USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 104
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Although seventy-three years of age, Rev. Mr. Meadows continues evangelistic work, the latest result of which is the organizing of a Baptist Church at Oakwood, North Carolina, to which he has given a large part of the means needed for the erection of a house of worship. He also has given liberally of his means to the Thomasville Baptist Orphanage, located at Thomasville, North Caro- lina.
CALEB H. HAYNES. As general deputy collector of revenue for the United States Caleb H. Haynes, of Mount Airy, Surry County, is administering the affairs of his office wisely and well, and to the satisfaction of all concerned. A son of Caleb H. Haynes, Sr., he was born on a farm lying two miles south of Mount Airy, August 16, 1863.
William Haynes, his paternal grandfather, was a Virginian by birth and breeding, and a mill- wright by trade. Coming to North Carolina, he located in Rockford, and while working at his trade fell from a mill, receiving injuries that caused his death. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Hill. She was born in Stokes County, North Carolina, and many of her relatives are now residents of that locality, and of Forsyth County. Left a widow with nine young children, Stephen, Robert, Joseph, James, John, Caleb H., Polly, Martha and Susan, she reared and educated them, keeping a home for them until her death, in 1863.
Caleb H. Haynes, Sr., was born in Rockford, Surry County, and there as a boy and youth be- came familiar with the various branches of agri- culture. Industrious and economical, he saved some money, and before his marriage bought a farm, making at first but a small payment. Labor- ing with energy and untiring zeal, he was subse- quently enabled to complete the payment on his
land, which was advantageously located in Mount Airy Township, and there he spent the remainder of his life, passing away April 30, 1863, aged thirty-six years, his birth having occurred in 1827. A patriotic, loyal citizen, he was ever interested in all movements tending toward the betterment of the community in which he lived, and during the Civil war was a member of the Home Guards.
Caleb H. Haynes, Sr., married Margaret Davis, who was born in Mount Airy Township, Surry County, a daughter of William and Ruth (Fields) Davis, and granddaughter of Matthew Davis, a pioneer of Surry County, coming to North Caro- lina from Grayson County, Virginia. Her father was an extensive land owner, operating his planta- tion with slave labor, and, in common with his neighbors, met with great financial losses during the Civil war. After the death of her husband, which occurred at a comparatively early age, Mrs. Margaret (Davis) Haynes, superintended the management of the home farm, and at the time of her death, in April, 1910, had the pleasure of knowing that each child had a good home of its own. She reared three children, as follows: Wil- liam D .; Mary, wife of Christopher Bunker, who owns and occupies the Haystack Farm, just west of Mount Airy; and Caleb H.
While assisting his widowed mother in the care of the family homestead, Caleb H. Haynes ac- quired a practical knowledge and experience in the art and science of general farming, which he fol- lowed on the home estate until 1892. Being elected registrar of deeds in that year, Mr. Haynes held the position for the ensuing four years. In 1898 he was elected clerk of the Superior Court, and in that capacity rendered excellent service for eight consecutive years. From 1908 until 1912 Mr. Haynes served as sheriff, an important office to which he was elected by the people, and in 1913 he was honored with an appointment to his pres- ent official position as United States general deputy collector of revenue. In this capacity, he dis- plays wise judgment, and labors diligently, his duties taking him oft times into and through many other states of the Union.
On January 10, 1889, Mr. Haynes was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie Bunker, daughter of Chang (one of the Siamese Twins) and Adelaide (Yates) Bunker. Ten children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Haynes, namely: Minnie, Joseph Bunker, Grace Adelaide, Caleb Vance, Rachel, Lucile, Ethel, Charles D., Lester Yates and Mary Lou.
Mr. and Mrs. Haynes are active members of the Baptist Church, and when, in 1907, the present church edifice was erected, Mr. Haynes was a mem- ber of its building committee. Fraternally Mr. Haynes belongs to Mount Airy Lodge No. 107, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically he has been an ardent supporter of the principles of the democratic party since casting his first presidential vote for Grover Cleveland. In 1912 Mr. Haynes was a delegate to the national demo- cratie convention in Baltimore, and was an original Woodrow Wilson man. He is now a member of the local board of education.
