USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 15
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Enoch Brock was born and bred in Princess Anne County, Virginia. Becoming a pioneer set- tler of Davie County, he was engaged in agricul- tural pursuits in Farmington for a number of years. Disposing then of his farm, he moved to Weakley County, Tennessee, and there resided un- til his death. He married Miss Huddleston, and they reared four sons, among them having been the father of Mrs. Hartman. He, James Na- thaniel Brock, was born, in 1810, near Norfolk, Virginia, and was a child when he came with his parents to North Carolina. A farmer by occu- pation, he was for a few years located on land that his wife had inherited from her father, but later assumed possession of land that he had pur- chased near Farmington, and there carried on gen- eral farming until his death, when seventy-six years old. He was twice married. He married first Maria Maxwell, who died in 1848. The maiden name of Mr. Brock's second wife, the mother of Mrs. Hartman, was Margaret Cuthrell. She was born near Norfolk, Virginia, a daughter of Maximilian Cuthrell, a native of Virginia, and a soldier in the War of 1812, who came to Davie County, North Carolina, about 1829, and spent his last years in the vicinity of Farmington.
Five children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hartman, namely: Charles Cecil, who died in the twenty-first year of his age; Guy L .; Marjorie; George; and Mary Nell. George and Guy are both members of the Masonic Fra- ternity. Guy L. married Sally McGregor, and they have one daughter, Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Hart- man are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and generous supporters of the same, con- tributing their full share toward its maintenance. Fraternally Mr. Hartman is a member of Farm- ington Lodge No. 265, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.
WILLIAM STEWART BLANCHARD. One of Hert- ford's foremost citizens, prominent in political and active in business life for many years, is William Stewart Blanchard, a member of the old Blanch- ard family stock of Eastern North Carolina of many generations back. Mr. Blanchard was born in Perquimas County, North Carolina, at Blanch- . ard's Bridge, an old landmark, October 23, 1845. His parents were William Rawles and Cassandra (Deans) Blanchard.
The excellent public schools of the present day were not in operation in Perquimans County in Mr. Blanchard's youth, but there were many private schools of superior merit, and after attending for some years he entered Hertford Academy and there completed his academic course. In the meanwhile the war between the states had been precipitated and was in progress, and when Mr. Blanchard had little more than passed his eighteenth birth- day he enlisted as a private in Company A, Thirteenth Battalion, North Carolina Light Artil- lery, Confederate Army, and served from Decem- ber, 1863, until the close of the war. He returned home practically unharmed and immediately turned his attention to the peaceful pursuits of agriculture.
For two years Mr. Blanchard assisted his father,
who was a merchant, by operating the home farm. In 1868 he was married and then engaged in farm- ing for himself and continued his agricultural activities for thirteen years and then came to Hertford. Here, in association with his brother, Thomas Crowder Blanchard, he embarked in a general mercantile business on Eighteenth Street. Subsequently his son, Joseph Carroll Blanchard, bought an interest and Mr. Blanchard continued active in the business until 1913, when he retired. Mr. Blanchard is president of the Hertford Bank- ing Company. His public services have been numer- ous and important, and his fellow citizens fre- quently having shown appreciation of his business ability and his high personal character by calling him to offices of great responsibility. He has served the city worthily and beneficially as mayor, and also has represented his district in the State Legislature with signal usefulness. .
Mr. Blanchard was married in December, 1868, to Miss Artemesia Towe, and they have the fol- lowing children: William Martin, Joseph Carroll, Julian, Lawrence E., Margaret Deanes, Annie, who is the wife of Rev. R. H. Willis, a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Alice and Eugenia Winnifred. Mr. Blanchard and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is a member of the board of stewards.
Joseph Carroll Blanchard, second son of Wil- liam Stewart Blanchard, and manager and part proprietor of the mercantile house of Blanchard & Son, Hertford, is one of the progressive young business men of Hertford. He was born in this county, June 8, 1880. After attending Hertford Academy he entered Trinity College at Durham, North Carolina, where he remained until 1901, when he returned to Hertford and entered the mercantile business with his father and uncle. In 1912 he purchased a half interest in the busi- ness and became general manager.
