USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 101
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December 22, 1892, at Burgaw in Pender Coun- ty, Mr. Stevens married Fanny Walker, daughter of Edward DeCoin Walker, of French Huguenot ancestry, and Sarah Victoria Register, of Scotch- Irish and English descent. Her family figured in all the wars of the United States including the Revolution.
Having now secured that degree of prosperity which represents freedom from anxiety for the future, Mr. Stevens thinks less and less of his own career and more and more follows day after day the growing prospects and the interesting achievements of his two young sons. The older, Henry Leonidas Stevens, Jr., born January 27, 1896, is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and in 1917 entered the officers' training
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yours truly A LStevens
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camp and was commissioned a lieutenant, and is now assigned as a member of the 316th Machine Gun Battalion, U. S. A., stationed at Camp Jack- son, Columbia, South Carolina. The younger son, Elliott Walker Stevens, is eighteen years of age, and is registered as a Bachelor of Science medical student in the freshman class of the University of North Carolina. Prior to entering the university he graduated from the Warsaw High School and then entered the "Citadel," the Military College of South Carolina, remaining there for one year.
CLARENCE ALFRED JOHNSON, who was born at Raleigh March 25, 1877, a son of Demsey Taylor and Texanna (Foushee) Johnson, is a man of great energy aud capability, a statement that is proved by his numerous influential business and civic relations. For a man not yet forty years of age he has attained an enviable prominence in the business affairs of his native state.
He was educated in public schools, in the Raleigh Male Academy and in a business college, and his first work after leaving school was as clerk in a fire insurance company. Later he became cashier, and in 1906 became associated with his brother Arthur R. D. Johnson in the organization of the corporation Johnson & Johnson Co., merchandise brokers, coal, ice and brick dealers and manu- facturers. Since then he has been vice president of this business.
He is secretary and treasurer of the Cherokee Brick Company, secretary and treasurer of the Standard Ice Company and in addition to all these demands upon his time and energy has been an efficient worker in the city government.
For four years he was on the board of alder- men of Raleigh, from 1909 to 1912 inclusive. While an alderman he was chairman of the fire commit- tee, and during that time the fire department was reorganized and put on a paid service basis. He was also an alderman when the water board ac- quired by purchase the city waterworks from a private corporation, and he performed an import- ant service in looking after many of the compli- cated business details of this transaction.
Mr. Johnson is a member and former president of the Raleigh Country Club, belongs to the Capital Club, and has membership in several fishing clubs. He is a past grand regent of the Royal Arcanum, is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and of the Rotary Club.
On April 15, 1903, he was married at Morgan- ton, North Carolina, to Miss Kate A. Burr. They have two children: Clarence Alfred, Jr., and Frederick Burr.
ARTHUR R. D. JOHNSON. Few business men in the state represent more important interests than Arthur R. D. Johnson, of Raleigh. He is presi- dent and treasurer of the Johnson & Johnson Com- pany.
For a number of years Mr. Johnson was asso- ciated with John S. Johnson under the firm name of Johnson & Johnson. In 1906, at the death of the other partner, the present corporation was organized, and Mr. Arthur Johnson has since been its president and treasurer. Another party to the organization of the company was C. A. Johnson, a brother, who was vice president.
While this is one of the strong and influential commercial organizations of Raleigh, Mr. Johnson has other connections with the business and civic life of North Carolina. He is president of the Standard Icc Company, vice president of the Car-
olina Ice Company, president of the Cherokee Brick Company, director of the Commercial National Bank and the Wake County Savings Bank, and is a member of the capital and the Country clubs and the Chamber of Commerce at Raleigh.
Arthur R. D. Johnson was born in Chatham County, North Carolina, October 10, 1872, a son of Demsey T. and Texanna (Foushee) Johuson. His father was a merchant, and the family in both lines have long been prominent iu North Carolina. Mr. Johnson's parents moved from Chatham Coun- ty in 1875 to reside in Raleigh, and he attended the public schools of Raleigh and the Raleigh Male Academy, and in 1890 graduated from East- man Business College of Poughkeepsie, New York.
November 25, 1896, he married Miss Mary Vic- toria Harris, of Franklin County, North Carolina. They are the parents of four children: James Foushee, Arthur Taylor, Charlotte Elizabeth and Frank Harris.
