USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106
While it is important that the above facts should be included as the main essentials of biographical outline, it remains to describe more adequately the personal character of the late Mr. Tise. Fortunately this has been well done by one whose words have already been quoted. This sketch may well conclude with the appreciation penned by the same writer:
"Few indeed are men gifted with a mind more alert, a memory more accurate, a judgment better balanced, or a comprehension more complete than he possessed. Equally facile with mind or hand he could organize, direct or execute works of great variety and importance. Early in life he was a merchant, and enjoyed the distinction of being the most successful salesman of his day. Later he turned to manufacturing and achieved success equally marked. Still later he saw the need of broadening the markets of his city and turned to the building of warehouses and threw his wonder- ful personality and rare gifts of trade into our near and remote territory, where he is today best remembered as the farmers friend at the great tobacco market of Winston-Salem.
"His faith in the growth of his city and Pied- mont, North Carolina, was instinctive and without faltering grew with passing years. By acquiring and improving real estate, he early in life laid a foundation for a fortune. No city ever had a Vol. IV~ 6
more loyal supporter nor one who enjoyed its growth more thoroughly. Fortunate in his own undertakings, he was equally happy over the suc- cess of others; and if ever one to whom he has given disinterested advice had accepted his clear vision of the future, hundreds of us would gather at his bier today to acknowledge him our benefac- tor.
"Since he has passed away there is a void in our community which will not soon be filled. We shall miss the genial smile and cordial greeting he had for all-the rich and poor alike; we shall miss his fluent and sparkling conversation, his warm wel- come in the home, and his familiar presence in the channels of our city's life, where business and pleasure meet and mingle together.
"A perfect faith in God sustained him to the end and made his last days his happiest and best. His was a well rounded career; but until the veil shall be withdrawn, it will seem to those who knew him and loved him that his life was far too short."
JAMES ANDERSON LONG. One of the most prom- inent and influential citizens of Roxboro, James Anderson Long, Jr., still belongs to the younger generation of business men. He belongs to that class of, representative men who while promoting their individual interests also advance the general welfare, and who, while energetic and enterprising in business life also give freely of their energies and assistance in public matters. While his career has not been a lengthy one, it has been featured by a quick rise to leadership, and at the present Mr. Long is president of the Roxboro Cotton Mill and vice president of the Peoples Bank.
Mr. Long was born at Roxboro, North Carolina, August 15, 1885, and is a son of James Anderson and Laura Rebecca (Thompson) Long. His father was born in Person County, North Carolina, May 23, 1841, a son of Ratliff and Mary (Walters) Long. He was given a common school education and began life as a farmer, but the Civil war came on to interrupt his career and he enlisted in Com- pany H, Twenty-fourth North Carolina Regiment, C. S. A., in which he rose to the rank of sergeant. Later in life he became major on the staff of Gen. Julian S. Carr, United Confederate Veterans. When the war closed he resumed his farming operations, but his interests gradually extended to other fields, he becoming president of the Peoples Bank of Rox- boro and of the two Roxboro Cotton Mills, and owner of the Loch Lily Roller Flour and Grist Mills, Saw Mills and Planing Mills. Mr. Long has been prominently before the public in many posi- tions of civic trust. As early as 1885 he was a member of the North Carolina House of Repre- sentatives from Person County, and in 1889, 1901, 1905 and 1909 was elected to the State Senate. He was appointed by Governor Kitchin a member of the State Building Commission to supervise the erection of the State Administration Building pro- vided for by the Legislature of 1911, and was elected by Col. Ashley Horne as a member of the committee to supervise the erection of the monu- ment to the North Carolina Women of the Con- federacy, presented by Colonel Horne to the State, to be erected in Capitol Square, Raleigh. He be- longs to the Methodist Church, is a trustee of the Methodist Orphanage, belongs to the board of trus- tees of Trinity College, and is chairman of the board of trustees of Greensboro Female College. In 1882 he married Laura Rebecca Thompson, and they became the parents of three children.