Mr. Blanchard was married October 5, 1910, to Miss Lillian Ferguson, of Waynesville, North Carolina, a daughter of Judge G. S. Ferguson, and they have two children, Sarah Ferguson and Lil- lian Carroll. Mr. Blanchard and wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is a steward, and they have a wide social acquaintance and maintain a hospitable home. Mr. Blanchard takes a deep interest in his city and is particularly concerned in regard to the public schools. He has never been very active in politics and has cared little for public office, but has willingly consented to accept the chairmanship of the county board of education, a position for which he is admirably qualified.
SAMUEL FRANKLIN VANCE, of Winston-Salem, has played a noteworthy part in business and pub- lic life in Forsyth County for many years, still keeps in touch with commercial affairs as a director in the Merchants National Bank of Winston-Salem and is a stockholder in various corporations, but for the most part is content to reside on his farm and look after his duties as state secretary of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, an office he has held for a number of years.
Mr. Vance was born on a plantation in Belews Creek Township of Forsyth County. His ancestry is Scotch. His grandfather, John Vance, was born in 1799 and is thought to have been a. native of Forsyth County. He owned and occupied a farm in Belews Creek Township, and died there when about eighty years of age. He married Mary Mar-
Sau France
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The
shall, who was also born in 1799 and survived her husband about six years. They reared eight chil- dren, named Betsy, Lucretia, Martin, John Frank- lin, Nathaniel D., Jane, Aulena and Mary. They are all now deceased, but it is a noteworthy fact that the sons all lived to be more than eighty years of age.
John Franklin Vance, father of Samuel Frank- lin, was born in Belews Creek Township March 25, 1825. He was distinguished as a natural mechanic. He had what amounted to a genius in the handling of tools and in the making of things usually the product of skilled trades. While he followed farm- ing as his principal vocation, he could and did work successfully as a carpenter, bricklayer, shoe- maker and in other lines. His life was spent in his native township, and he died there when in his ninetieth year. He married Sarah Barham. She was born in the same section of Forsyth County November 1, 1831, and died in her seventy-third year. Thus both sides of the family are remark- able for longevity. Her parents were Balaam and Matilda Barham. John F. Vance and wife reared seven children: Samantha, Walter Burton, Au- gusta, Samuel Franklin, Arcelia, Virginia and Carrie.
Samuel F. Vance spent his early life in the country districts of Forsyth County. He attended school there. The first school he attended was held in a log cabin with a complete equipment of home- made furniture. The seats were made of slabs with wooden pins for legs, and there was not a tithe of the splendid equipment which school chil- dren of the present day enjoy. Limited as was the curriculum, he wisely improved all the advan- tages offered him, and at the age of seventeen was qualified as a teacher himself. His first term was taught in the Vance schoolhouse, and he taught and attended school alternately for seven years. He finally completed a course in the Kernersville High School. His last three years as a teacher were in Middle Fork Township.
From teaching Mr. Vance turned to commercial employment as a worker for the Spach brothers, and for five years had charge of their lumber department. He then accepted a call to public service, when appointed deputy clerk of the Supe- rior Court, an office he filled six years. He was next appointed assistant postmaster of Winston- Salem, and filled that office for twelve years, until he resigned. Mr. Vance then became vice presi- deut and treasurer of the Carolina Coal & Ice Company and the Crystal Ice Company, but after a year gave up these positions requiring a great deal of executive detail and removed to his farm at Guthrie Station, 51/2 miles east of the courthouse. He has an attractive country home, and takes much delight in looking after his farm.
Mr. Vance is a member of Fairview Council No. 19, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, the largest council of that order in the state. He was elected state secretary of the order in 1899, and has been continued in the office by repeated elections ever since. Through that office his name is known throughout North Carolina. He is also affiliated with Damou Lodge No. 41, Knights of Pythias, and with Twin City Camp No. 27, Woodmen of the World.
Mr. Vance was married December 19, 1901, to Sally E. Fulton. She was born in Belews Creek Township, daughter of John W. and Martha E. Fulton. Mr. and Mrs. Vance have two sons,
Samuel Franklin, Jr., and Fred Fulton. family are members of the Moravian Church.
