USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 55
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William E. Hege lived a career in keeping with the traditions and standards of his notable an- cestry. He was reared and educated in Lexington and in young manhood engaged in the mercantile business, which he continued until his death when in the prime of life.
He married Sallie Lee Nooe. She was born at Lexington. Her father Bennett Nooe was born in the locality known as Nooe Hill in Davidson County February 25, 1832, a son of Thomas and Mrs. (Davis) Nooe. Bennett Nooe when a young man left the home farm and became clerk in a store at Lexington. His ability and industry en- abled him to establish a business of his own and he continued it until his death in 1891. Bennett Nooe married Mary Ann Watson, who was born at Lexington February 9, 1838. Her father, Alanson Lee Watson, was born in Virginia. His father, John Henry Watson, was born in Scotland, and according to the best information obtainable was brought to America when only three years of age. Alanson L. Watson spent his last years at Lexington. He married Elizabeth Yarborough, who was born May 5, 1809, in Davidson County, daughter of Thomas Yarborough and Jemima (Merrill) Yarborough. Jemima Merrill was a daughter of Capt. Benjamin Merrill, a noted pioneer of North Carolina, prominent at the time of the War of the Revolution. He commanded a band of regulators, and was captured by the Government authorities and executed in 1771. His name is mentioned in Wheeler's "History of North Carolina, " and there is a lengthy article about him in a history of the "Liberty Baptist Association" by Elder Henry Sheets. His old home was about four miles south of Lexington.
Mrs. W. E. Hege was one of seven children named: John, Bennett, Elizabeth, Albert, Sallie Lee, Frank and Mary. After the death of Mr. Hege, Mrs. Hege married William Gaston Penry, who is also deceased. By her first marriage she has a daughter, Elizabeth. Both are active mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
CAPT. JOSEPHUS F. BUSSELLS is president of the Neptune Fisheries Company of Wilmington, and a widely known authority on all matters pertain- ing to the fish industry. Captain Bussells is a most interesting personality, a man of wide prom- inence in Wilmington, has had a life of experience and venture both on sea and land, and his name more than that of any other individual might be used to introduce some of the interesting features of North Carolina's fishing industry.
Captain Bussells first established a fishery plant in the Wilmington district on the Cape Fear River about eight miles above the mouth of that stream and on the Brunswick County side in 1900. That was the first plant of the kind established on the river. After four years of operation Captain Bus- sells returned to Virginia but in 1908 came back to the Cape Fear. He found that in the mean- time his old plant and one or two others that had started up had been abandoned and disman- tled. He went to work to reestablish the industry and organized what has since become known as the Neptune Fisheries Company, of which he is pres- ident and general manager.
From this new beginning and in less than ten years has grown the present great fish products manufacturing industry of the Cape Fear River. There are now one or two other corporations sim- iliarly engaged. At present the capital invested on the Cape Fear in the menhaden business rep- resents a million and a half of dollars. For the benefit of those not familiar with menhaden it may be stated that this is a sea fish, unfit for human food, and found in enormous quantities along the Atlantic Coast. The fish has various other names among local fisherman. It is used primarily for the manufacture of fish oil and guano. No other industry turns so much money into local business channels at Wilmington as does this one. In 1917 there was manufactured on the Cape Fear 18,000 tons of fertilizer from menhaden fish and about 30,000 barrels of fish oil.
This production has been greatly stimulated by war conditions. About 11 per cent of the glycerine used in explosives come from this fish oil. After the glycerine is extracted the residue is turned into paint oils, greases of different kinds, ingredients for soap, etc. The uses to which this oil is put are most varied and important. One of the important ones is for curing leather, for which purpose it is the finest oil known. The fish "scrap" as it is technically known produces the best ammonia and of a quality that is highly sought by farmers and planters and affords this element in its most perfect form. As is well known, ammonia is one of the most indispensable elements of farm fertilizers. Although this scrap is now extensively manufactured at the Neptune Fisheries Company's works and similar plants the demand is 75 per cent greater than the out- put.
The fishing steamers of the Neptune Fisheries Company go out to sea and bring in from 25 to 200 tons cargo of menhaden. At the plant these steamers can be discharged of their cargo at the rate of twenty-five tons per hour. At the Nep- tune plant the fish are cooked, pressed and stored by a continuous process and by machinery that was devised and patented by Captain Bussells. The commercial products of the factory are fish guano and the fish oils.
