal Church, and resides 1 mile from town.
He married in 1841 a Fayetteville lady, a. daughter of the late I. Wetmore, cashier of the Bank of the State, and has 2 children, one the well known Raleigh lawyer, the other the wife of Judge James C. MacRae.
A. A. McKETHAN & SONS, CARRIAGE MANUFACTURERS.
Among the various branches of manufac- turing industry there is none older or more important than that of carriage and wagon
making, and as a consequence we find large and well founded establishments engaged in this line in the larger centres of trade. As the possessor of the above institution, per- haps the oldest, certainly one of the largest in the Sonth, Fayetteville may well be proud for to this house does she largely owe that solid reputation she has long enjoyed as a manufacturing and supplying centre for a large section of this State.
Mr. A. A. McKethan, one of the most re- spected of Fayetteville's citizens, started the business in 1832 on a comparatively small scale. His reputation as a carriage builder, however, soon became known, and his trade steadily and surely grew till he included in his territory all the Southern States of the continent. After the war, in 1866, he was joined by his two sons, Hector and A. A. Jr., the present style name being adopted. In 1883 the older of the sons died leaving A. A. Jr., who now mostly attends to the running of the concern. They occupy on Person street large premises, covering more than an acre of ground, which are well divided into separate departments. All the buildings are of brick, 2 stories. That on the main street is used as a repository for the house's own manufactures and here one finds a line of buggies, rockaways, carriages, etc., of a. variety and style only to be equalled in metro- politan cities, while the quality and finish of the workmanship puts the vehicles beyond compare. We have travelled all over the Southern States and we can conscientiously say that we have yet to see a stock of fine light carriages equal to those of Messrs. Mc Kethan of Fayetteville. In fact for those wishing something strong, durable and nicely finished, either for family or business purpo- ses, in this line, we would consider a visit to this establishment well spent. Upstairs in this same building is the trimming shop. To the right of this we have 3 buildings in a row; the first is the wood working department and upstairs paint shop; next is used for storage of stock and the third is the show room for the cheap Cincinnati buggies and wagons, which the house is compelled to keep to meet
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the demands of a certain class of trade. The blacksmith shop is in the middle of the yard, while another structure for the storage of lumber and raw material completes the whole. We need hardly say the various shops are provided with the latest and most approved appliances for manufacturing. Twenty work- men who have all been many years with the firm are employed; work is done entirely by the hand, consequently the marked superiority of the vehicles turned out from this factory. Though of late years this house has had strong competition from the cheap Western makes that have overrun this country, we are glad to learn that the people here have been awakened (by sad experience) to the fact that even with buggies and wagons all is not gold that glitters, and a low price means a correspondingly inferior make. Their trade is again beginning to attain the limits it former- ly enjoyed, and many of the old customers of the firm as far West as Texas, having spent much loose cash in Cincinnati products, are coming back to solid investments in A A. Mc Kethan's well tried manufacture.
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