GEORGE W. COAN has long been prominently identified with the business affairs of Winston- Salem and is also prominent in social and civic affairs. Until he retired from business he was officially identified with the great R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Mr. Coan's success in life has been due less to influential circumstances than the determination and ambition of his own character. He had a high aim as a young man and succeeded in realizing many of the more substantial ambitions of his youth. He was born on a plantation in Henry County, Virginia, but his family were long identi- fied with South Carolina. William Coan, Sr., was a native of Scotland, and on coming to America settled in Spartansburg, South Carolina, where he spent the rest of his life. His son, William Coan, Jr., became a planter -in South Carolina, had a number of slaves, and was a man of substantial character and position in Spartansburg County. He died at his old home there while the war between the state was in progress. He married Polly Otts, who was of Scotch-Irish stock. They reared three sons: Andrew, James and John, and a daughter named Ann.
John Coan, father of George W., was born on the plantation in Spartansburg, South Carolina, in 1833. He finished his education in the old War- ford College, located near Spartansburg, and hav- ing completed his course he moved to Henry County, Virginia, and became a teacher. He was thus engaged when the war broke out, and soon afterward he enlisted and went to the front with a Virginia regiment. He served the cause of the South faithfully and well until the close of the struggle. On returning to Henry County he engaged in farming, a vocation he followed until his death in 1910. He never attained large wealth, but was a man of fine character and exer- cised an influence for good in his community. He married Mary Jones, a native of Henry County, Virginia, and daughter of George K. and Ann (King) Jones, both of whom were of Colonial ancestry. Mrs. John Coan still occupies the old home farm in Henry County, Virginia. She reared six children : Bettie, wife of Leon Sheffield, Lulie, George W., Posey, wife of J. J. Cox, Birdie, and John O., Jr.
Mr. George W. Coan acquired his early educa- tion in the public schools of Henry County, Vir- ginia. At the age of eighteen he engaged in business life as a bookkeeper in his native county. He continued similar duties until he was twenty- four, when he was made cashier of the Farmers Bank at Martinsville, Virginia. He had three years of practical experience as a banker, and resigned to engage in the manufacture of tobacco at Martinsville. His big opportunity came when he accepted the position of private secretary to Mr. R. J. Reynolds at Winston. He remained Mr. Reynolds' secretary two years, and then took a more active part in the great Reynolds tobacco industry. He was elected a director and the secretary and treasurer of the company. He car- ried many of the heaviest responsibilities of the detailed management of the business for fifteen years, until he resigned April 1, 1915. Since then he has lived retired, merely looking after his private affairs.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In 1890 Mr. Coan married Miss Lula Brown. She was born in Franklin County, Virginia, daugh- ter of William A. and Susan (Finney ) Brown. Mr. and Mrs. Coan have two children: George W., Jr., and May.
Mr. Coan is now serving as president of the Twin City Club of Winston-Salem and is a director of the Forsyth Country Club. He is a demitted member of the Masonic fraternity. He and his wife are active in the social life of the city. Mrs. Coan and her daughter are members of the Christian Church, while he remains faithful to the church of his ancestors, the Presbyterian denomi- nation.
WILLIAM H. H. GREGORY. Civilization will hail riches, prowess, honors, popularity, but it will bow humbly to sincerity in its fellows. The ex- ponent of known sincerity, of singleness of honest purpose, has its exemplification in all bodies of men. He is known in every association and to him defer the highest honors. Such an exemplar, whose daily life and whose life work have been dominated as their most conspicuous character- istic by sincerity is Capt. William H. H. Gregory, of Statesville, North Carolina.
Captain Gregory, a farmer and a retired cotton merchant, was born at Drury's Bluff, Virginia, between Richmond and Petersburg, the date of his nativity being 1844. He is a son of Dr. Wil- liam W. and Elizabeth (Taylor) Gregory, both deceased. The Gregory family is of Scotch origin and the founders of the name in America came hither with the Galts and settled on the James River, in Virginia. The family is of historic ancestry, bearing the blood of a number of the oldest and most renowned families of the Old Dominion commonwealth. Captain Gregory's fa- ther was a planter and physician and a man of large affairs. His mother was the daughter of Col. Thomas P. Taylor, of Richmond, and a cousin of President Zachary Taylor. One of her brothers married a daughter of President William Henry Harrison, in whose honor Captain Gregory was named. Robert Pegram, of Virginia, who com- manded the famous Confederate gunboat, The Nashville, was a first cousin of Captain Gregory of this review, on the paternal side.