Ten years ago, before the value of fish scrap and fish oil was appreciated as it is today, fish scrap sold for about fifteen dollars a ton. Today
I. N. BUSSELLS
It. Bussilla.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA .
it is worth fifty dollars a ton. Some years ago fish oil sold for eighteen cents a gallon while the pres- ent price with a highly upward tendency, is nine- ty-five cents a gallon. In November, 1917, in the fishing district of the Cape Fear there was the biggest catch ever known on the Atlantic Coast in one month, through all the history of the in- dustry. Spurred on by the greatly increased world demand for food aud for fertilizer (which is the . maker of food) the industry is constantly grow- ing. The fishing season begins the first of April and extends through to Christmas.
In former times all fishing was done in sail- ing vessels. Fast steamers of modern construction and equipment are now used. The modern develop- ment was further marked by the adoption of the purse seine aud the adoption of hydraulic presses.
The taxes that this industry pays to the state amounts to more in proportion than any industry of equal physical valuation. First, there is a tax paid on each purse seine, then there is a tax of two dollars per ton for each of the vessels used in the business, also the manufacturer's tax, besides a tax on all products shipped, and last, the income tax.
At the Neptune Fisheries Company's plant about 250 men are employed. Altogether between 1,200 and 1,500 persons are engaged iu the in- dustry on the Cape Fear River and the pay roll amounts to over $50,000 dollars a month.
Captain Bussells, whose name is prominently re- lated to the modern industrial affairs of North Carolina, was born at Salisbury, Maryland, in 1861, son of Isaac N. and Mary Adeline (Wallace) Bussells. He is of French ancestry in the pater- nal line and Scotch in the maternal. His father, Isaac N. Bussells, had a remarkable career. He fought all through the war in the Confederate serv- ice as a member of Col. Johu N. Moseby 's Guerril- las. He was a participant in many of those haz- ardous sports and daring adventures so vividly described in Colonel Moseby's Memoirs, recently published. During the war Isaac Bussells led a life that was filled with danger and he had the per- fect physical and mental equipment that rendered him a peculiarly valuable and dependable man for this kind of service. He was a powerful specimen physically, six feet four inches high, weighing between 245 and 250 pounds, and with a fifty-six inch chest measurement. He retained these splen- did proportions and upright bearing and youthful appearance (not a gray hair in his head) till the time of his death, which occurred at the age of seventy-five, in 1913. From his portrait taken in his last years he would easily be assumed to be a man thirty-five or forty years old.
His occupation during most of his life, beginning before he was twenty-one, was as fisherman and manufacturer of fish products. Directly after the war he removed with his family to Irvington, Lancaster County, Virginia, where he continued in the fish business for a long number of years. Ir- vington is on the Rappahannock iu the northern part of Virginia. It was there that Capt. Josephus F. Bussells grew up and was trained to all the arts and practices of the fishing industry under the eye of his father. He began it as a boy, and in the last forty years has fished off the coast of every state along the Atlantic from Maine to Florida. He is, of course, a thoroughly experienced seaman and skipper and holds an unlimited master's li- cense on the coast and tributaries.
Captain Bussells is a very public spirited busi- ness man in his home city of Wilmington. A year
or so ago probably every community in the United States read and commented upon the novel propo- sition that shark's meat was a wholesome human food. Captain Bussells was the originator of that idea. It was at his plant that the Government carried on its extensive experiments in curing and smoking shark meat and exploiting its use as a food for human beings. It is Captain Bussells' belief, from the success of these experiments at his plant in making the meat palatable and a really splendid food, and also because of its un- limited supply in the ocean, that even if the world comes to a supreme test as to food scarcity, the people need never starve when shark are as abun- dant in the ocean as at present.
Captain Bussells married at Irvington, Virginia, Miss Zippora Hooper Irving, member of an old family of that place in whose honor the town was named. Mrs. Bussells was educated in Murfrees- boro College. They have five children: Mrs. Addie Louise Jones, - Laura Hooper, Mary Vir- ginia, Irving Bonner and Franklin Page.