82
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
James Anderson Long, Jr., received his early education in the public schools of Roxboro, follow- ing which he became a student at Trinity College, from which institution he was graduated in 1905 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In that same year he was tendered and accepted a position as assistant cashier of the Peoples Bank of Roxboro and remained with that banking house during the remainder of 1905 and a part of 1906. He then transferred his services to the Roxboro Cotton Mill, as assistant treasurer, and in January, 1916, was elected to the presidency and still continues therein. He has discharged the duties of his post in a man- ner that has caused the business to flourish and develop, and in the meantime has also retained an interest in the Peoples Bank, of which he is now vice president. Among the civic labors accom- plished by Mr. Long may be mentioned those in connection with his position as a member of the board of education of Person County, a post which he fills at this time.
Mr. Long was married November 9, 1912, to Ann Elizabeth (Bickford) of Lock Haven, Pennsyl- vania. They have three children: James Anderson III, Robert Edgar and Max Bickford. Mr. and Mrs. Long are members of the Edgar Long Me- morial Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is serving as steward.
0
WILLIAM LEROY VAUGHAN'S record as a lawyer has been a brilliant one, and has brought him steady promotion to the better honors and rewards of the profession and of public life. He has prac- ticed at Washington since his admission to the bar.
Mr. Vaughan was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, January 29, 1880, a son of William Thomas and Martha Eleanor (Gray) Vaughan, who were substantial farming people in Halifax County. Mr. Vaughan received his earlier educa- tion in the grammar and high schools of his native county, also attended Scotland Neck Academy and Wake Forest College, where he graduated as Bachelor of Arts with the class of 1902 and in 1906 received the Master of Arts degree. For several years he taught school, a year and a half of that time being instructor of English in Wake Forest College. He took his law studies at Wake Forest, graduating from the law department in August, 1907. In January, 1908, he began active practice at Washington, and devoted himself to the law until September, 1909. At that date the Board of Education appointed him county superintendent of schools and he was again in educational work until he resigned the office in 1913. He then became associated with N. L. Simmons, under the name Simmons & Vaughan, but in November, 1914, was elected to the office of judge of the county recorder's court and was reelected in 1916. Besides his public duties he is now handling a general legal practice alone and is attorney for the Washington-Beaufort Land Company, the Washington Building and Loan Association and for the First National Bank of Washington.
Mr. Vaughan is a member of the Beaufort County Bar Association, is deacon in the First Baptist Church and teacher of the Baraca Class, is a Knight Templar Mason and a Shriner and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On December 20, 1910, he married Miss Carolina Virginia Simmons, of Washington. They have two sons: William LeRoy, Jr., and Enoch Simmons.
JOSEPH B. SPARGER. An able and worthy repre- sentative of the horticultural interests of Surry County, Joseph B. Sparger is officially identified with two of the most extensive and successful business organizations of this part of the state, being a director and general manager of the Spar- ger Orchard Company and president of the State Mountain Orchard Company. He is a resident of Mount Airy but was born on a farm lying four miles east of Mount Airy, where his father, Wil- liam Sparger, Jr., was also born, his birth having occurred in 1833.
William Sparger, Sr., grandfather of Joseph B. Sparger, was also born on this parental homestead, the farm of which his father hewed from the wil- derness, having bought this tract of wild land soon after coming to North Carolina from Holland, his native country. His brothers and sisters, of whom he had many, all changed their surnames, it is be- lieved, from its original form, "Wolfenbarger" to "Sparger," and all but two of his brothers mi- grated to Ohio. William Sparger, Sr., continued a resident of Surry County, and after reaching man- hood settled in Mount Airy. There were at that time no railroads in the state, and he embarked in business as a freighter, with teams transporting produce of all kinds to Fayetteville, then known as Cross Roads, on the return trip bringing a load of merchandise. While thus engaged, in 1834, he was robbed on the road, and murdered. His wife, whose maiden name was Nancy Bryson, was born, it is thought, in Virginia. She survived him more than half a century, living to be nearly ninety years old. She was the mother of three sons and four daughters, as follows: James, John, William, Sally, Joyce, Mary and Jane.
