USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 52
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During the professional life of Dr. Joseph Hollinsworth a number of young men began the. study of medicine in his office, some of them, now prominent physicians, have given to the writer many interesting incidents concerning his life. It is said that his visits to the county seats of the adjoining counties, both in North Carolina and Virginia, were responsible for the presence of more people than were the sessions of the courts. An old inn keeper at Hillsville, Virginia stated that "When Doctor Joe left, Court always broke."
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One of his daughters who often accompanied him on these itineraries, remarked that they were being continually interrupted by people who had either come themselves or had brought patients to the roadside for examination and treatment. Only recently one of his former students stated that he had frequently seen more than a score of wagons, containing patients who had been brought to Doctor Hollinsworth for treatment, standing in front of the office. It would be difficult to define the territory that his practice comprised, or to overestimate the faith that his patients had in him. Mrs. Archibald Stuart, mother of Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, after the family had moved to Danville, Virginia, from the old Stuart home in Patrick County, sent for Doctor Hollinsworth to attend her in sickness.
Doctor Hollinsworth was for many years the family physician of the Siamese Twins who lived just two miles from Mount Airy, and it was under his personal direction that an autopsy was held in Philadelphia, an investigation that proved a dis- tinct addition to scientific knowledge. Several times he had expressed the opinion that the con- necting ligament could not be severed without a fatal result. The autopsy fully corroborated his opinion. He was, however, on his way to the home of the Twins prepared to perform this heroic operation when word came announcing the death of Chang who survived his brother Eng about an hour.
On one occasion, after a spirited quarrel, Eng and Chang (Bunker) came to Doctor Hollins- worth's office for the purpose of being cut apart. Perhaps remembering the success achieved by Solomon in dealing with a similar situation, he promptly acceded to their request and began to prepare for the operation, taking no little pains to display an unusually large number of formid- able looking surgical instruments, and to comment upon the gravity of the operation and the strong probability of its fatal outcome. The desired effect was soon produced, and after a hurried con- ference they announced that they had decided to postpone the operation for an indefinite period.
As to Doctor Hollinsworth's professional ability, the writer wishes to quote from a statement prepared by one of his former students, Dr. J. M. Flippin, of Mount Airy, "As a physician and sur- geon, Dr. Joseph Hollinsworth had few equals in this or any other State. He had rare skill as a diagnostician because he had remarkable tact in getting the absolute confidence of his patients. They knew that a trust reposed in him would never be violated. He could do with great skill and dispatch a lithotomy, as I have seen him do, in a very few minutes, or the amputation of a leg in a time so short that the most skilled surgeon in the State today would doubt my veracity should I dare to say the number of minutes. He told me once of an amputation that he did unaided, gave his own anaesthetic and amputated the leg in just three minutes. * * * And with it all he was the most retiring man I ever knew when it came to speak of his own knowledge or skill. He had all the attributes of a great soul, and none of the froth of the pygmy. It was my privilege to be his pupil, and forever his friend."
As to the character of this honored citizen the writer in concluding this sketch wishes to quote from a very excellent paper which was prepared by the late Judge J. F. Graves shortly after the death of Doctor Hollinsworth. "His leading characteristics were strongly marked. His mind was capacious, quick to apprehend, broad and
strong in comprehension, firm and decided in con- clusions. * * * He believed in doing good, there- fore he led an upright life. Honest in all his dealings, kind and considerate, frank and open in his manner, bold in supporting the right and in denouncing the wrong, faithful to his friends, candid and outspoken in his dislikes, detesting hypocrisy and admiring sincerity, unable to assume or feign any sentiment which he could not feel. He was a true man, honored and respected. His works will follow him and his example will be felt as long as waves eddy down the stream of time.''
JOHN FRANKLIN COWELL is president of the Pamlico Chemical Company, manufacturers and distributors of fertilizer, and one of the largest coucerns of its kind in North Carolina. Mr. Co- well has been a hard working business man for thirty-five years and has accomplished that de- gree of success which makes him a man of prominence in his home community and state. The business headquarters of the Pamlico Com- pany are at Washington, where Mr. Cowell also has his home.
