USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 4
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On October 1, 1896, Mr. Holt admitted to part- nership with him his two oldest sons, Erwin Allen and Eugene, while on October 1, 1905, his young- est son, Lawrence S., Jr., also became a partner. These sons were brought into the active manage- ment of Mr. Holt's various cotton mill interests, and through them he was gradually able to retire from the heavier responsibilities of executive di- rection. The firm thus established was Lawrence S. Holt & Sons. In 1905 this company bought the Hiawatha Cotton Mills at Gibsonville, North Carolina, and after extensive changes and new equipment in the plant the name was changed to the Gem Cotton Mills. Mr. Holt still remains as senior member of the Lawrence S. Holt & Son, but more and more in passing years has shifted the burden of active management of affairs to his sons and the leisure thus created has been used by him to attend to many private interests, in indulgence in philanthropy and especially in ex- tended travel. He and his family have been all over North America and have toured Europe and Oriental countries several times. Mr. Holt is one of the incorporators and a director of the Durliam & Southern Railway Company, was for a number of years a director and active in financial affairs of the North Carolina Railway Company, and is in- terested in a number of the leading industries of the state besides those specifically mentioned.
A character portrait of Mr. Holt was drawn by a competent biographer a few years ago in the following words:
"Lawrence S. Holt is a distinct personality. There is an impression given to the observer of mental and physical vigor and strength. He is a positive character, active, alert and progressive. His whole being is vibrant with dominant energy, sound judgment and splendid business acumen. He has a genius for doing well and promptly all that he undertakes, is exact, systematic and far- seeing, and every enterprise planned by him has without exception been successful. Like his father, he has a keen sense of humor and greatly enjoys a good anecdote. Painstaking and unsparing of
his strength and intellect, he expects from all others the same unswerving attention and devo- tion to duty which is present in him to such a great extent. While exacting, he is not a hard taskmaster, because he never believes in doing any- thing which is unnecessary. He has often said that 'the groans of creation are enough without adding to them.' He has always abhorred waste, destruction, idleness and improvidence, and en- couraged and commended thrift, economy and good management. He believes in keeping everything up to the highest possible degree of efficiency and has accomplished this as much by his own example as by his splendid management, for per- sons associated with him who did not properly take advantage of their opportunities or realize their responsibilities were soon made to feel ashamed by the example set before them in their head. He is an ideally devoted husband and father, never sparing himself fatigue or hardship that he might lavish on those he loves the best that life can afford. As a loyal and generous son of the church he has given without ostentation or pub- licity freely and cheerfully to the support of her various institutions. Any one really deserving could always rely upon him as a friend who would advise them wisely and without prejudice, and the number of persons to whom he has lent financial aid is legion. He has a profound reverence and respect for both of his parents, to whom he refers as the most wonderful couple he ever knew."
Mr. Holt has always frankly given credit to the devotion, sympathy, help and good example of his wife as a source of constant help and inspira- tion to him at all times. Mrs. Holt before her marriage was Margaret Locke Erwin. They were married April 2, 1872. She is a daughter of Col. Joseph J. and Elvira (Holt) Erwin, of Belle- vue, near Morganton, North Carolina. After his marriage Mr. Holt became a member of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church, and was chiefly instru- mental in the erection and subsequent mainte- nance of St. Athanasius Church at Burlington, of which he was for years a vestryman.
Mr. and Mrs. Holt's oldest daughter, Emily Farish, died in 1882, at the age of five and a half years. The six living children are Erwin Allen, Eugene, Margaret Erwin, Florence E. Lawrence S., Jr., and Bertha Harper. Concerning his sons and their successful positions in life more partic- ular reference is made on other pages.