JAMES WALTER KEEL. When great corpora- tious with their practically unlimited financial re- sources and manifold interests choose men to guard their transactions and guide them within the limits of the law, it is reasonable to suppose that care, circumspection and wise deliberation are used in the selection. Thus, when James Walter Keel, of the Rocky Mount Bar, was in- vited by the great Atlantic Coast Line Railway Company to become its special attorney, it meant much more than that he had been found a ca- pable lawyer-it meant that he was the most able, diligent, painstaking and trustworthy that the professional field offered. The corporation made no mistake and Mr. Keel served acceptably in this responsible and honorable office until 1913. He is considered a man of fine endowments and masterful learning in the law.
James Walter Keel was born in Pitt County, North Carolina, November 1, 1875, and is a son of Theopholis and Artemisia (Page) Keel. His father once owned large plantations and later became a merchant. Both the Keels and the Pages are well known families in Eastern North Carolina. During the war between the states Theopholis Keel served in the Confederate Army from 1861 to 1865 and was auditing sergeant of Company G, Eighth North Carolina Infantry. Subsequently he became an important factor in Pitt County politics and served on the board of county commissioners.
James Walter Keel was reared on his father's farm. He had excellent educational advantages, attending MeWhorter's Academy at Bethel, North Carolina, and Wilkinson's Male Academy at Tar- boro, which was conducted by F. S. Wilkinson, who at that time was considered one of the leading educators of Eastern North Carolina. After he left school he engaged with his brother for two years in a mercantile business at Mouut Olive, North Carolina, all the while quietly 'studying his law books in the hope that conditions would so adjust themselves that he might gratify his ambition and become a lawyer.
In 1901, through a competitive examination, he secured a position in the United States mail service, and was assigned to duty in the office of the general superintendent of the service in Washı- ington, D. C. For eight years Mr. Keel remained in the Government service and in the meanwhile continued his law studies under private tutors.
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He completed his law preparation with Col. A. C. Davis at Goldsboro, North Carolina, and was ad- mitted to the bar in August, 1908. He located for practice at Rocky Mount and as above indi- cated, in 1910 became special attorney for the Atlantic Coast Line and then resumed private practice in 1913 and has made an enviable name for himself.
Mr. Keel was married July 24, 1913, to Miss Frances Clark, of Spartansburg, South Carolina. She is a member of one of the old families there, her parents being Martin and Lethea Clark. The father of Mrs. Kecl is a farmer and a manufac- turer. Mr. and Mrs. Keel have two children: James Walter and Page Clark. . They are mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church and both in that connection and in the pleasant social life of the city they are valued and esteemed. Mr. Kecl is a member of the Sagamore Club and for many years has been identified with the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
JAMES M. MCCORKLE. A man of marked abil- ity and business sagacity, possessing sterling attributes of character, James M. MeCorkle is numbered among the more active and valued cit- izens of Salisbury, where, as cashier of the Davis & Wiley Bank, he is prominently identified with the financial affairs of the city. His father, Major James Marshall McCorkle, was a son of William B. McCorkle, grandson of Capt. Francis MeCorkle, and great-grandson of the immigrant ancestor, Mathew McCorkle.
Born in Ireland of Scotch parents, Mathew Mc- Corkle was there reared and educated. Soon after his marriage with a Miss Givens, he came with his wife to America, and after living for a time in Pennsylvania migrated to North Carolina, enter- ing land in that part of Rowan County now in- eluded in Iredell County. The following account is taken from Rumple's History of Rowan County : "Mathew MeCorkle had two sons, Thomas and Francis. Francis married Sarah Work, by whom he had five sons. As his family increased he en- tered more land, the second entry having been on the west side of Catawba River, on one of the tributaries of Mountain Creek, in what is now Catawba County. Here he started a farm and planted an orchard, and by industry and skill be- gan rapidly to accumulate property. He was said to have been a man of amiable disposition, and of fine personal appearance, of florid complexion, au- burn hair, and about six feet in height. When the Revolutionary war began, Francis McCorkle promptly took his place on the side of the patriots. In 1774 he was appointed a member of the com- mittee of safety of Rowan County, along with John Brevard, Matthew Locke, and others. Though fully thirty miles from home, he is re- corded as present in Salisbury at the regular meet- ings, and is named in the records as captain of a company. He was in the battles of Kings Moun- tain, Ramsom's Mill, Cowpens and Torrence Tavern.