GEORGE ROUNTREE. The famous Cape Fear re- gion of North Carolina is no less rich in men and women of fine attainments and character than in historical associations and deeds of achieve- ment. In business, politics and the law the name of Rountree has been one of honorable distinc- tions in this region for a long period of years.
Geo. Rounder
389
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
One of the leading members of . the Wilmington bar today is George Rountree, a former presi- dent of the State Bar Association and also a former judge of the Superior Court.
Judge Rountree was born at Kinston, North Carolina, July 7, 1855, a son of Robert Hart and Cynthia Biddle (Loftin) Rountree. His own career has reflected many of the characteristics of his father. Robert H. Rountree during a long life has been known for his business ability, his personal character that has won him leadership in every relationship, and along with the attainment of business success he has won and attained the respect and confidence of all who knew him.
Coming of a family of means, George Rountree had a liberal training for his life work. One phase of his early education was passed at Beth- any College, situated in the rugged region of the West Virginia Pan-handle, a school founded and fostered by Alexander Campbell. After finish- ing his junior year there Mr. Rountree entered Harvard University with the junior class, and was graduated A. B. in June, 1877. He also pre- pared for the law and began its practice. His work was interrupted by reasons of health and for some four or five years he busied himself with commercial affairs, until he found that field un- congenial to his tastes and abilities. He then resumed the practice of law as a partner of his uncle, A. J. Loftin, under the name and style of Loftin & Rountree, at Kinston. In 1890 Mr. Rountree removed to Wilmington and in 1901 ad- mitted as a partner J. O. Carr and continued the practice of law under the firm name of Rountree & Carr until 1913, when he was appointed judge of the Superior Court by Governor Locke Craig. In 1906 he was elected president of the State Bar Association in North Carolina.
His career as a public man has some points of interest. In November, 1898, he was elected a member of the General Assembly, and during the following session was chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments. In that capacity he practically drafted and secured the passage of the amendment to the State Constitution on suffrage or elective franchise. That amendment was adopted by the people at the election of 1900, and still is the basis for electoral qualifications. The primary purpose of the amendment was to secure an edu- cated electorate, and that purpose has been, to a certain extent, realized by the stimulus given to popular education by that amendment. Mr. Rountree was again elected to the Legislature in 1900, and in the assembly of 1901 again impressed his ability and judgment upon current legislation.
In 1913 Mr. Rountree was called from his pri- vate practice when Governor Locke Craig ap- pointed him a judge of the Superior Court. In 1914 he was elected for the full term in that office but after three years on the bench he resigned, his resignation taking effect January 1, 1916. He then resumed private practice as a member of the firm of Rountree, Davis & Carr. Mr. Roun- tree has enjoyed a large practice and has been connected with much of the important litigation of his time, such as the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad receivership and the case of South Dakota vs. North Carolina, in the Supreme Court, in which he appeared as one of the counsel for North Carolina; and although unsuccessful his argument was adopted in the dissenting opinion of Justice (now Chief Justice) White.
Mr. Rountree is a democrat in politics, but
belongs distinctively to the conservative wing of that party; was a great admirer of Grover Cleve- land and believed in his policies, and was, there- fore, out of sympathy with all phases of radical- ism, either in law or politics, and is a convinced believer in the system of government, with its checks and balances, established by the "Fathers" by the Convention of 1787.
Judge Rountree is a member of the Harvard Club of New York City, of the Cape Fear Club and the Country Club of Wilmington, and is a member of the vestry of St. James Episcopal Church at Wilmington and for a number of years until he was elevated to the bench was Chancellor of the Diocese of East Carolina.
October 27, 1881, at Wilmington, he married Meta Alexander Davis, daughter of Hon. George and Mary (Polk) Davis. One of the men whom North Carolina holds in high honor and esteem was George Davis. He was not only a man of large achievements, but was greatly beloved and revered in his state. A testimony to the regard in which he was held by his fellow citizens is the monument that stands to his memory at the corner of Third and Market streets in Wilming- ton. George Davis served as a senator in the Confederate States Congress and for over a year was attorney-general of the Confederate states, being the last to hold that office. Mrs. Rountree's mother was a daughter of William G. Polk, and a niece of the famous bishop and Confederate general, Leonidas Polk.