CAPT. FRANK BROWN. Standing prominent among the more highly esteemed and respected cit- izens in Rowan County is Capt. Frank Brown, of Salisbury, a man of integrity and ability, whose life has been broadened by extensive travel and by wide contact with public men and public affairs. A son of the late Thomas E. Brown, he was born in Rowan County, on the Bringles Ferry Road, about two miles from Salisbury.
His grandfather, Allen Brown, was born, it is supposed, in England. Immigrating to America, he settled near Fayetteville, North Carolina, at an early day, before there were any railways in this section of the country. He made a business for several years of transporting goods on flat boats from Wilmington to Fayetteville, from whence they were hauled by teams to the interior. Coming from there to Rowan County in 1840, he spent his last years here, his remains being buried in the Union Churchyard. He reared seven children, John D., Thomas, Elizabeth, James V., Andrew, William and Henry T.
Thomas E. Brown, the second child of his par- ents, was born in Cumberland County, North Car- olina, near Fayetteville, in 1821, and as a young man came to Rowan County to live. Purchasing a plantation and a saw mill two miles south of Salisbury, he resided there until 1855, when he moved to Salisbury. He had previous to that time opened a livery stable on East Fisher Street, be- tween Lee and Main streets, and was operating it with slaves. Having taken the contract to carry mail from Salisbury to Olin, Iredell County, he was exempt from military service in the Civil war. He subsequently went to Denton, Texas, where he lived a while, having purchased and improved property there. Returning to North Carolina a few years later, he embarked in the hardware busi- ness at Asheville as head of the firm of Brown, Van Gilder & Company, which was later changed to Brown, Northrup & Company, with which he was actively identified until his death, at the age of seventy-nine years.
The maiden name of the wife of Thomas E. Brown was Elenora Verble. She was born on a plantation 21/2 miles east of Salisbury, a daughter of Charles Verble, who married Clementine Braun, a daughter of Michael Braun, of the Stone House. Mrs. Thomas E. Brown died in 1900, leaving two children, Frank, the special subject of this sketch, and Lewis Van, who was for several years asso- ciated with his father in business in Asheville, and whose death occurred in December, 1916.
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Frank Brown was a student in the preparatory department of Davidson College when the Civil war started, in 1861. Immediately leaving school, he returned home with the intention of enlisting in the Confederate Army. Appearing before the ex- amining board, the surgeon told him that he would discharge him from all military service during the war. This, Mr. Brown thinks, was done at his father's request. After Gen. James Gordon passed through Salisbury, and told the boy's father in which regiment he could enlist, the brave youth joined Company H, Fifth North Carolina Cavalry, and at once went to the front with his command. His first experience in battle was in a skirmish preliminary to the engagements at "The Wilder- ness." The brigadier general called for men to go forward and pick off the artillery men that were besieging them. Frank Brown, one of the youngest men of his company, saw ahead of him a tree that would shelter him, and soon, with two comrades, reached the tree. The comrades laid down and re- loaded the rifle, while Frank fired 150 shots.
Subsequently Mr. Brown was detailed as courier to General Barringer, and during the battle at Chamberlain's Run he led both charges. At Boydton Plank Road he led the charge on a bat- tery, and in that charge he grabbed the colors and rushed up the hill ahead of the regiment fifty yards when he was called upon by the colonel to "bring the flag back to the line." His reply was, "bring the line to the flag," which they did. In a history of the First Maine Cavalry, by Col. E. P. Tobie, it is stated that Private Brown, of Company H, Fifth North Carolina Cavalry, captured a Yankee captain, Vaughn, of Hamilton, Maine and four privates and three horses.
For gallant and meritorious conduct Mr. Brown was promoted to the rank of captain by Gen. W. H. Lee. The captain continued in active service until April 6, 1865, when he was captured and taken to Hart's Island in Long Island Sound. He had been there but a short time when he was detailed to do clerical work in the paymaster's department, with which he was connected until July 1, 1865, when he was released. Returning home, he again entered Davidson College, but at the end of six months was forced to relinquish his studies on account of ill health.