His patriotic course excited the animosity of the tories, and he was in consequence frequently com- pelled to keep away from home to escape their vengeance. A morning or two after the battle at Ramsom 's Mill, Francis McCorkle and a man named Smith rode out before day to learn the whereabouts of the tories, knowing that they were in the neighborhood. Arriving at a neigh- bor's house, near the head of the creek, about daylight, they inquired of the lady of the house
where the tories were. She replied that she was expecting them every moment. Upon this the party wheeled and rode home in a hurry to arrange matters. After brief preparations they left home and were scarcely out of sight before the tories arrived and searched the house from garret to cel- lar in their efforts to find Mr. McCorkle. They found some salt, which they appeared to want, and left word that if Mr. McCorkle would bring them some salt all would be well, but if not that they would come and destroy everything in his house. Instead of joining them, Messrs. Mc- Corkle and Smith hastened to the patriotic sol- diers that were centering at Ramsom's Mill and were in battle there. Mr. McCorkle was reported killed in that engagement, but to the great joy of his family he arrived home unharmed.
After the British crossed the Catawba River at Cowan's Ford, Francis McCorkle had a narrow es- cape. He was in the affair at Torrence Tavern with his friend Smith, either acting as rear guard, or having been sent back to reconnoiter. They were discovered by the British, and, wheeling, at- tempted to rejoin their comrades. Smith's horse bolted through the woods, and he was killed. The enemy pursued Mr. MeCorkle till he came up to the little band of whigs who had gathered in Tor- rence Lane. The little party fought the British troops under General Tarleton until the smoke be- came so dense that they could not tell whether they were among friends or enemies. As the smoke cleared, Mr. McCorkle found that he was among the Red Coats, and putting his hands on a stake and rider fence leaped through just as three or four sabers struck the rail above him. They all re- treated and made good their escape.
Francis McCorkle was a native of Iredell County, where he spent his life. He was twice married. His first wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Work, as mentioned above, died soon after the close of the Revolutionary war. He married sec- ond, about 1794, Elizabeth Brandon, a daughter of Richard and Mary (Locke) Brandon, and grand- daughter of John and Elizabeth Brandon. It was Elizabeth Brandon that, in 1791, furnished the breakfast for General Washington as he passed through Rowan County. By his first marriage, Francis McCorkle had two sons, Mathew and Alex- ander, neither of whom married. Of his second union there were six children: William B., Francis, Thomas, John H., Elizabeth and Agnes.
William B. McCorkle was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, and for many years was engaged in mercantile business at Wadesboro, Anson County. He married Mary Marshall, a daughter of Hon. William Marshall, and grand- daughter of Hon. James Marshall, of Anson County. Seven children were born of their union, as follows: James Marshall, father of the subject of this sketch; Dr. John R., who settled in Moores- ville; William A., who located in Jefferson County, Tennessee; Sara; Mary; Cornelia; and Caroline.
James Marshall MeCorkle was born, February 21, 1827, in Wadesboro, North Carolina, where he acquired his elementary education. There were at that time no railroads in the state, and as he was desirous of continuing his studies at some higher institution of learning, and with that pur- pose in view journeyed with a horse and sulky to New Haven, Connecticut, where he entered Yale College, from which he was graduated four years later. Taking up the study of law, he was admitted to the bar of North Carolina, and for sixteen years was engaged in the practice of his profession in
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Albemarle. Removing to Salisbury, he soon ac- quired a place of prominence among the leading attorneys of Rowan County. During the progress of the Civil war, he entered the Confederate serv- ice, and being appointed to the quartermaster 's department, with the rank of major, continued in that position until the close of the war. Major McCorkle was actively engaged in his profes- sional labors until his death, in March, 1885, at the age of fifty-eight years. He was a man of brilliant intellect, and practiced in all the state and federal courts, and was counsel for Governor Holden in his impeachment trial.