Mr. and Mrs. Rountree have had five children. Isabel Davis, born July 10, 1883, married Novem- ber 12, 1908, Van R. C. King, and died on May 21, 1916. Robert Hart, the second child, was born September 14, 1886, and died July 31, 1887. Cyn- thia Polk was born March 2, 1890; Meta Davis was born December 16, 1893; and George was born April 7, 1904.
CLARENCE CALL. A man of excellent business judgment and tact, actively and successfully deal- ing with extended interests and enterprises, Clarence Call, a prominent citizen of Wilkesboro, is contributing his full share toward the advance- ment of the mercantile, manufacturing and finan- cial prosperity of city, county and state. A son of Isaac Slater Call, he was born in 1869, in Wilkesboro, of pioneer ancestry.
His paternal grandfather, Thomas Call, was born, it is thought, in what is now Davie Coun- ty, North Carolina. Coming from there when young to Wilkes County, he bought a tract of land in Wilkes County, east of Wilkesboro, and on the farm which he improved spent the remain- der of his days. He married Elizabeth Slater, a sister of Fielding Slater and an aunt of Sen- ator Overman. She survived her husband, living to a good old age.
Born on the home farm in Wilkes County in 1825, Isaac Slater Call received a practical edu- cation in the public schools, and while yet young entered the employ of Colonel Waugh, becoming a clerk in his store at Wilkesboro. When familiar with the details of trade he embarked in mer- cantile pursuits on his own account in Wilkesboro, where he operated a general store until 1856, when he was unfortunately burned out. The following twenty-eight years he was employed in the Court House, a part of the time being clerk of the courts, and a part of the time serving as denuty county clerk and as county treasurer, continuing thus until his death in 1893.
390
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The maiden name of the wife of Isaac S. Call was Martha Caroline Mastin. She was born in the eastern part of Wilkes County, November 13, 1836, a daughter of William Mastin, and grand- daughter of Rev. Thomas Mastin. She was of pioneer ancestry. Her great-grandfather, Thomas Mastin, a native of Virginia, was one of the very early settlers of Wilkes County. Rev. Thomas Mastin was a pioneer Baptist preacher, and spent the last years of his life at Briar Creek Church in Wilkes County. William Mastin was born, without doubt, in Wilkes County, and as a young man was for a while engaged in the mercantile business, having been in partnership with Colonel Waugh. Subsequently he served for many years as clerk of the courts of Wilkes County. He married Rebecca Amanda Saint Clair, a daughter of John Saint Clair.
Mrs. Martha Caroline (Mastin) Call still resides in Wilkesboro, an active and interesting woman of eighty-one years retaining the full possession of her mental faculties, and giving no evidence of having traveled so far beyond the seventy- mile post at which the journey of the average person is supposed to stop. Brought up in pioneer times, she well remembers when all supplies were brought from Fayetteville to Wilkes County with teams, a hard and tedious mode of transporta- tion. Just before she was married her father bought a stove, the first one she had ever seen, her mother having previously cooked before the open fire, and she thinks that was the first stove ever brought into Wilkes County. A part of her wedding feast, by the way, was cooked on that stove. As a girl she learned to spin and weave, and during the progress of the Civil war she clothed her family in homespun, spinning and weaving the material, and fashioning the garments with her own hands. She reared seven children, namely : Alice Amanda, Eugenia, Annie, Laura Jane, Clarence, Buel Slater and Isaac Slater. She has now living twenty grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren descendants of whom she may well be proud.
Having obtained his preliminary education in the public schools of Wilkesboro, Clarence Call entered the Moravian Dalls Academy, of which Professor George W. Greene, later a missionary to China, was then principal. Beginning life for himself as a clerk, he was first employed in a drug store at North Wilkesboro, and later in a general store. Changing his occupation, Mr. Call became a commercial traveler, dealing first in hardware, and afterwards selling hats for a Nor- folk firm. Resigning that position, he entered the employ of Samuel Wittkossky, of Charlotte, and traveled for him until 1894. In that year he was elected sheriff and treasurer, and having been re-elected to the same offices in 1896 served two full terms in each position. In the mean- time, in 1895, Mr. Call opened a mercantile establishment in North Wilkesboro, and has since carried on a substantial and successful business in that line. He is likewise actively associated with various other enterprises, being a director in the Bank of North Wilkesboro; a director of the Oak Furniture Company, and the president of the New Williams Mill Company, manufac- turers of corn mills.
