USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 50
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"During his medical career Dr. Van Poole has contributed largely and helpfully to the medical press, among other things being articles on Quackery, Abortion, Effects of Alcohol on the System, Atropia in Diseases of the Eye, Some Re- marks as to the Science of Medicine and the Com- parison of Ancient with Present Day Progress of the Same, The Importance of Thorough Qualifica- tion Along the Lines of Literary and General Scientific Training prior to Entering the Medical Profession and the Maintenance of High Ideals after Becoming a Member of Same, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, The Relation and Duty of the Physician to the Nation in War and Peace.
"Dr. Van Poole's love and interest in his work prove that his vocation has been well chosen. He practices his profession from a conscientious standpoint-always putting the interest of his patient and patron before his own. The dangers and hardships he has undergone in their behalf have been many and direful. In order to reach some of his patients he has been known to cross streams so swollen as to necessitate his horses to swim and his buggy to float, thus risking his own life, and this in itself is truly indicative of his deep love and sympathy for all humanity. Every year adds new work to his already enormous practice, but with all he never loses that genial, good natured disposition which has always been a great factor in making his life work pleasant and easy. "
Doctor Van Poole is a good business man as well as successful physician, and is interested in a number of business affairs as well as local real estate. He has served as president of the Rowan
Mutual Fire Insurance Company for many years. Since youth he has been a member of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church, and for upwards of forty years has served as elder or deacon. Despite the demands of his profession he has done much for the Sunday School, has many times served as president of its township and county conventions, and some years ago was president of the North Carolina State Sunday School Association. Thus he is a man of breadth of mind and interest and practically everything that concerns the better- ment of his fellow men appeals strongly to his support.
Doctor Van Poole married Mary Linn. She was born in Providence Township, daughter of Robert J. and Joicy (Redwine) Linn, and grand- daughter on the paternal side of David Linn and on the maternal side of Pleasant and Mary (Bar- ringer) Redwine. Doctor and Mrs. Van Poole have the following children: Robert L., Carl M., Mary K., Elizabeth, Otho, Thomas Bennett, Ruth, Rena and Glenn.
CARL M. VAN POOLE, M. D., son of Dr. Chalmers M. Van Poole, has also gained a reputation as a competent physician and surgeon but like many other young men of his age and abilities is now serving his country.
He was born and received his primary education at Craven in Rowan County, attending first the rural schools, then Crescent Academy and was.pre- pared for college at Mount Pleasant Collegiate In- stitute. From there he entered the University of North Carolina, studied two years, and before completing the course entered the University of Maryland Medical School and College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, from which he was graduated with the degree M. D. in 1916. Locat- ing first at Baltimore one year Dr. Carl Van Poole gained practical knowledge and experience as a general practitioner. He then removed to Salisbury and practiced with his father for about one year, enjoying a good business and rapidly winning for himself an honored name in the pro- fession. In 1912 he married Miss Ella M. Ingles of Carroll County, Maryland.
In the fall of 1917 he was commissioned by the president a first lieutenant of the Medical Officers' Reserve Corps in the United States Army. In Jan- uary, 1918, he was assigned active duty at the base hospital at Camp Joseph E. Johnston, Jacksonville, Florida, and has since been in active service in the United States Army.
COL. GEORGE WASHINGTON FLOWERS is one of the few living men from North Carolina who fought as regimental officers in the great war between the states. He has a long and active career beginning even before the war as a teacher, merchant and man of affairs. Colonel Flowers has spent a num- ber of years of retired life at Durham, where he now resides.
He was born in Alexander County, North Caro- lina, April 25, 1842, a son of John M. and Mary (Smith) Flowers. His father was a substantial planter of Alexander County, and Colonel Flowers grew up in the midst of the old time plenty and prosperity of the ante-bellum period. He received his early education in York Institute, and for three years taught school as an instructor of English. He resigned his position at the outbreak of the war and went in the Confederate army as a junior second lieutenant in Company G of the Thirty- eighth North Carolina Infantry. He was soon
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elected first lieutenant and upon the reorganiza- tion of the regiment became captain, and from that steadily won promotion to the rank of major and finally was lieutenant colonel in command of the regiment. He was twice wounded, first at the battle of Mechanicsville in the seven days fight -. ing around Richmond and on May 3, 1864, fell seriously wounded at the battle of the Wilderness. Upon his recovery he was given active command of the regiment in absence of the colonel. He was with Lee's shattered forces at the time of surrender at Appomattox.
