History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV, Part 16

Author: Connor, R. D. W. (Robert Digges Wimberly), 1878-1950; Boyd, William Kenneth, 1879-1938. dn; Hamilton, Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac, 1878-
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago : New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 750

USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 16

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OSCAR RODOLPH KEIGER, M. D. A young physician of thorough ability and wide training . and experience, Doctor Keiger has recently located at Winston-Salem and is in the enjoyment of high professional standing and a large practice in that community.

He represents some of the very old and promi- nent names in this section of North Carolina. He was born on a farm in Yadkin Township of Stokes County, a son of John Wesley Keiger, who was born on the same farm December 12, 1849, and a grandson of John Keiger. The grandfather owned

HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA

and occupied a farm in Yadkin Township and spent his last days there. He married Sally Winfrey.

Doctor Keiger's father grew up on a farm and succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead. He spent his active career as a farmer, and his son had the farm as his early environment and playground. John Wesley Keiger married Martha Louise Schaub. She was a native of Yadkin County, and she and her husband reared eight chil- dren, named Charles Edwin, Numa Fletcher, James Arthur, Oscar Rodolph, Cyrus Clifton, Georgia Beatrice, Annie Gray and Lelia Blanche.

Doctor Keiger's maternal ancestry deserves some particular mention. His mother's great-grand- father was John Frederick Schaub, a native of Switzerland, where he was born in 1717. On com- ing to America he lived a while in Pennsylvania, but in 1756 came to North Carolina and was a pi- oneer in what is now Forsyth County. He died at Oldtown in 1801. His family consisted of four sons and one daughter. His son John Jacob Schaub, grandfather, of Mrs. John W. Keiger, was born in Forsyth County December 29, 1775. He refused to allow the Moravian Church to select a wife for him, but married the lady of his own choice, Miss Maria Salome Nissen. They were married by Squire Stuckberger. For this dis- obedience to the church mandate they were dropped from the membership, but subsequently were taken back into the fold. John Jacob Schaub was a tailor by trade. William Samuel Schaub, maternal grandfather of Doctor Keiger, was born near Bethania, in what is now Forsyth County, January 17, 1805. Though he learned the trade of tailor he followed it only a short time. Buying a farm near Dalton, he was engaged in its cultivation, and at the same time operated a saw and grist mill. He was an honored and useful citizen in that community, where he died Novem- ber 5, 1892. William S. Schaub married Eliza Hauser, who was born October 3, 1810, and is supposed to have been a lineal descendant of Martin Hauser, one of the first settlers in what is now Forsyth County. William S. Schaub and wife were reared in the Moravian Church, but in the absence of a convenient church of that denomi- nation they joined the Methodist and were active members of the congregation until they died. He served many years as trustee, steward and class leader. Their oldest son, Winborn Benjamin Schaub, enlisted soon after the commencement of the war in Company F of the Twenty-first Regi- ment, North Carolina Troops, and was commis- sioned first lieutenant. When the company's cap- tain resigned he took command, and at the second battle of Manassas, on the 28th of August, 1862, he fell while gallantly leading his company in a charge.

Doctor Keiger secured his early education in the district schools and in the Booneville High School. When eighteen years of age he began teaching. His first term was taught at Donnaha and the second in the Hauser or Rocky Spring dis- trict. He left the school room to take up the study of medicine in 1907 in the medical depart- ment of the University of North Carolina, where he was graduated in 1909. For further prepara- tion he entered the University College of Medicine at Richmond, where he completed the course and was granted his degree in 1911.

Before beginning active practice Doctor Keiger

served four months as an interne in the Danville General Hospital. He was successfully engaged in a general practice at King in Stokes County until 1916. After a post graduate course in the Polyclinic Hospital at New York City he resumed practice at Winston-Salem. He is a member in high standing of the Forsyth County and North Carolina State Medical Societies, and also belongs to the American Medical Association.

Doctor Keiger was married December 30, 1915, to Sally Maude Fulton. She was born at Walnut Cove, North Carolina, daughter of James Fulton and granddaughter of Jacob Fulton. Her father was for several years a commercial traveler but is now engaged in the mercantile business at Greens- boro. Doctor Keiger is an active member of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, South, while Mrs. Keiger is a member of the Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with Fairview Council No. 19, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and Lodge No. 58 of the Masonic order.