Going then to Baltimore, Captain Brown re- mained there a few months, and then took charge of a bankrupt stock of merchandise in Salisbury. Disposing of that, he established the first extensive shoe store in the city, and managed it successfully until 1870. Going then to Mississippi, he had charge of a plantation in Clarke County for five years. Returning to Salisbury, the captain was here engaged in business for a time, and later had the supervision of the government works on the Yadkin River. Subsequently he was engaged with T. B. Jones & Company, railroad contractors, as mana- ger, and at the same time was right-of-way agent for the Southern Railway Company. Since 1908 Captain Brown has traveled extensively, visiting every state in the union and nearly every country in South America.
Captain Brown married, in 1868, Addie Reid. She was born at Mount Mourne, Iredell County, a daughter of Hon. Rufus Reid. Her father, who owned a large plantation in Iredell County, was born in either Gaston or Lincoln County. He operated his plantation with slaves, who used to spin and weave, making material for all of their clothes, both of cotton and woolen. He was also
engaged in mercantile pursuits, having a general store at Mount Mourne, and was prominent in public affairs, having represented Iredell County in the Legislature. He died in 1853. Hon. Rufus Reid was three times married. The maiden name of his third wife, Mrs. Brown's mother, was Isa- bella Torrance. She was born in Mecklenburg County, and survived her husband many years. Mrs. Brown has three sisters and three brothers, as follows : Emma, Rufus, Addie, John, Lucy and Frank.
Four children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, namely: Frank Reid, Isa- belle Eleanor, Hugh Torrance and Emma Camille. Frank R. married Blanche Dupuy, and they have three children, Mary Dudley, Elmer and Frank Reid. Hugh T. married Grace Scott, and they are the parents of two children, Gordon and Warren. Hugh T. is now a first lieutenant in Company K, Nineteenth Regiment, National Army. Emma Ca- mille is the wife of Hiram Grantham, and has two children, Hiram and Reid. Captain and Mrs. Brown are valued members of the Presbyterian Church. The captain has always been interested in religious affairs, and while in Clarke County, Mississippi, as- sisted in organizing a Presbyterian Church at Shu- buta.
HOWARD CAMPBELL MACNAIR is one of those sub- stantial men who are content to spend their lives largely in one community, to perform the duties that lie nearest them, and by their work and char- acter gain the esteem of old friends and neighbors rather than seek fortune and fame in distant neighborhoods. Mr. MacNair has prospered as a farmer and business man, has served in the Legis- lature and in other places of trust and responsi- bility and has maintained and increased the pres- tige of a family name that is one of the oldest and most honored in Robeson County.
Mr. MacNair was born on the place he now occupies, near Maxton in Robeson County, in 1863. The MacNair home place has long been known as Cowper Hill. His parents were Murphy C. and Margaret Elizabeth (Stubbs) MacNair, both now deceased.
The MacNairs are of pure Scotch origin and have been identified with Robeson County, form- erly Anson and Bladen counties, from very early times.
There is kept in the family annals "a short history of John MacNair, written by himself and transcribed by his granddaughter." This John MacNair was the great-grandfather of Howard C. McNair. The short history referred to reads as follows :
"I am a native of Scotland, was born in the Year of Our Lord 1735, in , a small village of that name in the Parish of Kilkenny in the Shire of Argyle, North Britain. I was the young- est son of Neil MacNair. My grandfather's name was Edward MacNair, my mother's name was Sally McGill. I was married to Jennet Smylie, daughter of John Smylie, December 1763. My eldest son Roderick was born October 1764. My daughter Betsy was born January 1766. My third child Neill was born in 1768. My first wife died September 1769, and my third child Neill died in December of the same year. I came to North Carolina in America in the year 1770 and bought a plantation at Hitchcock in Anson county and lived there some time. I married my second wife Catherine Buie, daughter of Donald Buie from
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Dura, Scotland, in 1772. My eldest daughter Sallie by my second wife was born in 1773. My first son by my second wife, Malcolm, was born August 1776. My second wife died August 1787."