The war over Colonel Flowers returned to his native state, and again taught school for two years. He finally entered the mechandise business, and from 1890 to 1904 conducted a large estab- lishment at York Institute and Taylorsville. He retired from business in 1904 and has since lived at Durham. He was elected a member of the board of county commissioners for two years and later served four years as chairman of the board. During that time the handsome Durham Courthouse was built at a cost of $325,000.
In 1870 Colonel Flowers married Sallie J. Haynes, a native of Yadkin County, North Caro- lina. Of their ten children six sons and one daugh- ter are still living. The names of these children were: Professor Robert Lee, a member of the . faculty of Trinity College; Charles E., William W., Arthur Ellis, John M., George Horace, Bessie, Fred, Claud M., and Estelle. Colonel Flowers has always been active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, is chairman of the board of trustees of the Memorial Church at Durham and has served as a steward. He is one of the trustees of Trinity College.
HENRY CLARK BRIDGERS, of Tarboro, is one of North Carolina's most notable men of the pres- ent generation. He is well known in the field of constructive enterprise and especially in the cre- ation by organizing and assembling of new op- portunities and resources. His associates and admirers look upon him as a man of real finan- cial and business genius.
He was educated for the law. His father, John L. Bridgers, is a prominent lawyer and man of considerable wealth, so that the son was not under the spur of necessity when he started life. He was offered a position at a salary in his fa- ther's law office but he chose to work independ- ently and get something worth while done in the world upon his own resources.
His achievement in building the East Carolina Railway from Tarboro to Hookerton, a distance of forty miles, is probably unique in the annals of railroading. It was built as a commercial rail- road, largely for the purpose of developing and affording facilities to the farms along the right of way. The first section of the road was built for four miles with wooden rails. Later small flat steel rails were laid. Mr. Bridgers was his own civil engineer and constructor, and while the road stands as a substantial tribute to his engi- neering skill, it is even more remarkable for the fact that it was built without the issue of a single bond and has never once defaulted pay- ment of any kind to its creditors. Mr. Bridgers is president and owns a majority of the stock in this railroad.
He not only built the railroad but was the pri- mary factor in the development of the five pros- perous towns built along its line. These towns, with their present population, are Pine Tops, 600;
Macclesfield, 400; Fountains, 450; Farmville, 1,500; Maury, 250; and Hookerton, 500. Mr. Bridgers in order to give these villages proper financial service organized and is president of five banks. These are the Pine Tops Banking Com- pany, the Bank of Fountain, the Bank of Hook- erton, the Bank of Conetoe, the First National Bank of Tarboro and the Pamlico Savings and Trust Company of Tarboro, of all of which he is president.
Mr. Bridgers was born at Tarboro, North Car- olina, January 7, 1876. He was educated in the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, class '95, and in 1897 graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina. He was soon afterwards admitted to the bar and became a member of the firm of John L. Bridgers, Jr., the well known legal firm which was started in 1847. For twenty years he has been attorney for the Southern Railway Company. Mr. Bridgers owns 5,000 acres of land, much of which has . been developed along with his railroad. He is also owner of the Bridgers Building at Tarboro, one of the best in the town, a concrete and steel three-story structure 50 by 50 feet. He is mem- ber of the Golf Club of Tarboro, Cape Fear Coun- try Club at Wilmington, the Charleston Coun- try Club in South Carolina, and the Country Club of Virginia, at Richmond.
January 20, 1912, Mr. Bridgers married Mary Meade Bernard, daughter of Judge D. Meade Bernard, of Virginia. They have one son, Henry Clark Bridgers, Jr., born July 3, 1914.
HENRY EDWARD RUFTY. A live, wide-awake, energetic business man of Rowan County, Henry Edward Rufty has developed and strengthened his natural talents, not only through a vigorous use of all of his faculties, but through his industry, enterprise, and the able management of his affairs, and now occupies a noteworthy position among the leading merchants of Salisbury, where he has a large establishment completely stocked with a fine line of general merchandise. A native son of Rowan County, he was born at Gold Hill in 1877, and there was educated.