Mr. Call married, in December 1901, Miss Sallie Cook, who was born at Friendship, Guilford County, North Carolina, a daughter of Thomas Cook, and into their home three children have been born, namely: Gozeal, Madeline and Dorothy.
Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Call are members of the Episcopal Church, in which he has served as vestryman and of which he is now treasurer. Actively identified with the republican party since casting his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison, Mr. Call has since been an earnest supporter of its principles. He has served for sixteen years as a member of the State Board of Elections, having first been appointed by Gov- ernor Aycock, and later by Governor Bickett. He has also served as a member of the State Repub- lican Committee and as chairman of Congressional Committee of his district. Intelligently interested in political matters, Mr. Call attended the re- publican national conventions of 1896, 1908, 1912 and 1916.
DANIEL JOEL BROOKSHIRE. One of the foremost building contractors of Wilkes County, Daniel J. Brookshire, of North Wilkesboro, is a self-made man in every sense implied by the term. Beginning life on a low rung of the ladder of attainments, he has made diligent use of his faculties and oppor- tunities and is fast approaching the top, his suc- cess being due entirely to his own earnest efforts. A son of Willis Brookshire, he was born on a farm in Moravian Falls Township January 6, 1876. His grandfather, Joel Brookshire, was born in Alex- ander County, while his great-grandfather on the paternal side was a native of Caldwell County, being of pioneer ancestry.
Acquiring a good education when young, Joel Brookshire taught school for many years, teaching first in Alexander County, and afterwards in Wilkes County, where he spent the closing years of his life. He married, and reared four sons: Far- ley, Hubbard, Joel and Willis.
A native of Alexander County, Willis Brook- shire was born in Mount Olive Township, and was there brought up on a farm. He served as a sol- dier in the Confederate Army, and at the close of the war settled in Wilkes County, about three miles from Boomer, on the farm that he now owns and occupies. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Welborn. A native of Wilkes County, she was born not far from Boomer, being a daughter of David and Rebecca Welborn and a member of the well-known pioneer family of that name. She died when but fifty years of age, leaving the fol- lowing children : Philo, James, Mary, Ellen, Daniel Joel, Susie and Bonnie.
In the days of his boyhood and youth Daniel J. Brookshire attended the district school, and on the home farm was well drilled in the numerous branches of agriculture. At the age of eighteen years he began learning the trade of a brick mason, and after serving an apprenticeship of three years located at North Wilkesboro, his sole capital at that time having been willing hands, good health and an unlimited amount of courage and enter- prise. Succeeding well at his trade, Mr. Brook- shire subsequently engaged in business as a build- ing contractor, and has continued to the present time. He has been kept busily employed, having built many business blocks, public buildings and private residences, evidences of his substantial work being seen in all parts of the county. In 1914 he erected his present commodious, modernly constructed, brick house, which is surrounded by ample grounds and beautified by shade trees and a variety of fruit trees.
Mr. Brookshire married, in 1898, Rebecca Bum- garner, who was born in Reddies River Township, a daughter of William and Nancy Bumgarner.
Carry Plinten
391
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Eight children have blessed their union, Richard Bryan, Ernest Thurman, Aurora, Jettie, Carrie, James, Jay and Pearl. Mr. and Mrs. Brookshire are members of the Baptist Church. Mr. Brook- shire belongs to Liberty Lodge No. 45, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; and to North Wilkesboro Chapter, Royal Arch Masons.
CAREY J. HUNTER, a native son of North Caro- lina, has for over thirty years been closely identified with its commercial, institutional and civic affairs. In the insurance field he has hardly a peer as a business getter and builder. His enterprise has also extended to real estate, manufacturing and other lines, while his public spirit has led him into active participation with a number of educational, philanthropic and benevolent institutions.