He was born at Bayboro in Pamlico County February 7, 1862, a son of Amos and Mary ( Hooker) Cowell. His father was a farmer, and the son grew up in a country district and dur- ing a period in North Carolina's history when the people and the country were exceedingly poor as a result of war and schools and other advantages were difficult to obtain. He attended the public schools to a limited degree, also a business col- lege, and from the age of fifteen until he was twenty-three worked as clerk in the general store of C. H. Fowler at Stonewall, North Carolina. Mr. Fowler then took him into partnership and they conducted business at Bayboro from 1885 to 1900.
On leaving merchandising Mr. Cowell founded the firm of Cowell, Swan & McCotter Company, fertilizer manufacturers at Bayboro. This busi- ness had a prosperous growth and in 1908 Mr. Cowell established the Pamlico Chemical Com- pany, manufacturing fertilizers with plant at Washington. The Pamlico Company absorbed the older firm of Cowell, Swan, McCotter & Company. Mr. Cowell was manager of the former business from the time of its organization, and has been president of the Pamlico Company since it was incorporated. This firm manufactures high grade fertilizers and their market is all over the state. Mr. Cowell is also a director of the First National Bank at Washington. He is a member and stew- ard of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is af- filiated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
April 25, 1888, he married Miss Sallie Bax- ter of Currituck County, North Carolina. They have four children: Charles Fowler, formerly sales manager of the Pamlico Chemical Company and now second lieutenant of artillery, Three Hundred and Seventeenth Field Artillery, Camp Jackson; Mary Lydia; Horace Baxter, who was in training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and is now a captain of Company A, Three Hundred and Twenty-second Infantry, located at Camp Seville, South Carolina; and Sallie Baxter.
SAMUEL LARKIN SPACH has an important share in the industrial life of the Winston-Salem district. A large tract of land in the vicinity of Waugh- town is now taken up by the extensive factory buildings built from time to time by members of
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the Spach family. The enterprise originated a great many years ago in a small wagon shop. Other lines have been added from time to time, and Samuel L. Spach is now proprietor of the large flour mills.
He was boru at Waughtown, in Forsyth County, North Carolina, January 15, 1860. Many inter- esting facts might be related regarding his family history in Western North Carolina. His lineage goes back to Adam Spach, who was one of the first settlers in the vicinity of Friedberg, North Carolina. He located there as early as 1753. At that time this point was even beyond the limits of the western frontier. The country was a total wilderness, and the Indians resented every in- trusion upon their hunting ground. Adam Spach in establishing a home in this wilderness had to prepare not only to encounter the natural diffi- culties of making a living, but also to guard against the dangers of hostile incursions from wild tribes. Evidence of this is found in the sub- stantial rock house which he constructed and which is still standing. It is practically a fortress. It was built with a large basement, the walls are pierced with portholes, and one of the walls en- closed a spring of water. Thus the house could withstand practically any length of siege by In- dians or other enemies. That was not the only work accomplished by this pioneer. He cut a road through the woods to Bethania, the nearest settlement, and invited the Moraviaus to visit him and hold meetings in his home. Thus his house became one of the central points for the diffusion of the Moravian religion. Adam Spach died August 23, 1801. He married Maria Elizabeth Hueter, who was born in Pfafenhaffen, Upper Alsace, in 1720, and her family came to Pennsyl- vania about 1748.
Samuel L. Spach is a son of William Elias Spach, a grandson of Christian Spach, and a great- grandson of Gottlieb Spach. Gottlieb, according to the best information obtainable, was a son of the old pioneer, Adam Spach.
Christian Spach acquired a farm a mile south of Waughtown, occupied it a number of years, and on selling, bought a place three miles south of Winston-Salem. That was his home until his death, and the old farm is now occupied by one of his grandsons. Christian Spach married Nancy Swaim.
William Elias Spach was born in a portion of Stokes County that is now included in Forsyth County. He grew up on his father's farm, but left it to serve an apprenticeship at the wagon maker's trade. He first worked in the shop of John Vaughters and later with with J. P. Nissen. During the last year of the war he was in the Confederate service. Returning home he set up a wagon making business on his own account. His first shop was a building 16x24 feet. Wagon mak- ing by machinery had not yet come into vogue, and at first practically every timber for a wagon was fashioned and fitted by his own hands. His wagons were sold as rapidly as finished, and he gradually built up a force of workmen and a business organization which employs from fifteen to twenty men. This business he continued a long period of years and was finally succeeded by his son, John C. After retiring from the factory he moved to his farm, on which he lived until his death in 1892. He was twice married, and his second wife was Laura Reich. She was the mother of Samuel Larkin Spach.