His father, James Rufty, was born in Providence Township, on the plantation of his father, Edward Rufty. There he grew to manhood and gained an excellent knowledge of the various branches of agriculture. Becoming a tiller of the soil, he bought land in the vicinity of Gold Hill, where he improved a farm, and later purchased a house at Gold Hill, and there spent the closing years of his life, dying in the seventy-second year of his age. The maiden name of his wife, who survived him and still resides at Gold Hill, was Frances Lentz. She was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, a daughter of Henry and Estella (Crow- ell) Lentz.
After leaving the public schools of Gold Hill, Henry Edward Rufty attended Roanoke College, at Roanoke, Virginia, for a year and made the second highest average in his class of that year. He subsequently kept books at the Union Mine six years. Embarking then in business on his own account, Mr. Rufty was actively engaged in mer- cantile pursuits at Gold Hill until 1904. Desirous then of broadening his field of action, Mr. Rufty spent a year in Speneer, and then came to Salis- bury, locating on Park Avenue, where he estab- lished a general store. Fortune smiled kindly upon his efforts and he rapidly built up a profitable trade, his courteous attention to customers and his
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honest, upright dealings with all, winning him the esteem and confidence of the community. In 1916 Mr. Rufty erected his present substantial brick building 90 by 34 feet, and is carrying a large and variously assorted stock of general merchan- dise, his store containing almost everything de- manded by the trade, his endeavor being to please his numerous patrons.
Mr. Rufty married, in 1900, Helen A. Rothrock, who was born at Mt. Pleasant, a daughter of Lewis and Joan (Hearn) Rothrock. In May, 1861, her father enlisted in Company G, Sixth Regiment. North Carolina Troops, and was soon commissioned second lieutenant, and the following December was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. Professor Rothrock was principal of Monta Amoena at Mt. Pleasant and is still teaching at the age of seventy-eight at his home at Gold Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Rufty have five children, namely: Henry Edward, Jr., Lewis Rothrock, Francis Donald, Archibald Caldwell and Joe Hearn. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Rufty are members of the Lutheran Church. Actively identified with the public affairs of Salisbury, Mr. Rufty is now serving his third term as a member of the local board of aldermen. Fraternally he is a member of Gordon Lodge No. 168, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; of Salis- bury Council No. 26, Junior Order of United American Mechanics; and of Salisbury Camp No. 1454, Modern Woodmen of America.
FRANK S. LAMBETH. An eminently capable, en- terprising, and patriotic citizen of Thomasville, Davidson County, Frank S. Lambeth is directing his efforts along those lines that require sound judgment, keen discrimination, and much executive ability, as a business man being associated with the Standard Chair Company, and as a loyal, pub- lic-spirited citizen of the United States, being chairman of the Thomasville branch of the Na- tional Board for Fuel Conservation, and also chair- man of the Thomasville Red Cross. He was born near Thomasville, North Carolina, a son of David Thomas Lambeth. He comes of pioneer stock, his paternal grandfather, Shadrach Lambeth, and his great-grandfather, Josiah Lambeth, having been born in Guilford County, this state, where his great-great-grandfather, John Lambeth, located in pioneer days.
John Lambeth, a native of England, immigrated to America in colonial times. After living a very brief time in Maryland, he located at Newberne, North Carolina, from there going to Guilford County, where he was an early settler, and a pioneer farmer. He married Sarah Heath, and they reared three sons, Josiah, Samuel and Moses. Josiah Lambeth, the next in line of descent, mar- ried Elizabeth Loflin, and of their family of thirteen children, four were sons, as follows: Shadrach, Joseph, John and Lowick.
Shadrach Lambeth was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, on the Horse Shoe Bend of Buf- falo Creek, where all of his early years were spent. Selling his plantation in that locality in 1850, he came to Davidson County, and having bought a farm lying two miles south of Thomasville began its improvement by building a brick house which is still standing. He took a contract to build a mile of the North Carolina Railroad, but died, in 1853, before the completion of his contract. He was a physician of local note, using the Thomson- ian system of medicine, doctoring principally with herbs. His wife, whose maiden name was Jennie Thomas, was a daughter of David Thomas, and
a sister of John Warrick Thomas, the founder of Thomasville. She outlived her husband, dying at the advanced age of eighty-five years. She was the mother of ten children, six daughters and four sons, namely: Amanda, Betsey, Mary, Margaret, Fanny, Alice, John, David Thomas, Robert, and Joseph Harrison. Robert died in early manhood, his death being caused by injuries received in con- struction work on the North Carolina Railroad. Joseph H. entered the Confederate army as a private, and by successive promotions became ma- jor. He was afterward engaged in mercantile pursuits in Thomasville.