ERWIN ALLEN HOLT, son of Lawrence and Mar- garet Locke Erwin Holt, was born near Morganton in Burke County, North Carolina, November 11, 1873. He was educated in private schools and the Episcopal High School at Alexandria, Virginia, in the Franklin School at Washington, District of Columbia, and in the Ravencroft School of Ashe- ville, North Carolina. He grew up in the atmos- phere of cotton mills and as member of a family with a particular mission in the cotton mill in- dustry of the South. He recognized his vocations and the opportunities presented him by his father, who as the sons came to majority prepared places for them in his business. He entered business September 12, 1892, in the office of the E. M. Holt Plaid Mill, Burlington, North Carolina. On Octo- ber 1, 1896, Erwin A. Holt was admitted to part- nership in the firm of Lawrence S. Holt & Sons and had already gained considerable practical experi- ence in the family business in the Aurora Cotton Mills. As member of this firm he has had a part
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
in the management of its various interests, includ- ing the Gem Cotton Mills of Gibsonville, North Carolina, also interested in the Sevier Cotton Mills at Kings Mountain, the Holt, Gant & Holt Cotton Manufacturing Company at Altamahaw, and is a director in these various industries.
Mr. Holt is an Episcopalian and of the broadest type and has been a vestryman since 1892 and senior warden since 1901. On June 16, 1903, he married Mary Warren Davis, of Raleigh. Mr Holt is an amateur student of history and has done much to encourage interest in some of those scenes and events which in North Carolina, have not re- ceived the appreciation they deserve. He has been especially interested in what is called by some "the first battle of the Revolution," otherwise known as the battle of Alamance, fought near Bur- lington, North Carolina, May 16, 1771, between the Regulators or Carolina Patriots and an over- whelming force of British under the command of Governor Tryon.
Mr. Holt is an independent and state democrat, but always a stanch supporter of Roosevelt, and especially in 1912, and was a delegate to the National Convention in Chicago in 1916 which nominated Roosevelt. When Roosevelt declined Mr. Holt turned his support to Wilson.
EUGENE HOLT was born in Alamance County at the residence of his grandfather, Edwin M. Holt, on August 31, 1875. He is the son of Lawrence S. and Margaret Locke (Erwin) Holt. He was educated under private tutors, in schools at Washington, D. C., Episcopal High School . near Alexandria, Virginia, and Ravencroft High School, Asheville, North Carolina.
On July 1, 1893, he went to work under his father and on October 1, 1896, was admitted to partnership in the firm of Lawrence S. Holt & Sons. He has been active in the management of this firm, who owns the Aurora Cotton Mills, Burlington, North Carolina, and Gem Cotton Mills, Gibsonville, North Carolina. He is also secretary and treasurer of the Sevier Cotton Mills Company, Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
Mr. Holt has been identified with the building up of Burlington, his home town, and his county, having served as alderman, member of various commissions, and school board trustees. He is a member of the Episcopal Church.
On October 25, 1895, he was married to Miss Edna Barnes, daughter of Lemuel Franklin and Annie (Ball) Barnes, of Richmond, Virginia. They have one child, Anne Erwin Holt.
LAWRENCE SCHACKLEFORD HOLT, JR., youngest son of the eminent North Carolinian whose name he bears, was born at Burlington, North Carolina, November 19, 1883. Carefully reared and edu- cated. he attended public schools, Horner's Mili- tary Institute, and graduated from the University of North Carolina with the class of 1904. Turn- ing his mind to the serious work of life, he was employed as elerk in his father's cotton manufac- turing business, and on October 1, 1905, was ad- mitted to a partnership in the firm of Lawrence S. Holt & Sons, an organization in which he has since borne a share of executive responsibilities. He is a director of the Aurora Cotton Mills and the Gem Cotton Mills, is president of the Sevier Cotton Mills at Kings Mountain, vice president of the Holt, Gant & Holt Cotton Manufacturing Com- pany at Altamahaw, and is a director of the Erwin
Yarn Agency, Incorporated, at Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania. From March, 1911, to December 1, 1913, Mr. Holt was a resident of Norfolk, Virginia, living in that city in order the better to attend to his duties as secretary and treasurer of the Union Cotton Bagging Corporation. Since 1913 he has resumed his residence at Burlington.
December 5, 1905, he married Elizabeth S. Bill, of Spencer, Virginia. She died March 4, 1909. On April 2, 1913, he married Elizabeth Lacy Chambers, of Charlotte, North Carolina.
JAMES NATHANIEL WILLIAMSON. A busy and fruitful life has been that of James Nathaniel Williamson, who when little more than a boy bore arms bravely and faithfully as a soldier and officer in the Confederate army, after the war took up cotton manufacture, was associated with some of the most prominent cotton mill men in the state, and also combined therewith extensive interests as a merchant and farmer. His home during the greater part of his mature years has been at Graham in Alamance County.