LAUREN OSBORNE GIBSON, M. D. A talented physician and surgeon, practicing at Statesville, the home of his youth, Doctor Gibson has given to that city one of its most promising institu- tions, the Gibson Sanitarium, of which he is owner and proprietor. Doctor Gibson was born near Statesville in Iredell County in 1883. His grandfather was the late Rufus Gibson, one of the pioneer settlers of Iredell County. Doctor Gibson is a son of William B. and Octie (Gibbs) Gibson, whose home is now in Statesville. His father was born in Iredell County in 1853, and has been a lifelong farmer. His old home place was at Loray, northwest of Statesville, but for some years he lived below Statesville in the Bethany community, where Doctor Gibson was born. Now for several years his home has been in Statesville. He has long been prominently identified with the Farmers' Union and other farmers movements. He is chairman of the Executive Committee of the Iredell County Farmers' Union, is chairman of the Fertilizer Committee of the state organization of the Farmers' Union, and is vice president and man- ager of the Farmers' Union Warehouse for Ire- dell County. A special illustration of his promi- nence in this part of the state was his appoint- ment in August, 1917, by Governor Bickett as chairman of the Exemption Board for the Western District of North Carolina, to pass upon exemp- tions under the Selective Draft Act.

Doctor Gibson received his early education in the local schools, and graduated from Davidson College with the class of 1910. He then entered the Medical School of the North Carolina Medical College at Charlotte, and received his M. D. degree in 1913. The following year was spent in the Kensington Hospital at Philadelphia, and in 1914 he returned to Statesville and began practice.

Doctor Gibson established the Gibson Sanitarium in November, 1916. It is a hospital well equipped for handling medical and surgical cases of women and for obstetrics. The hospital was opened under the most favorable auspices, and with Doctor Gib- son as director its facilities and service have brought it a justified place among the important institutions of Iredell County. Besides looking after the hospital management Doctor Gibson still attends to his large private practice in States- ville and surrounding territory.

HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA

BEVERLY GILLIM Moss began his business career at a very early age and though still comparatively a young man has had the experience of a veteran in a number of important enterprises in and around Washington. .

Mr. Moss was born in Chesterfield County, Vir- ginia, January 19, 1875, but in 1886 his parents moved to Washington, North Carolina, where he grew up. He is a son of Beverly Turpin and Mary Elizabeth (Morgan) Moss. His father was for many years a leading lumber manufacturer. Mr. B. G. Moss received his early education under private tuition in Virginia, and after 1886 at- tended the high school at Washington, North Carolina. He had been out of school only a short time when he engaged in business for himself and at the age of twenty established the Moss Planing Mill Company in 1895, and has since been owner of this considerable industry at Wash- ington, including a large and well equipped plant and employing twenty-five skilled operators. In 1904 Mr. Moss organized the Savings & Trust Company at Washington and has since been its president. This company has a capital of $50,000, surplus of $20,000, while its deposits average $275,000.

Many other business affairs claim his ability and time. He is a director of the Beaufort County Iron Works, of the Home Building & Loan Asso- ciation, and is owner of farm lands aggregating about 2,100 acres.

He became interested in public affairs almost as soon as in business, and from the age of twenty-two to thirty-one he served as an alder- man of Washington, a period of nine years, and has ever since been active in matters of civic betterment. He is vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, is a Knight Templar Mason and Knight of Pythias, is deacon of the Presbyterian Church and superintendent of its Sunday school.

July 14, 1909, Mr. Moss married Emma Alline Carter, daughter of Jesse Carter, a druggist in Aberdeen, North Carolina. Mrs. Moss is descended from Sir Thomas Carter, a historic figure in the early days of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs .. Moss have three children: Beverly Gillim, Jr., Jesse Carter and Frank Graham.

CHARLES D. OGBURN is one of a prominent family that has been identified with Forsyth County since pioneer times. His own career has been chiefly identified with tobacco manufacture, though he also has extensive interests in banking and other affairs of Winston-Salem.