William Sparger, Jr., a little lad, scarce a year old when his father died, was brought up on the home farm, and early in life served an apprentice- ship at the miller's trade, an occupation that later exempted him from service in the Confederate army. Accumulating some money, he subsequent- ly invested in land, buying land which included a part of his grandfather's original estate, situated four miles east of Mount Airy. During the prog- ress of the Civil war, he operated J. W. Brower's grist mill in Hamburg, continuing its management a number of years. Assuming then the possession of his farm, he was there employed in agricultural pursuits until his death, July, 1915. He married Sarah Witcher, a native of Carroll County, Vir- ginia. She passed to the life beyond in 1912, leav- ing six children, namely: Allen L., William S., Joseph B., James A., Mary and Joyce.
Acquiring his early education in the district schools, and the public schools of Mount Airy, Jo- seph B. Sparger was fitted for a teacher at the Oak Ridge Institute, in Guilford County. Enter- ing upon a professional career, he taught school four years, and then decided to make a change in his occupation. Locating in Mount Airy, Mr. Spar- ger embarked in the hardware business, and in ad- dition became a manufacturer of chairs, and dressed lumber. Being successful in the manage- ment of these enterprises, he continued both until 1909.
In the meantime Mr. Sparger had become ac- tively interested in the culture of fruits, a branch of horticulture with which he is very familiar, and now, as director and general manager of the Spar- ger Orchard Company superintends the growing and fruit gathering of 30,000 productive apple and peach trees, while as president of the State Moun-
E
-
JBSfarger
83
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tain Orchard Company, which owns 800 acres of mountain fruit land, he is kept busily employed at his favorite industry.
Mr. Sparger married, in 1892, Miss Bettie Case, who was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, a daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Prathen) Case. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Sparger four children have been born, namely: Margaret, Ran- dall W., Collier B., and Eloise. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sparger are members of the Central Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South. Politically Mr. Sparger is identified with the republican party, and takes an active interest in public affairs. He has served as chairman of the board of county commissioners, and as a delegate to numerous dis- trict, county and state conventions. During the time that he was chairman of the board of county commissioners the county voted 10 per cent for good roads and built one of the best courthouses in the state at the cost of $120,000. Seventy steel and concrete bridges were also built in the county. Having the county demonstrated for improved farming industries and an assistant lady county demonstrator to improve such industries as canning fruit, etc., was due to Mr. Sparger's influence.
HON. GIDEON HILL HASTINGS. One of the fore- most members of the Winston-Salem bar, Hon. Gideon Hill Hastings, has won his position through no happy chance. His career from the time he left college halls has been one of constant application and sturdy industry, of success well and worthily won. Besides serving a large clientage he has also accepted the call of public responsibilities and made an efficient record while a member of the Legislature.
He was born on a farm in Abbotts Creek Town- ship of Forsyth County, and his ancestors came out of England, first locating in New England, and from there going to Pennsylvania. Some of the later generations spelled the name Hasten. Mr. Hastings' grandfather was born either in Pennsylvania or in Granville County, North Caro- lina. From the latter locality he removed to Stokes County, buying land in Abbotts Creek Township. He had some slaves and worked his farm with their labor. In that community he continued to live the rest of his days. He mar- ried a Miss McElroy.
John Hastings, father of Gideon H., was born in 1812. He became a man of substantial means and distinguished himself by much enterprise. He bought upwards of six hundred acres at the junc- tion of the roads leading from Salisbury to Dan- bury and from Winston to Greensboro. To accom- modate the large traffic passing this crossroads point he kept both a tavern and a store. In 1860 he sold the tavern and with it about 150 acres of land. Soon afterward he built a large country home about a mile northeast of the old tavern, and there applied himself entirely to farming. This was his home until his death in 1886, at the age of seventy-four. His first wife was Susan Payne, who was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, daughter of Franklin Payne. She died in 1874. The mother of Gideon H. Hastings was Louisa Whicker. She was born in Forsyth County, daugh- ter of Oliphant and Jane ( Wilson) Whicker. She died in 1917. They reared three children: Bertha, Gideon H. and Rabah L. Bertha is the wife of C. R. Atkins. Rabah L. now occupies the old homestead and lives with his mother. By his first marriage John Hastings had five children, named Jane, Julia, Almah, Constantine B. and John R.