The maiden name of the wife of Major Mc- Corkle was Rosa Buchanan. She was a daughter of May and Mary Eliza (Atkinson) Buchanan, of Anson County. Her father, May Buchanan, re- ceived the name of May from his mother, who before her marriage was Mary May. He was a native of South Carolina, and from there came to Anson County, North Carolina, where he bought large tracts of land, and was extensively engaged in cotton raising, with slave labor, until his death, in 1847. His wife survived him many years, dying in 1886. The union of Major and Rosa (Buchanan) McCorkle was blessed by the birth of eight children, as follows: William A .; Charles; Clement M .; May E., wife of Orrin D. Davis; Sarah; Lizzie, wife of Richard Eames; Rosa B., wife of M. H. Caldwell; and James M.
Having completed the course of study in the public schools of Salisbury, James M. McCorkle en- tered Davidson College, where he was for two years a student. Accepting a position then as bookkeeper in the Davis & Wiley Bank, he proved himself capable and trustworthy. After a short time, he was promoted to the position of teller, and in 1912 was made cashier of the bank, a re- sponsible position that he is filling with character- istic ability and fidelity. He is one of the oldest officers, in point of service, in the institution, hav- ing been connected with it for thirty consecutive years.
Mr. McCorkle married, in 1907, Elizabeth Crump. She was born at South River, Rowan County, a daughter of Dr. W. L. and Janet (Tur- rentine) Crump. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle, namely, Elizabeth B .; William Crump; and James, who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle are members of the Presby- terian Church, in which he has served as deacon, being now an elder. Always specially interested in educational matters, Mr. McCorkle is now chair- man of the County Board of Education.
EDMUND BURKE HAYWOOD. This is one of the most eminent names in the annals of North Caro- lina medicine and public affairs. The achievement and service of Dr. Edmund Burke Haywood have been a measure of attainment and a source of inspiration to his various descendants who have likewise chosen medicine as a profession.
He was born in the City of Raleigh. The Hay- wood family have been identified with Raleigh since its establishment as the capital of the state. In 1792 the commission was appointed to lay out the Town of Raleigh for the state capital, and a law being shortly afterwards passed that all state officials should live in the capital, John Haywood, father of Doctor Haywood, being an official of the state, purchased a block of land on New Berne Avenue and that homestead has since remained one of the important and interesting landmarks of the city.
Edmund Burke Haywood was educated in Raleigh Academy and at the age of eighteen entered the University of North Carolina. He also studied in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania where he was graduated in 1849. He soon afterwards began active practice at Raleigh. Early in the troubles leading up to the Civil war he enlisted in the Raleigh Light Artillery as a private, and was made surgeon. Governor Ellis appointed him to inspect all the military hos- pitals and then establish the first hospital in North Carolina at Morris Island. In May, 1861, he was appointed surgeon of the North Carolina State troops, and given charge of the hospital at Raleigh. Two months later he was made president of the examining board for surgeons for North Carolina troops. During the battles around Richmond he attended the wounded at Seabrook Hospital. In 1862 came appointment as surgeon for the Con- federate States Government and president of the board for granting paroles and discharges. The close of the war found him in charge of Pettigrew Hospital in Raleigh.
In 1866 Doctor Haywood was vice president of the North Carolina Medical Society and chairman of the board of medical examiners of the state, and in 1868 he was elected president of the Med- ical Society. The University of North Carolina conferred upon him the degree Master of Arts, though he had never graduated on account of the imminence of the war. In 1866 the important task devolved upon him of reorganizing the various state charitable institutions, and he was appointed to membership on the board of the asylum for the insane and was president of that board from 1875 until 1889, when he resigned. In 1890 he was the leading spirit in establishing the Raleigh Acad- emy of Medicine, and served as secretary and president.
In 1850 Doctor Haywood married Lucy A. Wil- liams. They were the parents of one daughter and six sons. The daughter is Elizabeth Eagles, now Mrs. P. L. Bridges. The six sons, all of whom attained worthy places in life, were: Edmund B., Jr .; Alfred William; Dr. Herbert; Ernest, an at- torney; Edgar and John D.
HERBERT BANBURY HAYWOOD, JR., M. D., rep- resents the third successive generation of a fam- ily whose name has been distinctively identified with the profession of medicine and surgery at Raleigh for the past sixty-five years. He is a grandson of the eminent Dr. Edmund Burke Hay- wood and a son of Dr. Herbert B. Haywood. His mother was Emily Banbury.
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