He was born in Forsyth County, April 25, 1861. His grandfather, Edward Ogburn, was born in Virginia, came to the State of North Carolina early in the last century, buying a tract of land about seven miles north of the present site of Winston. There he improved a farm and kept his residence there until his death. Charles B. Ogburn, father of Charles D., was born on the old farm about five miles from Winston in Forsyth County and had the training of a country boy in this section of North Carolina in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was in vigorous young manhood when the United States went to war with Mexico in 1846, and he enlisted in Company G of the First Regiment, North Carolina troops. He was soon appointed first sergeant, went to Mexico with his command, and was with his regiment in all its movements and battles. He was promoted to second-lieutenant and at the close of the war

returned home. About the close of the Mexican war the news came of the discovery of gold in California. Charles B. Ogburn was one of those who joined the great rush to the Eldorado, and in 1849 traveled across the plains with a large party of men to California. He had considerable expe- rience in the gold fields there but in a year or so returned home. Then after an interval of another year or two he went back to California, making the journey this time by way of the Isthmus. Again there followed the experience and excite- ment of life in a mining district, and on return- ing to North Carolina he invested his savings and earnings in a farm in Kernerville Township. He became a general farmer and after the close of the Civil war he was associated with N. D. Sullivan in the manufacture of tobacco near Walkertown. He continued that business until his death in 1875. Charles B. Ogburn married Tabitha Moir. She was born in Rockingham

County, North Carolina. Her father, Robert Moir, arrived in America after a journey of many weeks on a sailing vessel from Scotland, which was his native country. In Rockingham County, North Carolina, he bought a tract of land, and became a very extensive planter and also a tobacco manufacturer. He had fifty or more slaves employed in his fields and around his factories and house. Robert Moir continued a resident of Rockingham County until his death. Mrs. Charles B. Ogburn died in 1862, mother of three children: Robert E., Elizabeth, who married William P. Hill, and Charles D.

Charles D. Ogburn has spent his life in and around Winston-Salem, attended the public schools of Winston, and after leaving high school had a course in the Baltimore Business College at Balti- more, Maryland. He then returned to his native precinct and took up the manufacture of tobacco. In 1885 he became associated in a partnership with C. J. Ogburn and W. P. Hill under the firm name Ogburn, Hill & Company. This company did a large business as tobacco manufacturers until 1912. Since then Mr. Charles D. Ogburn has been a member of the firm N. D. Sullivan Co., whose factory is near Walkertown.

Besides his tobacco interests Mr. Ogburn is a director of the Wachovia Bank & Trust Company of Winston-Salem, of the Washington Mills at Fries, Virginia, of the Crystal Ice Company and the Home Real Estate Loan Insurance Company, and large land interests in Eastern North Caro- lina besides other interests in North Carolina. He is a charter member of the Twin City Club of Winston-Salem, director Forsyth Rolling Mills. Mr. Ogburn and his family are members of the Calvary Moravian Church. He was married in 1895 to Carrie Shelton. Mrs. Ogburn was born in Davidson County, North Carolina, daughter of Doctor and E. E. (Belo) Shelton. She died in 1897. Mr. Ogburn has two sons, Carl DeWitt and Ralph Belo. Carl is now in the Aviation Section, United States army, and Ralph is at University of North Carolina.

WILLIAM C. PERRY. In days when much adverse criticism of public officials and general unrest of all kinds prevails, it is particularly gratifying to be able to chronicle, together with his personal history, the universal satisfaction that attends the administration of William C. Perry, as super- intendent of the Ircdell County Homc. Whatever has been possible in the way of making the home

HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA

entirely self-supporting, Mr. Perry has done since he came here in 1906, for he is not only a con- scientious, reliable man, but a thoroughly expe- rienced farmer.

William C. Perry was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, in 1870. He comes of some of the finest old stock in the state. His paternal grand- mother was a Haithcock. His parents were L. C. and Mary A. (Boger) Perry, both of whom are deceased. The father of Mr. Perry was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and accom- panied his parents to Iredell County prior to the war between the states. The grandfather settled near Arthur's Mill, about five miles east of Barium Springs, and followed an agricultural life there. L. C. Perry assisted his father on the home place until the war broke out and then entered the Confederate service and remained in the army un- til the end of the struggle, returning to peaceful pursuits without his good right arm. He sur- vived until 1900. He married Mary A. Boger, who belonged to an old Pennsylvania Dutch family that had settled in Cabarrus County before the Revolutionary war. Her mother was a Steiwalt.

William C. Perry was reared on the home farm and was educated in the public schools. He has always taken a great deal of interest in farm development and judging by the high state of cultivation to which he has brought his own farm of thirty-four acres, lying a half mile west of the county home, his neighbors estimate that he is the best farmer in Iredell, seems a just one. His land lies in the heart of the Piedmont region and is worth at least $100 per acre.