To this brief history his granddaughter added other notes which throw additional light on the founder of the family and some of his descen- dants. Referring to John MacNair, she says: "From all I can learn of him he was a very pious man, an elder in the Presbyterian church and raised up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He also belonged to the Masonic fraternity and was promoted to a Royal Arch Mason in that order. After living a while in Richmond county he removed to Bladen, now Robeson county, and settled on Lumber River, where his great-grandson, Robert MacNair, after- wards lived. He then became a ruling elder in Center church and filled that office until his death. " His second marriage was to a widow, Mrs. Catherine (Buie) McFarland, who had sev- eral children by her first union. One of them was Duncan McFarland, a great man in his day who almost controlled the two counties of Rich- mond and Robeson, laid out all the public roads, and was a member of Congress for a number of years. By his second marriage John MacNair had two children, Sarah and Malcolm. Sarah mar- ried Peter Wilkinson, and they moved to the State of Mississippi, and had a large family.
Rev. Malcolm MacNair, son of John MacNair and grandfather of Howard C. MacNair, was a distinguished pioneer minister of the Presbyterian Church. His name appears prominently in the early religious history of North Carolina. He was a man of the highest talents, and although death came to him in his prime he had accomplished a great work for the cause of religion. The family annalist already quoted says of him: "He was a great man and was one of the most talented min- isters of the day. Was for twenty years pastor of Centre, Ashpole, Laurel Hill and Red Bluff churches. He was born August 26, 1776, and died on August 4, 1822, and was buried at Laurel Hill. His wife was a native of Petersburg, Virginia, was left an orphan, left Petersburg at the age of twelve years, and was reared in the home of her mother's brother, Harrison, a man of wealth.
Murphy C. MacNair, a son of the pioneer minister of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. Malcolm MacNair, was born at the old homestead a mile and a half east of Maxton on the Lumberton Road in 1818. He was educated in the Univer- sity of North Carolina, and graduated at the early age of sixteen. After teaching school he studied law and while a young man located at Bennettsville, South Carolina, where he practiced his profession for a number of years. Giving up the law he returned to the old home near Maxton, and lived there until his death at the age of sixty-three. During the war he held a civil posi- tion under the Confederate Government. He oper- ated a large estate as a farmer, and for many years served as a magistrate at Maxton. In that capacity he was a friend and legal adviser to practically all the people in the country around Maxton. He was a man of splendid character and measured up to the highest ideals of manhood. His wife, Margaret Elizabeth Stubbs, who was born in Marlboro County, South Carolina, was a daughter of Rev. Campbell Stubbs, a noted Bap- tist minister.
The old MacNair place near Maxton where
Howard C. MacNair was born and still lives has been in cultivation as a plantation and farm since about the beginning of the Revolutionary war. It was originally a very large estate, but during succeeding generations, as a result of inheritance, has been divided a number of times. Mr. Mac- Nair's farm at present comprises 120 acres. Farm- ing is his chief business and has been so for many years, but he has other interests in Maxton, being president of the Carolina Electric Company, a local public service corporation.
Mr. H. C. MacNair was educated in the pub- lic schools of Robeson County and in McMillan's Military School at Floral College in that county. He has proved himself a vigorous and forward looking democrat, and in 1912 was elected a mem- ber of the Legislature from his county and served during the session of 1913. He was a member of the board of road commissioners in 1907 and 1908, and again in 1911 and 1912. Mr. MacNair has been a deacon of the Presbyterian Church since 1898. The most successful and busy men of modern times have a diversion or recreation. Mr. MacNair's is the game of checkers. He is an expert checker player, not only as measured by his local reputation, but in many competitions has proved himself the equal of the best in the entire South.
Mr. MacNair married Miss Susanna Morrison, a native of Robeson County and daughter of the late Daniel S. Morrison, for many years a leading citizen of the county. Mr. and Mrs. MacNair have in their home near Maxton a family of seven children, to whom they have accorded the best of advantages. Their names are: Lillian, wife of Mr. E. P. Williams; Miss Margaret Elizabeth; H. Campbell MacNair, a member of the United States Army and now in France; Donald Mac- Nair; Walter MacNair; Sue MacNair; and John Franklin MacNair.
JUDGE FRANK MARION WOOTEN, judge of the Pitt County Court, is a man of versatile abili- ties and experience, is a pharmacist as well as a lawyer by profession, and his friends say it is characteristic of him to do well whatever he un- dertakes.