The early environment to which he was accus-
tomed as a boy Mr. Hastings found in the rural district where his father had his farming interests. There he attended a rural school, afterward Ker- nersville High School, and his education was con- tinued through Yadkin Valley Institute at Boon- ville and in Elon College. Teaching was one of his early experiences, and by that vocation he earned some of the means which enabled him to prepare for the bar. He taught his first term of school in Abbotts Creek Township. For one year he had charge of the graded schools in Kerners- ville.
Mr. Hastings studied law at Wake Forest Col- lege and in the Nashville Law School. He gradu- ated from the latter school in 1900 and was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1901. In 1902 Mr. Hastings removed to Winston and since that date has been steadily increasing his reputa- tion as a reliable and safe counselor and a lawyer who gives an efficient service to every interest intrusted to his charge.
In 1902, the year he began practice at Winston, Mr. Hastings married Miss Betty Linville. Mrs. Hastings was born at Kernersville in Forsyth County, daughter of William S. and Mary Lin- ville. Two children have been born to their union, Louise and Elizabeth.
For years Mr. Hastings has been a leader in the democratic party in his section of the state. He was chairman of the executive committee in 1907-08. For six years he served as municipal judge of Winston-Salem, and in 1905 was elected a member of the State Legislature. While in the Legislature he was a member of the judiciary committee and the committee on state institutions and of several minor committees. He is a mem- ber of Salem Lodge No. 27, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Twin City Camp No. 27, Wood- men of the World, and Kernersville Council of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
WILLIAM LOUIS POTEAT. A scientist and Chris- tian educator, William Louis Poteat has been pres- ident of that old and honored North Carolina institution of higher learning, Wake Forest College, since June 22, 1905. He has been identified with the college in some capacity beginning as a tutor, for over thirty-five years. His work and attain- ments have made his name widely known not only over his native state but in various American cen- ters of learning.
He was born in Caswell County, North Carolina, October 20, 1856, a son of Capt. James and Julia A. (McNeill) Poteat. His father, also a native of Caswell County, was a substantial planter in that section of the state. His brother, Edwin McNeill Poteat, 1903-18 was president of Furman Univer- sity at Greenville, South Carolina, resigning in June, 1918, and was a recognized leader in the Southern Baptist Convention. His sister, Miss Ida Poteat, has been Professor of Art in Meredith College since its founding in 1899.
As a boy William Louis Poteat was instructed by private tutors in his father's home. He was prepared for college in Miss Lowndes' school in Yanceyville, and from 1872 to 1877, excepting the session 1873-74, was a student in Wake Forest Col- lege, where he graduated in the classical course and with the degree B. A. In 1889 the college con- ferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. Other scholastic honors have come to him in later years. Baylor University of Waco, Texas, honored him with the degree LL. D. in 1905, and he received a similar honor from the University of North Caro- lina in 1906.
84
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
His first intention was to take up the legal pro- fession, and he began the study of law, but in the year following his graduation from Wake Forest he was appointed a tutor, in 1878, and since that year has been continuously a member of the faculty of instruction. In 1880 he was made assistant pro- fessor of natural history, and in 1883 took the chair of biology, which he still holds in addition to his executive responsibilities as president.
In the meantime he has pursued his special studies, spending a short time in the Zoological Institute of the University of Berlin, and also took courses in the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He is a member of the North Carolina Academy of Sciences, of which he was president in 1902, and is author of "Labora- tory and Pulpit," published in 1901, and of "The New Peace, " published in 1915. For years he has been a lecturer on scientific and religious subjects.
From April, 1897, to May, 1899, he was a mem- ber of the North Carolina State Board of Ex- aminers and in 1914 a member of the Special Freight Rate Commission. In March, 1900, he was lecturer on the Gay Foundation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, during 1904-05 was Brooks lecturer on science and re- ligion in the Hamilton Theological Seminary at Hamilton, New York, and in 1915 Lewis Holland lecturer in the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. In 1897 he was president of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly, and in 1903 was elected president of the North Car- olina Literary and Historical Association. He has contributed a number of his writings to scientific and religious journals.