He was born at Locust Hill in Caswell County, North Carolina, March 6, 1842. His father, Thomas Williamson, owned several large planta- tions and conducted a store. He never held any public office beyond that of magistrate of his county, but by his business integrity and private virtues he became a man widely known and well deserving of the admiration and veneration paid him by his family and friends. He was an in- timate friend of such eminent men as Chief Justice Ruffin, Hon. Calvin Graves and Hon. Bedford Brown. A source of inspiration to James Na- thaniel Williamson in his career was a desire to emulate his father, concerning whom he came to know largely through his mother and his father's friends, since he was a boy of ouly six when his father died.
His early career and education were largely directed by his mother, who possessed many at- tainments, both intellectually and spiritually. Her maiden name was Frances Panel Banks Farish. She was of Scotch-Irish descent, and related to the Banks and Farish families of Virginia. Her mother, Frances Banks, was a sister of Hon. Lynn Banks, who for five years was speaker of the House of Delegates in Virginia and then served his state in Congress from 1838 until his death in 1842.
James Nathaniel Williamson owed more than he could ever calculate to the influence and teach- ings of his mother. He found it a pleasure as well as a duty to assist her in the work of the home and farm. His father had expressly desired that his son should be thoroughly educated and that met exactly with the ambition and plans of the mother. James N. Williamson was a pupil in the preparatory school conducted by Dr. Alex- ander Wilson in Alamance County. That was one of the best institutions in the state at the time. Doctor Wilson's report of young Williamson was: "He is among the best in his classes." From the preparatory school he entered Davidson College.
On May 13, 1861, at the age of nineteen, Mr. Williamson enlisted as a private in Company A of the Third Regiment, North Carolina Volunteers. This was the first company raised in Caswell County. The colonel of the regiment was W. D. Pender. whose bravery and efficiency as a soldier and officer brought him eventually to rank as a major general in the Confederate army. After a
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
time the Third Regiment was assigned as the Thirteenth Regiment, and for a considerable part of its service was in Pender's Brigade. James N. Williamson was a soldier four years, sharing all the hardships of his comrades in his company of this regiment. He participated in nearly all the great battles which made the names of Jackson and Lee famous in the annals of warfare. He was promoted to lieutenant in September, 1862, and at Chancellorsville was wounded on the second day. He was also wounded at Gettysburg and at the Wilderness, and at the conclusion of the latter battle was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. He was with Lee in the trenches about Petersburg, and was captain of his company when paroled at Appomattox.
The family fortunes had suffered grievously dur- ing the period of the war, and when the veteran soldier returned home there was no thought to be taken of further schooling and he courageously faced the necessity of strenuous work in rehabili- tating the old farm. This old plantation in Cas- well County represented little more than the bare land at the close of the war. For about two years after returning home Captain Williamson employed himself with the greatest of zeal and industry to farming. In the meantime he married,
and at the suggestion of his wife's father, E. M. Holt, Mr. Williamson became a partner with the five sons of Mr. Holt in conducting the Alamance Cotton Mills under the firm name of E. M. Holt's Sons. Mr. Williamson had already considered the possibilities of a career as a manufacturer, and he readily accepted what seemed and proved to be an excellent opportunity to become associated with men of experience and such high standing as the Holts.
In 1867 he removed to Alamance County, and while supervising his farming operations in Cas- well County took up his new duties as a partner in the firm. The Alamance Cotton Mills continued to grow and prosper and the business was after- wards extended by the construction of the Caro- lina Cotton Mills on the Haw River near Graham. These mills when finished were put under the management of the Holt Brothers and Mr. Wil- liamson. For fifteen years these men shared the responsibilities of the management and conducted the mills under the name J. H. and W. E. Holt & Company. From the time the Carolina Cotton Mills were put in operation Mr. Williamson had his home at the Town of Graham.
Subsequently he built the Ossipee Cotton Mills in Alamance County, and managed and operated them under the firm name of James N. Williamson & Sons. Eventually his sons William H. and James N. assumed the burdens of active management of the institution. Soon after the construction of the Ossipee Mills, Mr. Williamson and his son William H., under the name James N. and Wil- liam H. Williamson erected the Pilot Cotton Mills at Raleigh, and this son has had the active man- agement of the mills from the beginning.