David Thomas Lambeth was born, December 19, 1830, in the "Horse Shoe" bend of Buffalo Creek, Guilford County, and twenty years later came with the family to Davidson County. Prior to the outbreak of the Civil war, he was engaged in farm- ing, with slave help. During the progress of the war, he was an officer in the Thomasville Home Guard, and was detailed by the government to secure supplies for the army. In 1872, when Thomasville was a mere village, he embarked in mercantile pursuits with his brother, Joseph Har- rison, and as a member of the firm of Lambeth Brothers continued his business as a general mer- chant, and also superintended his farm, until his death, July 21, 1899.
The maiden name of the wife of David Thomas Lambeth was Caroline Simmons. A daughter of Benjamin Whitfield Simmons, she was born, April 2, 1838, on a farm on the "Narrows, "' Montgom- ery County, North Carolina. Her grandfather, Benjamin Simmons, was born in Pennsylvania, October 4, 1751. Soon after attaining his major- ity, he migrated to Montgomery County, North Carolina, and having purchased a plantation in the near vicinity of Troy was there engaged in agri- cultural pursuits during the remainder of his life. The maiden name of the wife of Benjamin Sim- mons, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was Annie Alexander. She was a daugh- ter of James Alexander, who married Elizabeth Carruthers, a Scotch lassie, who belonged to the Cross Creek settlement, which then occupied the present site of Fayetteville, Cumberland County.
Benjamin Whitfield Simmons, Mr. Lambeth's maternal grandfather, was born in Montgomery County, this state, September 5, 1806, his birth- place having been near Troy. Talented and well educated, he was prominent in the public affairs of Montgomery County, serving as county surveyor, and as magistrate. Leaving his farm in 1853, he came to Thomasville to live. He was then suffer- ing from injuries he had received in a fall, and never recovered his former vigor, his death occurr- ing three years later, in 1856. His wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Hussey, was born, October 21, 1811, in that part of Rowan County that is now included within the limits of Arcadia Township, Davidson County, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Mock) Hussey. Mr. Hussey, a Quaker in re- ligion, and a planter by occupation, was born June 4, 1781, in Arcadia Township, where he was a life-long resident. The wife of Benjamin Whit- field Simmons died in Montgomery County, Au- gust 12, 1847, and her body was laid to rest in the family bury ground, on the farm, on the side hill, which is now forty feet under water, it being cov- ered by the lake at Baden. While the dam was being constructed at Baden, her body was taken up and placed beside that of her husband's in Fairgrove Cemetery, two miles south of Thomas- ville.
Um. F. OBrien
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. aud Mrs. David Thomas Lambeth were the parents of eleven children, namely: Frank S., Louisa, Ida, Brantley S., Lida L., John W., Jennie, David T., Alice, Robert L., and Simmons. The mother survived her husband but a short time, passing away April 27, 1900.
Completing the required course of study in the Thomasville High School, Frank S. Lambeth en- tered old Trinity College, but, having decided upon a business life rather than a professional career, he left the institution before graduation, and for fifteen years thereafter was associated with his father in mercantile pursuits. Organizing the Standard Chair Company in 1898, Mr. Lambeth was elected secretary and treasurer. Subsequently, in company with his brothers, John W. and Rob- ert L., he organized what is now the Lambeth Fur- niture Company, and the Thomasville Furniture Company, both of which were subsequently oper- ated successfully by the three brothers for a num- ber of years. Mr. Lambeth subsequently relin- quished his stock in both of those organizations, and has since been associated with his sons in the manufacture of chairs under the name of the Standard Chair Company, of which his son, Charles F., is president; his son, James E., being vice president ; while he, himself, is secretary and treasurer.