On June 24, 1881, he married Miss Emma J. Purefoy of Wake Forest, a daughter of Rev. A. F. Purefoy.
JAMES ARTHUR SPRINGER is one of the oldest men from the standpoint of continuous identifica- tion in the coal industry of North Carolina. He has had his home at Wilmington for many years, and is widely known as president of the Springer Coal Company, and is also actively identified with banks and other enterprises.
He was born in Aroostook County, Maine, December 16, 1847, a son of James Hobart and Clara (Watson) Springer. His father was a lumber manufacturer, and from Maine brought his family to North Carolina in 1855, spending two years in Martin County, and again coming to the state in 1860.
James A. Springer was educated chiefly in the schools of North Carolina, and after the war he engaged in the coal business, and in 1873 estab- lished the Springer Coal Company, which he incorporated in 1905. He is president of that company, is president and treasurer and was organizer of the Independent Ice Company . of Wilmington, a business that was established in 1901, is a director of the Murchison National Bank, of the People's Savings Bank, of the Delgado Mills, and is secretary of the Cape Fear Machine Works.
His active co-operation goes with every civic and benevolent movement in his home city and state. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Oakdale Cemetery Company and is a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington.
On November 27, 1873, Mr. Springer married Miss Agnes L. Struthers, of Columbus County, North Carolina. Their two sons are now grown and active business men. Horace David is in
New York City, while Samuel Jennings is with the Springer Coal Company and is treasurer of the company.
CHARLES A. HINES. By his capable service as an attorney and a record of obligations and responsi- bilities fully performed and capably discharged Mr. Hines has for a number of years been recog- nized as one of Greensboro's most useful and honored citizens. He is a native of Guilford County, has spent all his active career here, and represents one of the old and honored family names.
Mr. Hines was born on a farm in Madison Town- ship of Guilford County. The earliest genera- tions of the family were from Virginia. His great-grandfather died at Norfolk, Virginia, while the War of 1812 was in progress and at a time when that city was quarantined because of yellow fever. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was William Hines, a native of Norfolk, who in young manhood came to Guilford County, and developed a large plantation in Madison Town- ship. Eventually his accumulations were repre- sented by hundreds of acres of land and prior to the war he owned many slaves who cultivated his fields and did the various industries of the planta- tion. He died when eighty years of age. Grand- father Hines married Mary Lilly DeVault. Her name suggests French origin, but her immediate ancestors must have lived in the Netherlands, since she was trained to speak the Dutch lan- guage and always read faithfully her Dutch Bible. She died at the age of seventy-eight, the mother of ten sons and five daughters. Eight of the sons grew to maturity, five of them, Ezekiel D., Gideon D., Alfred, Newton and William, being soldiers in the Confederate army. Alfred and Newton gave up their lives as sacrifices to the cause.
Ezekiel DeVault Hines was born in Madison Township in 1836. He had a district school educa- tion, also attended Monticello Academy, but in- stead of adopting a profession he determined to devote himself to farming. He was thus engaged when the war broke out and he enlisted and served in a Confederate regiment, as did his other four brothers. and added something to the luster of the family military record. After the war he resumed farming, buying 300 acres from his father and in the course of time he had one of the well improved and valuable farms of Madison Town- ship. He erected good buildings, kept his culti- vation up to the most advanced standards and methods, and enjoyed high repute among his neighbors and friends. He died at the age of sixty-four years. The maiden name of his wife was Isabel Wright, who was born in Rockingham County, a daughter of Josiah T. and Mary Jane (Moore) Wright. Mrs. Isabel Hines is now living in Raleigh. She reared four children, named Charles A., Lacy D., Hattie, wife of L. R. Fair, and Paisley T.
Charles A. Hines' earliest recollections are all of the home farm. While a boy he attended dis- trict schools, was a student in Jefferson Academy, at Elon College, and from there entered the law department of the University of North Carolina. Mr. Hines was licensed to practice in February, 1908, and the subsequent ten years have been busy ones and fruitful in experience and have brought him to a position of leadership in one of the prin- cipal cities of the state. During the first two years of his law practice he was associated with Judge Shaw.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.