Thus the name James N. Williamson has become widely known throughout the State of North Caro- lina among cotton mill owners and manufacturers, and he came to a notable position in an industry which has employed the resources and abilities of many of the ablest. men of the state and of a large part of the working population. It has been through the wise and efficient and careful adminis- tration of his affairs that he has rendered real service to the public and through his business he
has benefited the state and the community by much of that public spirit and earnestness which some other men devote to formal public affairs and public office. Mr. Williamson never cared to. hold public office.
On September 5, 1865, James N. Williamson married Mary E. Holt, daughter of Edwin M. Holt of Alamance County. They became the parents of the following children: William Holt, who married Sadie Tucker, daughter of Maj. R. S. Tucker of Raleigh; Ada V., who died in 1898, the wife of O. H. Foster, of Raleigh; James N., Jr., elsewhere referred to; and Mary Blanch, wife of J. Harrison Spencer, of Martinsville, Virginia.
JAMES N. WILLIAMSON, JR., son of James Na- thaniel Williamson, the old soldier and cotton manufacturer whose career has been reviewed on other pages, has successfully developed those pri- mary interests and opportunities which were afforded him by his father as a successful cotton mill man, and for years has been one of the busi- ness builders and upholders of prosperity in Ala- mance County.
He was born at Graham, Alamance County, Jan- uary 28, 1872. Other pages supply detailed in- formation concerning his family and ancestry. He. owed much both to inheritance and training ac- quired from his parents. Like many boys, he had a practical turn of mind and took naturally to the mechanics and the technical processes of cotton manufacture, his father's cotton mills furnishing a splendid environment for the development of his intelligence and his intellectual curiosity. While reared in one of the substantial and even wealthy* families, luxurious ease was no part of his youth- ful habits and practices. He found plenty to do and was constantly inspired by his energy and talent and ambition to accomplish something worth while. Like his father, he was fond of outdoor sports and has always been a lover of and a good judge of horses.
His father and mother sought for him the very best of educational opportunities. When he was twelve years old he entered Pantops Academy near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he remained a stu- dent several years and made himself popular among his associates and teachers as well as mak- ing a good record for scholarship. One important source of his disciplined mind was the Bingham Military School, then located at Mebane, where his formal literary studies were combined with military regulations and training. From the Bing- ham School he entered the University of North Carolina, but did not remain to graduate, coming out of university to take his work in the prac- tical industry of cotton manufacture.
In 1894 he went to work under his father at the Ossipee Mills. Three years later he was admitted to the firm of James N. Williamson & Sons. He soon became secretary and treasurer and general manager of the Ossipee Mills. In all the processes surrounding cotton manufacturing, from the de- tailed technique of the mills to the larger prob- lems connected with industrial management, Mr. Williamson has for a number of years been a recognized master, authority and expert.
Soon after the Pilot Mills were erected at Raleigh he bought from his father a fourth in- terest in the mills and became vice president of them and also president of the Hopedale Mills at Burlington. A number of years he has also been director of the Alamance Loan and Trust Com-
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
pany at Burlington and of the American Trust Company of Charlotte.
The career of such an active and public spirited business man as Mr. Williamson is a source of benefit and service to the public even though not an item could be recorded of participation in politics or the holding of a single office. He has done much to advance those matters in Alamance County which bring tangible results of good and benefit to all classes of citizens. He has been especially identified with the good roads movement in his home county and throughout the state. In politics he is independent and non-partisan, and that is indicated in the fact that he regards as the greatest presidents of the last half century Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt. The Williamson family for generations have been ac- tive Presbyterians and Mr. Williamson himself was reared in that faith. But his wife was an Epis- copalian, and in order that one faith might govern the household 'he united with that church and has given much time to church and its affairs and has served as a member of the vestry in the Bur- lington Church.
Business aside, Mr. Williamson's first and last thought is his home and family. He has enjoyed an ideal home life. November 9, 1898, he married Miss Mary Archer Saunders, daughter of a wealthy and influential citizen of Richmond, Virginia, the late E. A. Saunders. Mr. and Mrs. Williamson have three children, James Saunders Williamson, Mary Archer Williamson and Edwin Holt Wil- liamson.