Without doubt, Iredell has the finest county accommodations for its indigents, in North Caro- lina. Mr. Perry has had charge since 1906 but the plant was not completed until 1913. The farm contains 240 acres and extensive farming operations are carried on by Mr. Perry, who takes pride in the fact that this is one of the few county homes in the state that are self sustaining. Modern brick buildings of beautiful architecture, have been erected at a cost of $40,000, and they have been equipped with electric lights and a water system that includes sanitary sewerage. Good judgment, in which Mr. Perry's voice was heard, prevailed in the erection of the different buildings and their appropriate use. Separate and equally comfortable buildings have been pro- vided for the white and the colored dependents, and there are separate buildings for infectious diseases, for the tubercular and those of unsound mind. The care and management of such an in- stitution, aside from the responsibility of the inmates, would tax the strength and vitality of many men, but in Mr. Perry the county has found an ideal superintendent. In addition to being a well informed and practical farmer, he is a good business man and in addition to this he is gifted with tact, and a genial disposition that enables him to keep up his admirable system of management without any friction.

Mr. Perry has been twice married, first to Miss Fannie Dry, and five children were born to them, namely: Mrs. Alice Jones, and Ada, Clayton, Malla and Irene Perry.

WILLIAM M. NISSEN. The story of one of North Carolina's oldest manufacturing industries might be woven about the name Nissen. It is a name that signifies character. For eighty years or more many thousands of Nissen wagons have been in service, and the buyers of these vehicles have long

since taken it for granted that not only the best of material entered into their construction, but also that the highest quality of skill and the other qualities which stand for stability and reliability are represented in their timbers. The present proprietor of the Nissen Wagon Works at Winston- Salem is William M. Nissen, a son of the founder of the business.

The name is also one that belongs to the colonial annals of North Carolina. The founder of the family in this state was Rev. Tyco Nissen, who was born in Holstein, Denmark, March 14, 1732. He was the great-grandfather of William M. Nissen. He came to America when the Atlantic colonies still gave allegiance to Great Britain, in 1770. Some time later he arrived in North Carolina and settled near Salem, where he bought a tract of land and developed it as a farm or plantation. Accord- ing to the records found in Clewell's "History of North Carolina," the cornerstone of a church was laid in 1772 at Friedland and the house was consecrated February 18, 1775, and Rev. Tyco Nissen was introduced as the first minister. He continued active in the ministry there until 1780. His death occurred in Salem February 20, 1798. His remains now repose in the Moravian grave- yard in Salem. He married Salome Meuer, who was born in Bethlehem, . Pennsylvania, January 20, 1750, and died at Salem May 4, 1821. Her father, Philip Meuer, was born in Alsace March 25, 1708, and died in Bethlehem April 15, 1759.

Christian Nissen, a son of Rev. Tyco Nissen, was born in Forsyth County, North Carolina, grew up on a farm and followed farming as his active vocation. He remained a resident of his native county until his death. He reared three daughters and two sons, named Betsy, Lucinda, Sally, John Philip and Israel.

John Philip Nissen was the founder of the Nissen wagon industry at Winston-Salem. He was born on a farm in Broad Bay Township of Forsyth County in 1813. A genius for mechanics was apparently an inheritance. Before he had reached his majority, while living on the farm and with only such tools as were usually found about a farm in the early half of the last century, he built a wagon complete from tongue to endgate. It was a wagon that saw many years of hard service. It was his first masterpiece and attracted much admi- ration and naturally excited a demand for others like it.

In 1834 John P. Nissen bought a lot in Waugh- town. Erecting a log building, he made that his pioneer wagon shop. With an equipment of hand tools, and supplying all the labor himself, he began making wagons for sale. There was a customer for every wagon before it was finished. The cus- tom came from the immediate locality, but the fame of the Nissen wagons steadily grew, and every year the output went to markets more and more distant from the place of manufacture. The log building was replaced by a frame structure, and power machinery was installed. This frame fac- tory was converted into a government workshop during the war between the states and the Nissen wagons were made in great numbers for the Con- federate army. John Philip Nissen had an almost unerring judgment as to materials, and practically until the close of his life took the greatest of pains and gave his personal supervision to nearly every detail of manufacture. It was on the firm foundation of his individual integrity and char- acter that the fame of the Nissen wagons became

b.J. Oglum

HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA

widespread. He continued actively engaged in the business which he had founded until his death in 1874.