Samuel I .. Spach at the age of eighteen left Vol. IV-18
home, having in the meantime acquired a substan- tial education, and went out to California. He made this journey over the original Trans-Conti- nental Railway. He had varied experiences in the Far West, and for four years was employed on his farm in the Sacramento Valley, twenty miles west of the City of Sacramento. On returning to North Carolina Mr. Spach spent five years operat- ing a sawmill and then engaged in the lumber business at Winston and in the wagon manufac- turing business with his brother at Waughtown. Under the management of these brothers the wagon factory grew and prospered. They finally bought five acres of land, put up a large two-story brick building, and equipped it with all the mod- ern machinery necessary for wagon making. Later the brothers erected a flour mill, and equipped it with the complete roller processes and with mod- ern machinery. From time to time they acquired additional land for factory purposes until they had eleven acres. Their plant today occupies the greater part of this land. In 1913 the business interests were divided, and Mr. Samuel L. Spach took the roller mills. He has continued their management and has made their output a stand- ard of fineness and quality.
In 1887 Mr. Spach married Miss Parthenia Mas- ten. She was born on a farm two miles east of Salem, a daughter of Mathias and Kate Masten. Her father was a farmer and at one time served as sheriff of Forsyth County. Mr. and Mrs. Spach have three children: Lillian Gertrude, Catherine and Julian Christian. Lillian Gertrude is the wife of Dr. W. N. Dalton and has one son.
Mr. Spach is also interested in the Center Mer- cantile Company at Centerville and in the large electric works at Asheville. In matters of religion he is a Primitive Baptist, while Mrs. Spach is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.
PETER LEE FEEZOR, present superintendent of schools of Davidson County, is a lawyer by pro- fession and left an established legal practice to enter upon the duties of his present office.
Mr. Feezor was born on a farm in Cotton Grove Township of Davidson County September 7, 1888, and represents the fourth successive genera- tion of the family in that part of the state. His great-grandfather, George Feezor, was of German ancestry and came to North Carolina from Mary- land when a young man. He established his pioneer home in what is now Silver Hill Township of Davidson County. He was a man of business judgment and ability and acquired large holdings of land both in that township and in Cotton Grove Township, improving a farm and making it his home the rest of his life.
Jacob Feezor, grandfather of Peter L., was born in Silver Hill Township but the scene of his active life as a farmer and planter was Cotton Grove Township. Before the war he had numerous slaves to operate his fields. He died there when about eighty years of age. The maiden name of his wife was Annie Hendrix. They had seven sons, named Otho, Peter, George, Jacob, William, Smith and Henry Preston, and their five daughters were Amanda, Mary, Nancy, Melinda and Susan.
Henry Preston Feezor, was born in Cotton Grove Township in 1839. When a youth he served an apprenticeship at the millwright trade and fol- lowed it as a means of livelihood for a number of years. In 1874 he bought a mill on Abbott's Creek in Healing Springs Township of Davidson County. At the time it was a Burr mill and he
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subsequently changed it and introduced a complete modern roller system and equipment. He operated is as a custom and merchant mill, but in 1908 sold out and retired to his farm in Cotton Grove Township, where he still resides. As a young man he made a creditable record in the Southern army. He first enlisted in 1861 with the Twenty- first Regiment North Carolina Troops, going with the command to Danville, Virginia, and thence to Richmond, and from there to the battlefield of Manassas. The right wing of the Confederate army, to which his command was attached, had no part in that battle. The troops were then re- turned to Richmond, and while on duty there he was stricken with rheumatism and sent home. In 1864 he had recovered sufficiently to allow him to reenter the service and this time he was a member of Company A of the Forty-second Regiment of North Carolina. He joined the command at Rich- mond in October and in December was sent to Wilmington and was on duty at Fort Anderson until Christmas Day, when he was captured. He was confined as a prisoner of war at Point Lookout, Maryland, until July, 1865, when he received his parole and returned home.