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Mr. Lambeth married, in 1878, Ella Arnold, a daughter of Penuel and Priscilla (Kearns) Arnold. Four children have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lambeth, namely: William Arnold, Charles Franklin, James Erwin, and Ella Arnold. Wil- liam Arnold Lambeth was graduated from Trinity College with the degree of A. B., after which he continued his studies at Vanderbilt .College for two years. He then entered Yale University, where he was graduated with the degree of B. D., and later was graduated from Harvard University with the degree of A. M. Having thus efficiently prepared himself for the ministry, he is now serving as pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Salisbury, Rowan County. He married Evelyn Walker, and they have two daughters named Frances J. and Elizabeth W. Charles Franklin Lambeth was graduated from Trinity College with the degree of A. B., and is now president of the Standard Chair Company. He married Mary Johnson, and they have two daughters, Catherine and Mary Johnson. James Erwin Lambeth was also graduated from Trinity College with the degree of A. B., and is now vice president of the Standard Chair Company. He married Helen M. McAulay, and they have one child, James E. Jr. Ella Lambeth is a graduate of Salem College and she and her mother are members of the Alexander Martin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Mr. and Mrs. Lambeth are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which he is serving as chairman of its board of stewards, having succeeded to the position on the death of his father, who filled it many years. His sons and his daughter belong to the same church, and two of the sons are members of the board of stewards, Charles F., and James E., who is treasurer of the board, and is also superintendent of the Sunday School.
Mr. Lambeth is a stockholder in the Jewell Cotton Factory, and a director of the Amazon Mills. Fraternally he is a member of Thomasville Lodge, No. 214, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of Thomasville Chapter, No. 62, Royal
Arch Masons; of Salisbury Commandery, Knights Templar; and of Oasis Temple, at Charlotte.
REV. WILLIAM FRANCIS O'BRIEN has dis- tinguished himself as one of the most successful constructive workers in the Catholic diocese of North Carolina, and for uearly twenty years has been a devoted servant of his church in different capacities. Under his leadership a parish is grow- ing and prosperiug at Durham, where he was the first resident priest of his denomination.
Father O'Brien was born at Washington, D. C., September 18, 1872, a son of Capt. William and Mary (Conway) O'Brien. His father was at one time employed at Washington as superiuteudent of the National Cemetery. Father O'Brien at- tended parochial school, the St. Mary's Industrial School at Baltimore, also public schools at Fayette- ville, Arkansas, and began his studies for the priesthood at Belmont Academy. For nine years he was a student of the classics and theology at the seminary near Charlotte, North Carolina, and was ordained on June 12, 1898. His first work was as assistant priest of St. Paul's Church at New Berne. Nine months later he was sent to Fayetteville as pastor of St. Patrick's Church, and two years later was assigned special work at Nazareth, North Carolina. In 1907 Father O'Brien took the pastorate of the Immaculate Con- ception Church at Durham as first resident priest. Here his constructive abilities have had full play, and he has developed a parish of 135 members, has built a parochial school and residence for the Dominican Sisters, whom he brought in to teach in September, 1909. Father O'Brien is a member of the Knights of Columbus.
JOSEPH WALTER HAYNES. An accomplished law- yer, citizen and business man, Joseph Walter Haynes has been active in the practice of the law at Asheville since his admission to the bar in 1907.
Mr. Haynes was born at Haywood, North Car- olina, June 20, 1882, a son of Washington and Kezia Hazeltine (Stradley) Haynes. His father was a minister of the Baptist Church, widely and favorably known over North Carolina. The son was educated in the public schools, in Mor- ris Hill College and the University of North Car- olina. On February 4, 1907, he was licensed by the Supreme Court of North Carolina to practice, and at once located at Asheville, where his abil- ities have brought him a high standing and a gratifying clientage iu general practice. He is interested in farming and stock raising and be- longs to numerous civic organizations.
Mr. Haynes married April 14, 1915, Miss L. Rose Corbett, of Columbia, South Carolina.
JOHN G. HEILIG. A conspicuous figure in the business life of Rowan County, John G. Heilig, of Salisbury, is officially and financially identified with some of its more important manufacturing and industrial organizations, either as president or as stockholder. A son of Paul Nathaniel Heilig, he was born, July 26, 1851, at Gold Hill Town- ship, Rowan County, coming on both sides of the house of German ancestry. His paternal grand- parents, George and Sarah (Furr) Heilig, were life-long residents of Gold Hill Township, Rowan County, and it was there that his great-grand- father, Michael Heilig, who married a Miss Ury, located on coming to this country from Germany.
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