Born near Apex in Wake County, North Carolina, June 1, 1857, he is a son of Joseph C. and Pianetta (Beckwith) Hunter. His father was both a farmer and civil engineer, and later engaged in the manu- facture of lumber. Educated in local schools, in- cluding the Apex Academy, Carey J. Hunter grad- uated in 1881 from Wake Forest College. His first activity was merchandising at Greenville, North Carolina, but in 1888 he found his real work in life when he took the state agency of the Union Central Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati, being their financial representative for North Carolina since 1905. He has held the state agency for thirty years, and for a number of years also included Vir- ginia in his territory as superintendent. It is said that the Union Central Life, which has completed fifty-one years of prosperous existence, was practically unknown in North Carolina until Mr. Hunter took the state agency. He wrote the first application for a policy written by the company in North Carolina, and he also performed a similar work of extension in behalf of that company in Virginia.
While his position as a business man is best de- fined by his success in the insurance field, a num- ber of other interests have claimed his time and attention. For a number of years he has been pres- ident of the Biblical Recorder Publishing Company and director and president of the Mutual Publish- ing Company. He is also a director of the Com- mercial National Bank, a director of the Caraleigh Cotton Mills Company, a director of the Mechanics Savings Bank, of the Melrose Knitting Mills and of the Capudine Chemical Company. He is also president and a director of the Parker-Hunter Realty Company, and a trustee of the Raleigh Cemetery Association, a director of the Lillington Oil Mill, and a director of the Commercial Build- ing Company.
For thirty years Mr. Hunter has devoted himself to the welfare of his alma mater, Wake Forest College, of which he is a trustee, chairman of the executive and finance committees and secretary of the board of trustees. He is a trustee of Meredith College, and was on the board of trustees before a single building was erected and has also served on the finance committee and as chairman of the executive committee. He is a prominent Baptist layman, is a deacon in the First Baptist Church of Raleigh, a member of the Mission Board and its executive committee, and was the first president and for three years held that office in the Young Men's Christian Association. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, the Country Club and the National Geographic Society. Governor Aycock ap- pointed him a member of the State Board of Pub- lie Charities, and he has held that office by appoint-
ment from each successive governor, being now a member, under the new law, of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. He has had much to do with the success of the North Carolina Agri- cultural Society which conducts the North Carolina State Fair Association, being a member of the executive committee.
On October 18, 1883, Mr. Hunter married Eu- genia Avera Tomlinson, a native of Hernando de Soto County, Mississippi. Mrs. Hunter died No- vember 8, 1916. Carey J. Jr., their oldest child, graduated in 1916 from Wake Forest College and won a medal for speaking at his graduating com- mencement. He secured his degree from Columbia University, New York City, June, 1918, in the Pulitzer course in journalism, and is now on the staff of the New York Evening Post. Rufus A., after graduating in 1917 at the high school, en- tered Wake Forest College in September, 1917. The daughter, Margaret Eugenia, is in the high school, and another child, Ramelle, died at the age of ten months.
JAMES HILL RAMSAY. A representative citizen of Rowan County, and a man whose integrity and ability are beyond question, James Hill Ramsay, ex-postmaster of Salisbury, is a practical man of affairs, and has been actively identified with nu- merous industrial and commercial enterprises, and likewise with the agricultural progress of the com- munity. It has been the unanimous opinion for the past three decades, although he is not of the dominant political party, that Mr. Ramsay is one of the country's most popular citizens. A native of Rowan County, he was born in Scotch-Irish Township, of pioneer stock, being a descendant in the fifth generation from one of the earlier settlers of the county, Robert (1) Ramsay, the line de- scending through Robert (2), David (3), James Graham (4), to James Hill (5).
Robert (1) Ramsay was born either in Scotland or Ireland, of Scotch parents, coming with his parents to America as a boy. He grew to man's estate in the Province of Pennsylvania. Many years after his marriage with, it is supposed, a Miss Gatis, he came with his family, in 1766, to North Carolina, settling in what is now the south- ern part of Iredell, then Rowan County. He se- cured a tract of land in the vicinity of "Old Center Church," and there settled with his six sons and one daughter. A portion of the original grant is still owned by his descendants. Robert Ramsay brought with him from the session of the Presbyterian Church at New London, Chester County, Pennsylvania, certificates to show that he, his wife and their family were in good standing. Although an ardent patriot, Robert Ramsay was too old for military service, but history shows that he gave three of his sons for the war of independ- ence, and family tradition says that all six fought to make this country free.
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