Henry Preston Feezor married Sallie Carrick. She was born in Healing Springs Township of Davidson County, daughter of John and Lucy (Nooe) Carrick. Her great-grandfather, John Carrick, came from Maryland and was a pioneer settler in Healing Springs Township, buying a large amount of land and improving it with the aid of his slaves. Her grandfather was a native of Healing Springs Township and was also a farmer in that locality. Henry Preston Feezor and wife reared eight children: Lucy, Nannie, Euzelia, Elizabeth, Peter Lee, Essie, Jane and Florence.
The only son of the family, Peter L. Feezor, grew up on his father's farm and around the mill, attended the home district schools and was also a student of the Churchland High School from which he graduated in 1907. Following that he spent two terms teaching in Oak Grove, and in 1908 entered Wake Forest College where he graduated from the law department with the degree LL. B., in 1912. He was licensed to practice in August of the same year and opened his office at Whiteville in Columbus County. Mr. Feezor left a promising practice in 1914 and returned to his native county where he was elected county superintendent of schools. He has done much to improve and raise the standards of the local educational system in Davidson County and in order to better prepare himself for his duties and responsibilities he spent the summer of 1917 in Columbia University in New York City in special normal work. Mr. Feezor is a member of the Baptist Church and is affiliated with Lex- ington Council Junior Order United American Mechanics.
NIXON L. CRANFORD is president of the Journal Publishing Company of Winston-Salem. The activities of his mature career have been divided between teaching, mercantile business, public service, and his work as a newspaper man, and in the latter field his success has been conspicuous. He has made the Journal one of the leading papers of Western North Carolina. It is a democratic daily paper, established in 1897, and is one of the newspapers with real influence in this section of the state.
Mr. Cranford was born on a farm in New Hope
Township of Randolph County, North Carolina. His father, Martin Cranford, was born in Ophir Township of Montgomery County, North Carolina, in 1847. The grandfather was John Cranford, a native of Montgomery County. The first United States census of 1790 names William Cranford as a resident of Montgomery County, and it is sup- posed that William was the grandfather of John Cranford and therefore the great-great-grand- father of Nixon L. Cranford. John Cranford was a farmer and spent practically all his life in Mont- gomery County, where he died in 1863. He married Mary Hurley, who survived her husband and passed away at the advanced age of eighty- five. She reared five sons and three daughters, named Joshua, Ivy, Milton, Martin, Nathan, Margaret, Mary and Laura.
Martin Cranford grew up on his father's old farm and made farming his regular vocation in life. He bought a place in New Hope Township of Randolph County, close to the line between that township and Ophir Township in Montgomery County, and was successfully identified with his work there until his death in 1911. He married Jane Cranford, a daughter of Leonard and Lucy (Newsom) Cranford. Mrs. Martin Cranford still occupies the old farm in New Hope Township. She was the mother of nine children, named Nixon, Lewis, John, Ernest, Ivy, Grady, Martha, Keturah and Bessie.
The early environment of Nixon L. Cranford was a farm. He gained health and strength in the rural atmosphere, attended the rural schools and subsequently took a business course at the Oak Ridge Institute. After teaching school two years he removed to Winston-Salem and found a position in the office of the Taylor Brothers, where he spent five years. He then entered the clothing business, but finally sold his store and entered the United States revenue service in 1913, and resigned from that service February 1, 1918, to devote his entire time to newspaper work. Mr. Cranford became interested in the Winston-Salem Journal in 1910, and subsequently was elected president of the company which publishes that paper.
He was married in 1908 to Miss Jennie P. Clingman, who was born in Yadkin County, a daughter of Dr. J. J. and Cora (Hackett) Cling- man, of Huntsville, Yadkin County. Mr. Cran- ford is past master of Salem Lodge No. 289, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is also affiliated with Winston Lodge No. 449 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
HALLETT SYDNEY WARD. A Washington law- yer whose professional activities have brought the substantial results of secure position and influ- ence, Hallett S. Ward was admitted to the North Carolina bar more than twenty years ago and has discharged the duties of both his profession and of various public offices in such a way as to make his name widely familiar throughout the state.