CEASAR CONE. When North Carolina erects its Pantheon of great men-and great women, too-somewhere among the founders of the com- monwealth, the warriors and statesmen, jurists and law makers, agriculturists, business men and manufacturers, a special place of dignity will be apportioned to the late Ceasar Cone, cotton mer- chant and manufacturer of national and inter- national fame.
When Ceasar Cone died on March 1, 1917, the importance of the man himself, his place in the business world, and his position in the affairs of the country were all so important that the Asso- ciated Press dispatches bore the news of his death to the great daily papers in all the cities of the United States, and the report quickly spread beyond the confines of this country. In a comparatively brief life he had established his name, his firm's name, the names of his mills, and the reputation of his product beyond all local limits or limitations.
It was because of this high national standing that the Wool and Cotton Reporter, the nation journal devoted to the textile industries of America, published a special issue containing an appreciation of Mr. Cone's career and character and a description of the monumental industries which he had built up in and around Greens- boro. It is from the columns of this journal that most of the facts here noted are obtained.
There are many great names in cotton manu- facturing. These include family names that have become so firmly established in the textile trade that cities are similarly named. There has never been a family that has become more prominent in the production of cotton goods, the financing of cotton mills, and the distribution of the textile mill products than has that of Cone. Ceasar Cone's co-worker for a great many years was
his older brother, Moses Cone, and the names of these two brothers will always be linked together. Everyone with a knowledge of the industry im- mediately thinks of Ceasar Cone as equally great in finance, manufacture and merchandising, and because of his pre-eminence in these several branches he towered above or as the equal of any individual name that adorns the annals of cotton manufacturing.
Ceasar Cone was born April 22, 1859, at Jones- boro, Tennessee, and was not yet fifty-eight years of age when he died at his home in Greensboro. His father, Herman Cone, came from Bavaria, Germany, to America in 1845, at the age of eighteen. He began his life here with only fifty cents in capital. In 1870 he removed his family to Baltimore and established a wholesale grocery business, which in 1878 became the firm of H. Cone & Sons. Herman Cone married Helen Gug- genheimer, who was also from Bavaria. Many of her fine traits of character were inherited by Ceasar Cone.
Ceasar Cone attended the public schools of Bal- timore to the age of fourteen. That completed his education. He then went to work with a Balti- more firm of stationers. It is said that he never departed from the methods and precepts incul- cated during his tender years. The paternal les- son was rigid honesty, rigid economy, and rigid observance of every obligation. The life of Ceasar Cone was a complete exemplification of these principles. He represented a family of suc- cessful men and women. Besides his older brother, Moses, he was survived by four brothers at Greensboro, Sol, Julius W., Bernard M. and Clarence N., and by two other brothers at Balti- more, Dr. Sidney M. and Fred W. His three sisters were: Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone, of Baltimore, and Mrs. M. D. Long, of Asheville, North Carolina.
In 1890 the old and successful firm of H. Cone & Sons, wholesale grocers of Baltimore, was dissolved. Both Moses and Ceasar Cone had been members of the firm. Through its connections they had obtained an accurate knowledge of the conditions and resources of the South. Planning to develop these resources, they organized the Cone Export and Commission Company for the handling of cotton goods. This put them in close touch with the cotton mills, and finally brought them into the manufacturing field. As manu- facturers they began with a small mill of only a few looms. Removing to Greensboro, the Cone brothers acquired several hundred acres of land adjoining the corporate limits and there in 1895- 96 erected the mills of the Proximity Manufac- turing Company. The dominant ideal in the organization of the company was the manufac- ture of a class of goods not made in the South prior to 1896. Starting with 240 looms, in less than ten years the company enlarged its capital stock and built another mammoth plant known as the White Oak Mill, which is the largest cot- ton mill in the South and the largest denim manufacturing plant in the world. The Proxim- ity and White Oak mills contain 3,600 looms and employ 2,500 people. Mr. Ceasar Cone was actively associated with his brother, Moses, in the establishment of the White Oak, Proximity and Revolution cotton mills. At the death of Moses Cone the business burdens of the Cone Export and Commission Company fell npon the shoulders of the younger brother, and when he
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