He was born at LaGrange, North Carolina, August 4, 1875, a son of Richard Lafayette and Julia A. (Loftin) Wooten. His father was a farmer and in a country environment spent his boyhood, attending public schools and Davis Mil- itary Institute. For four years he was a farmer on his own account. Judge Wooten arrived in Greenville January 17, 1893. His first two years here were spent as clerk in a drug store. Going to Philadelphia, he studied pharmacy and in 1897 completed his course in the New York Col- lege of Pharmacy. He then entered the drug business, but in 1901 gave up that profession and business temporarily to attend the law depart- ment of the University of North Carolina. He was licensed in 1903, and returned to Greenville to assume the new role of attorney and build up a practice during the next year. After that he resumed his active connections with the drug business, but since 1909 has been wholly active as a lawyer and public official.
Greenville gives him credit for a very success- ful administration of the municipal affairs while he occupied the office of mayor in 1906-07 and again from 1908 to 1913. In 1915 he was elected judge of the Pitt County Court, and that is his present official relationship with his home county.
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Judge Wooten is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity, the Masonic Order, and is a past chancellor of the Knights of Py- thias. He is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. On July 7, 1909, he married Miss Elizabeth Wade, of Virginia. They have one son, Frank Marion, Jr.
VIRGIL L. BLACKBURN. The kind of success that comes to a man after years of experience and close attention to business is perhaps the most satisfactory of all, and it is the kind enjoyed by Virgil L. Blackburn in his capacity as a merchant at Clemmons in Forsyth County. Mr. Blackburn has been through all the grades of apprenticeship and service in the mercantile line, and for many years was a traveling salesman over the South.
He was born in Lewiston Township of Forsyth County and his people were pioneers in this section of North Carolina. His great-grandfather, Bryson Blackburn, was born in the north of Ireland, came to America when a young man, and established the family line which has since produced so many worthy citizens in North Carolina.
Robert Blackburn, grandfather of Virgil L., was a natural mechanic and an expert and industrious workman. He established a machine shop and blacksmith shop, and gained wide-spread fame as a gunsmith and as a maker of various kinds of edged tools and farm implements. His skill naturally attracted a large patronage and he found his services in demand up to the limit of his strength and time. His shop gave name to an entire community, and for years it was the center of Blackburn's Crossroads. He lived there until his death at the age of fifty-seven. Robert Black- burn married Mary Goslen, who died at the age of eighty-eight. Her parents spent their lives in Lewiston Township, and her mother, whose maiden name was Thorp, was unusually well educated for a woman of her generation and possessed unusual gifts as a poet. Robert Blackburn and wife reared three sons named Harvey, Milton and Coston.
Milton E. Blackburn was born in Forsyth County and Lewiston Township, May 28, 1820. He inherited some of his father's skill and learned the carpenter's trade. When the Fogle Brothers started business he was the first man to enter their employ and assisted in building their first mill. He continued in their service steadily for twenty years. During the war he was in the service of the Confederate government, being de- tailed to work at the saltpeter works. Following the war he bought the Jacob Frye plantation on Muddy Creek, and not only superintended the farm but continued work at his trade. He lived there until his death. Milton Blackburn married Lucinda Doub. She was born in the Doub settlement in Vienna Township of Forsyth County, February 14, 1825. Her grandfather, Rev. John Doub, was born in Germany, came to America and settled in North Carolina, was a tanner by trade and built and operated one of the first tanneries in the state, the location of the tannery becoming known as the Doub Chapel Settlement. He was a good business man and was also a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the first Metho- dist meetings in that locality were held in his log house. His remains now repose in Doub Chapel Churchyard. His son, Peter Doub, took up the ministry as a regular profession, and was one of the founders of Methodism in various parts of the South. He traveled as a missionary and church organizer all over North and South Carolina, Vir-
ginia and Tennessee, and in many places was the first to preach the Gospel. Lucinda Doub's father, Michael Doub, was born in Vienna Township, learned the tanner's trade, was converted in his youth and was also a Methodist Episcopal minister. As a member of the North Carolina Conference he held pastorates in different places, and he finally bought a home in the Doub Chapel Settle- ment where he spent his last years. He married Grace Reynolds, who was born in Lynchburg, Vir- ginia, daughter of a physician and surgeon who had rendered service to the American cause in a professional capacity during the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Milton Blackburn died at the age of seventy-seven, having reared six children named Mary, Ida, Newton E., Olin W., Lulu G. and Virgil L.
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