Mr. Ward was born in Gates County, North Carolina, August 31, 1870. He is a son of Nathan O. and Martha Eliza (Matthews) Ward. His father was a farmer and he grew up on a farm, attending the public schools for his first in- struction. He studied law privately with Judge George Cowper and also took a course in the Uni- versity of North Carolina. After his admission to the bar he practiced at Plymouth for ten years, and then removed to Washington, where
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ML Crawford
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in 1905 he entered a partnership with J. D. Grimes under the firm name of Ward & Grimes. Mr. Ward was appointed solicitor by Governor Ay- cock in 1904 and was regularly elected to that office in 1906, which he filled altogether for 71/2 years.
Mr. Ward was a member of the State Sen- ate of North Carolina from 1899 to 1901. Dur- ing his term in the Senate he was father of the "Woodman Bill," also introduced the bill mak- ing provision for the establishment of public school libraries, and was influential in getting passed the bill compelling the police to report all gam- bling houses at regular intervals.
Mr. Ward is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, the Masonic Order, the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks and is a ves- tryman in St. Peter's Episcopal Church at Washington. On September 23, 1896, he mar- ried Miss Aileen Latham, of Plymouth, North Carolina, daughter of Capt. Edgar R. and Lena (MacRae) Latham. Her father was agent of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway.
CHARLES ALBERT AND CARRIE R. JONES, brother and sister, are actively associated in a business which is vital to the welfare and health of Win- ston-Salem, and for years have conducted the Salem Dairy as the model institution of its kind. Both of them have been life-long residents of Winston- Salem.
They are of an old and prominent family of North Carolina. Their grandfather, Jesse Spur- geon Jones, was born in Davidson County, North Carolina. His mother was a Spurgeon and of the same family as produced the eminent London divine of that name. Jesse Spurgeon Jones lived on a plantation and was one of the substantial and highly respected farmers of Davidson County. He married Aletha Canady, who was a Virginian by birth. Both she and her husband now rest in the Abbott Creek graveyard, three miles from their old home. They reared children named Aquilla Hambleton, Albert S., William O., Ben- jamin F., Joseph B., Preston C., Phoebe, Sarah Jane and Crissie.
Aquilla Hambleton Jones, father of Charles A. and Carrie R. Jones, was born on a farm twelve miles south of Salem but in Davidson County, November 10, 1823. When a young man he re- moved to Salem and became connected with the Salem Academy in the capacity of engineer. Be- ing in that service, he was exempt from military duty. during the war between the states. He con- tinued faithfully to serve the academy the rest of his life. At one time he bought a farm in Yadkin County, though he never occupied it as a place of residence. Aquilla H. Jones married Pamelia Hall. She was born July 17, 1825, on a plantation three miles from East Bend in Yadkin County. Her father, Thomas Hall, was a native of North Carolina, and her grandfather, also Thomas Hall, was born in Halifax County, Vir- ginia, of English parents. Thomas Hall, Sr., was a son of an English couple whose history has a decided touch of romance. The Halls were peo- ple of wealth and high connections in England. When the son married he chose as a partner for life one whom his parents considered beneath him in station, and to escape their displeasure he brought his bride to America, and at the same time lost his share in the ancestral estate. From Hal- ifax County, Virginia, Thomas Hall, Sr., removed to North Carolina, locating first in Stokes County
and afterward moving to Randolph County. His son, Thomas, Jr., removed from kandolph to Yad- kin County, buying land which he operated as a farm and plantation until his death. He married Rebecca Kerr, a native of Stokes County. Her mother was a sister of Colonel John Martin, a figure and character in the Revolutionary war ac- tivities of North Carolina, his name being men- tioned in Wheeler's history of the state. Thomas and Rebecca Hall are both buried in the family plot on their plantation.
Aquilla H. Jones and wife reared five children : Jesse Sanford, Charles Albert, Caroline Rebecca, Lewis Preston and Mary Aletha.
Charles A. Jones, after attending the public schools of Salem, went to West Bend, in Yadkin County, at the age of sixteen and learned business as clerk in a general store. After three years he removed to Yadkinville and continued clerking a year. On his return to Salem he found an oppor- tunity to make up for early deficiencies in the way of education, attending the Boys' School, and for one term was under the instruction of Albert B. Gorrell at Winston and another term under Robert Gray. Resuming business, he clerked a few years for D. A. Spaugh and then set up in the mercantile business for himself at the cor- ner of Main and Academy streets in Salem. That business he continues to the present time.
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