Captain Gregory is an exceptionally well edu- cated and highly cultured gentleman. In his youth he attended the Rappahannock Military School, Georgetown College, Emory & Henry College, and Richmond College, of Richmond. He had not reached his fifteenth year, when, a boy at Rich- mond, he was a member of Company F, a local military organization in that city. In 1859, at the time of the threatened invasion of Virginia by John Brown, Governor Wise immediately called Company F into service to go to Harper's Ferry to resist that raid. However, John Brown was captured by Captain (afterward General) Robert E. Lee an hour prior to the arrival of Company F at that place. Captain Gregory relates many interesting incidents of this historic affair, of which he is one of the very few survivors.
In 1861 Doctor Gregory and his family located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and there they re- sided at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war. Though but seventeen years of age at the time, Cap- tain Gregory volunteered his services, and as a re- sult of his military-school training and actual ex- perience, he was selected for drill master and as- signed to duty in Virginia. Subsequently he re-
turned to Charlotte and enlisted as a private in the regular Confederate service, later becoming adju- tant of the Forty-second North Carolina Regiment of Infantry and eventually achieving the rank of captain. He was a courageous and high-spirited young soldier and was wounded in battle at Port Walthall Junction.
After the close of the war Captain Gregory returned to Charlotte and there engaged in the general mercantile business, later becoming a cot- ton trader in that city. In 1886 he removed to his present place of abode, Statesville, county seat of Iredell County, and here engaged in the cotton business. Of late years he has been re- tired from active business life and he is now de- voting his time to the management of his attrac- tive farm of about one hundred acres, adjoining Statesville on the Northwest. This beautiful country estate is located on the Wilkesboro Road and as a result of natural advantages is well drained, therefore producing excellent crops. The residence stands on a high elevation, in a grove of giant oak trees, and is attractive and homelike in every respect. It boasts many valuable and interesting relics and mementos of the Confederacy and among other antiquities is a sterling silver egg-boiler that belonged originally to the old Harrison family of Virginia.
Captain Gregory has been twice married. November 14, 1866, he wed Miss Dora Brown, of Wilmington, a daughter of Frank Brown, of the old firm of Brown & DeRossett, of that city. Two children survive this marriage: Miss Mary Armstead Gregory, at home; and Caroline, wife of R. A. Lackey, of Oklahoma. Mrs. Gregory was summoned to the life eternal March 26, 1878, and for his second wife Captain Gregory married on October 12, 1880, Miss Mittie Lou Ramsey, of Columbus, Mississippi, a daughter of the late John Calhoun Ramsey, originally of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and prior to his demise a promi- nent manufacturer and business man in Missis- sippi. This union was prolific of four children, concerning whom the following brief data are here incorporated: Marie Taylor is the wife of Ernest B. Moore, of Atlanta; Rylma Harrison married H. C. Evans and they make their home in Raleigh, North Carolina; Lieut. Harry Gregory is an officer in the United States Army and served at the Mexican border in the summer of 1916; and Richard K. Gregory is a resident of Baltimore, Md.
Under Gen. Julian E. Carr Captain Gregory held the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the United States Confederate Veterans, Department of North Carolina, and at the great reunion of that organization at Washington, in June, 1917, he commanded the first brigade of North Carolina veterans. Captain Gregory is a man of high im- pulses, strong moral fiber, fine judgment and keen foresight. He has helped to build up the com- munity in which he resides and here he is well known and is held in high esteem by everyone.
ADDIE ARCHIE PAUL began business life at a very early age and by hard work and a rather unusual degree of persistency, mixed with exper- ience and native talent, has achieved that degree of success accorded him by his friends and asso- ciates at Washington, where he is one of the highly esteemed citizens.
Mr. Paul was born in Craven County, North Carolina, June 24, 1882, a son of Beverly and
WIP-Hill
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Martha (Rowe) Paul. His father was a mechanic and farmer. After an education in the public schools of his native county, Mr. Paul began work in a grocery store at the age of fourteen. Later he was with a dry goods establishment at Newbern, North Carolina, and from that got into business for himself as a furniture dealer and undertaker at Wilson, North Carolina. He was in business at Wilson for nine years. Since then most of his work has been in the field of real estate, for a time he operated in Sampson and Bladen counties, but in 1917 opened his main offices in Washington. Mr. Paul is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Harmony, and the Patriotic Sons of America. He and his family attend worship in the Baptist Church.