John P. Nissen married Mary Vawter. She was born in Virginia, and came with her father, Bradford Vawter, from that state to a home a few miles south of Salem. Bradford Vawter bought a farm there and lived on it until his death. Mrs. John Philip Nissen died in 1884. She reared a family of ten children, named Jane, George E., John, Betty, Reuben, Frank, Hattie, Alice, William M. and Samuel.

William M. Nissen was born at Waughtown, which is now a rural station of the Winston-Salem postoffice, and has spent his life practically in that one locality. He attended the Boys' School at Salem and than became a youthful apprentice in his father's factory. He studied all the details of wagon manufacturing and knows the business thor- oughly from the workshop to the counting room. After he became of age he and his brother George E. succeeded their father in business and con- ducted the factory along the same lines which had been emphasized by their honored father. In 1909 William Nissen bought the interest of his brother, and has since been sole proprietor. As already noted, the business was begun in a log house, that was succeeded by a frame building, and in recent years a large brick factory has been erected, con- taining all the modern appliances and machinery for turning out finished wagons, and where his father eighty years ago would spend many days on one wagon, the factory now has an output of many vehicles each day. At times upwards of 200 men have been employed in the plant, and it is not only one of the oldest manufacturing estab- lishments under one continuous family ownership in the state, but also one of the most prosperous and one of the chief assets of the industrial life of Winston-Salem.

In 1898 Mr. Nissen married Ida W. Wray. She was born at Reedsville, North Carolina, a daughter of Richard and Lucy (Burton) Wray. Mr. and Mrs. Nissen have two children, George W. and Richard.

CHARLES J. OGBURN is not only a veteran of the business and commercial life of Winston-Salem. His enterprise and special ability have long been a factor in the growth of that community and a record of those chiefly responsible for the building up of this comparatively new city of Western North Carolina could not properly omit mention of Charles J. Ogburn.

Mr. Ogburn was born on a farm about five miles from Winston-Salem May 6, 1842. His family have long been prominent in this section. His grandfather, William Ogburn, was a native of Mecklenberg, Virginia, and removed to Stokes County, North Carolina, locating a few miles north of Salem, where he bought land and spent the rest of his days farming. James Ogburn, father of Charles J., was born in Mecklenberg, Virginia, and was very young when brought to North Caro- lina by his parents. Having grown up on a farm, he took up farming as his regular vocation, but was also one of the first in this region of North Carolina to manufacture tobacco. He bought land about two miles from his father's home and lived there until his death.

Charles J. Ogburn had such advantages as were to be found in the rural schools of Forsyth County sixty or seventy years ago. A better preparation

for life were the habits of industry and honesty which were early instilled into him. He lived at home assisting his father in farming and tobacco manufacturing until he was twenty years of age.

His military service began in 1862 as a mem- ber of Company D Fifty-seventh Regiment North Carolina troops. With that regiment he was a participant in all its movements and battles up to and including the great conflict at Chancellorsville. There on May 4, 1863, he was severely wounded, and two days after the battle his foot was ampu- tated. He spent five weeks in a hospital at Rich- mond, was then sent home, but as soon as he was able to do so he reported for duty. Being inca- pacitated for field service he was assigned to the quartermaster's department, and in that capacity gave all the service he could to the Confederacy until the close of the war. After the war he supplemented his somewhat meager education by attending a private school in Grayson County, Virginia, taught by Robert Masten of Winston. After this schooling he returned to North Carolina and entered the employ of his brother, Sihon A. Ogburn and Mr. Tice. He was clerk in their busi- ness eight months, and then went on the road as a traveling salesman. Subsequently he became tobacco buyer and salesman for N. D. Sullivan, and remained in his employ seven years. Mr. Ogburn then formed a partnership with W. P. Hill under the firm name of Ogburn & Hill. This was the beginning of a very large and influential enterprise. S. A. Ogburn subsequently became a member of the firm for two years and Robert Ogburn was also a partner. Charles D. Ogburn later purchased an interest and Mr. Hill retired. Through different changes the firm went on as Ogburn, Hill & Company until the plant was burned and the affairs of the corporation were the wound up. Since then Mr. Charles J. Ogburn has lived retired.

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History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV, Part 16

Author: Connor, R. D. W. (Robert Digges Wimberly), 1878-1950; Boyd, William Kenneth, 1879-1938. dn; Hamilton, Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac, 1878- Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Chicago : New York : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 750

Author: Connor, R. D. W. (Robert Digges Wimberly), 1878-1950; Boyd, William Kenneth, 1879-1938. dn; Hamilton, Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac, 1878-
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago : New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 750