His first wife was Mary Barber, who died August 1, 1908, leaving no children. On Sep- tember 1, 1909, he married Lillie Belle Willis, of Washington, North Carolina. They have three children, Beverly, Callie and Arthur Atwood.
WILLIAM POINDEXTER HILL has spent the greater part of his active career in Winston-Salem, and for years has been one of the sustaining factors in the commercial affairs of that city. He was a boy soldier of the Confederate army and life has opened up to him a great variety of experience and opportunity.
He is a great-grandson of a gallant officer of the Revolutionary war. This ancestor was Major Robert Hill, who was born in Caroline County, Virginia, a son of William Hill, who probably spent all his life in Virginia. Major Hill was in the War of the Revolution with Virginia troops, and won his title by valiant service in behalf of the cause of freedom. After the war he moved to North Carolina, and bought land near Germanton in Stokes County. With the aid of his slaves he improved a fine plantation, on which he lived until his death.
Joel Hill, grandfather of William P., was born in Stokes County, North Carolina, and after grow- ing to manhood succeeded to the ownership of a portion of the old plantation. He also employed slaves in its operation, and lived a quiet and useful life there until his death in 1856. Joel Hill married Mildred Golding. Her father John Golding came to North Carolina from Virginia, was an early settler in Stokes County and had a plantation near Germanton on which he spent his last years. Mrs. Joel Hill died in 1869. She had a family of eleven children.
John Gideon Hill, father of the Winston-Salem business man, was born near Germanton October 11, 1817. He was a product of rural environment and of rural schools in his youth. He was satis- fied to follow the example of his ancestors and cultivated his fields and was an earnest participant in the life of his community. Before his mar- riage he served a term as Sheriff of Stokes County, which then included Forsyth County. When Forsyth County was organized he was elected sheriff of the new county. He married Susan Frances Poindexter. She was born near German- ton in Stokes County, October 9, 1828. Her father, Colonel William Poindexter, was a native of the same locality. Her grandfather, David Poindexter, came from Virginia, and was a Revolutionary soldier, being in Washington's army and a witness of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. On coming to North
Carolina he developed a plantation in Stokes County, not far from Germanton, and that was the scene of his last years. This Revolutionary veteran married Frances Johnson. Her mother was named Poe, and she was also related to the Chisholm and Fox families. Colonel William Poindexter remained a resident of Stokes County all his life and conducted a large plantation there. He derived his title from service in the state militia. Colonel Poindexter married Eliza Nelson, a native of Stokes County, daughter of a promi- nent planter Isaac Nelson. Mrs. John G. Hill was a member of the Episcopal Church. She died at the age of sixty-one, having reared eight children, William Poindexter, Ann Eliza, Mary Mildred, Joel, Sarah Josephine, David Jasper, Francis Gideon and Alice.
William Poindexter Hill was born on a farm near Germanton in Stokes County October 8, 1847. Owing to the turbulent state of the country during his youth he had rather limited advantages in the way of schooling. He was only fourteen when the war broke out, and he shortly after- ward enlisted in the Junior Reserve, serving under Lieutenant Neal. The first work to which he directed his attention after the war was teaching in Henry County, Virginia, and he also taught in Stokes and Forsyth Counties, North Carolina.
Mr. Hill has been a resident of Winston since 1878. While he is now endeavoring to free him- self from some of the heavier cares of business he was for many years a vigorous and active participant in the commercial life of the city. He was one of the organizers and vice president of Oakland Manufacturing Company, now the B. F. Huntly Furniture Company. He was also an organizer of the Huntly-Hill-Stockton Company, which has built up a business that makes it one of the largest furniture houses in the entire state. Mr. Hill still retains the vice presidency in this company. For a number of years he was also a member of the firm of Ogburn, Hill & Company, tobacco manufacturers.
He married Elizabeth Ogburn. Mrs. Hill is a native of Winston, daughter of Charles B. and Tabitha (Moir) Ogburn. For the record of her family, long a prominent one in this section of North Carolina, the reader is referred to other pages of this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have reared five children: Charles G., William P., Elizabeth, Eugene D., and Edward Ashton. Charles married Mary Ella Cannon, and has three children Ella Cannon, Charles G., and Susan Frances. Eugene married Minnie Lee Henry. Elizabeth is the wife of Agnew Hunter Bahnson, and has a son Agnew Hunter, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have long been sustaining members of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church.
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