USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 57
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age. Grandmother Smith Linville died at the age of eighty-four, having reared ten children, named Mary, William F., John M., Romulus S., Aley, Jeanette J., Elizabeth, Pinkney Smith, Eliza and Julius.
Romulus S. Linville, father of James P., was born on a farm in Belews Creek Township of Forsyth County February 4, 1837. During his boy- hood he first attended a subscription school taught by his father. Later he was a student in the free school held in the neighborhood, and finally at- tended Oak Ridge Institute. He was a teacher for one term at Mount Tabor, and going to Indiana he taught three years in Putnam County of that state. On returning to North Carolina he taught two more winter terms, and in 1863 enlisted in the Junior State Reserves. He was in the service of the Confederate Government until the close of the war. After the war ne engaged in tobacco dealing, and continued that business for twenty- five years. In the meantime he had bought a farm located on the Kernersville and Belews Creek road, built a home there in 1873, and that is still his place of residence. He has been a thrifty and suc- cessful business man, and has added to his hold- ings until they now represent 500 acres, devoted to general farming.
On December 20, 1866, Romulus S. Linville married Caroline Calhoun. She was born in Guil- ford County, North Carolina, daughter of Alfred and Jemima (Linville) Calhoun, her father a native of Guilford County and her mother of Forsyth County. Her mother was a daughter of George Linville. Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Linville are one of the oldest couples in Forsyth County, and they celebrated their Golden Wedding anni- versary in the presence of children, grandehildren and friends in December, 1916. They have reared seven children: James P., Eugene S., Cyrus L., Julius Franklin, John S., Eljatha N. and Wilham V. The mother of these children is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.
James Pinkney Linville was born five miles from Kernersville on August 3, 1868. He first attended the rural schools, and afterward was a student in Oak Ridge Institute, where he graduated in both the literary and commercial departments. His first business experience was as a clerk in a general store for Beard & Roberts at Kernersville. In 1893 Mr. Linville was appointed by President Cleveland to a position in the Indian service and spent two years on a reservation in Nevada. On returning east he worked for N. H. Medeares in the latter's store for two years. In 1902 Mr. Linville set up in the mercantile business at Ker- nersville and has conducted a prosperous estab- lishment there ever since.
His father, R. S. Linville, served forty years as magistrate of Belews Creek Township and for eight years was county commissioner. During his official service he married 475 couples. For twenty years he has been an agent for the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. Fraternally Mr. Lin- ville is a member of Union Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
In 1903 James P. Linville married Ida Dwigins. She was born at Kernersville, daughter of Robert and Miranda (Nelson) Dwigins. Her father was born in Forsyth County and her mother in Guil- ford County. Mr. and Mrs. Linville have two daughters and one son, Idell, Pauline and Roger. Mrs. Linville is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
GEORGE L. HACKNEY is a successful business man of Lexington, secretary and treasurer of the Lexington Chair Company, and his business there and various influential connections elsewhere make him one of the well known citizens of North Carolina.
Mr. Hackney was born at Thorpe in Yorkshire, England. He comes of an old agricultural Eng- lish family. His great-grandparents were Joseph and Ann Hackney. The latter was a farmer and so far as known spent his entire life in Lincoln- shire. One of his sons named Benjamin had four sons, George, Joseph, Benjamin and William, who all came to America about 1840, settling in Canada, where their father joined them in 1858. Benjamin died in 1867, and after that the sons scattered, two of them supposedly coming south, one going west and the other remaining in Canada.
George Hackney, grandfather of George L., was one of the nine children of Joseph Hackney and was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1797. He also followed farming in Lincolnshire, where he died in 1834. He married Susanna Newborn, who was born at Epworth, England, in 1794 and lived to a good old age, dying in 1876. She was the mother of three children named Charlotte, Wil- liam Newborn and George.
William Newborn Hackney, father of the Lex- ington manufacturer, was born at Blyton in Lin- colnshire, England, October 6, 1832. He was only two years old when his father died. One of his older sisters had married William Newborn, a brother of Susanna Newborn. This William New- born owned and lived on a farm at Trumfleet, England. He and his wife were childless and they took into their home William Newborn Hackney after the death of the latter's father and reared and educated him. At their death he succeeded to the ownership of their farm and he continued to live there until 1889, when with his wife and nine children he came to America, settling at Ashe- ville, North Carolina, in which city he spent the rest of his days. He died at the age of eighty- three. The maiden name of his wife was Theresa Buttrick. She was born at Epworth, England, daughter of William and Sarah (Eastaugh) Buttrick. William Buttrick, a son of Belton and Mary (Read) Buttrick and a grandson of John Buttrick, was born January 10, 1796, and combined farming with the manufacture of brick at Epworth, where he spent his life. There were eleven chil- dren in the Buttrick family, named William, Bel- ton, Mary Ann, Thomas B., Sophia, Sarah Ann, James, John, Elijah and Elisha, twins, and Theresa. Theresa Hackney is still living at Asheville, North Carolina. Of her children she reared nine, named William N., George L., Fred R., Theresa, Kate, Nell, Minnie, Perry and Amy.
George L. Hackney spent his early life in Eng- land, attending school steadily while a boy and in 1889 left Askern College to join his parents in their emigration to the United States. At Ashe- ville, North Carolina, he became a bookkeeper, and laid the foundation of his business career. Four years later he bought a job printing office, which he managed successfully four years, and then sold part of it to Dr. P. R. Moale. They then incorporated as the Hackney & Moale Com- pany, with Mr. Hackney as president of the company.
In 1911 Mr. Hackney left Asheville and removed to Lexington where he organized the Lexington Chair Company. This company succeeded to the
ownership of the plant and the good will of the old Oneida Chair Company. As secretary and treasurer of this company Mr. Hackney has directed his affairs with notable success and the business is now one of the largest of its kind in North Carolina. The plant has a complete equipment of modern machinery and the annual output of 200,000 chairs is sold over many states of the Union. Mr. Hackney still retains an interest and is a director in the Hackney & Moale Company.
In 1895 he married Miss May Nichols. She was born at Asheville, North Carolina, daughter of Charles A. and Elizabeth (Reagan) Nichols and a granddaughter of Dr. James A. and Mrs. ( Weaver) Reagan. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Hackney are named Carolyn, Charles, Lois, James and Theresa. The parents and four of the children are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, at Lexington. Mr. Hackney is a member of the board of stewards and has served several times as a delegate to annual conferences of the church and also as a lay delegate to the General Conference. He has bestowed much of his means and time upon vari- ous benevolent institutions. He is chairman of the board of trustees of the Pythian Orphanage at Clayton, North Carolina, and is a member of the board of trustees of the Children's Home at Win- ston-Salem. In the Knights of Pythias his local membership is with Lexington Lodge No. 71 and he is a Past Grand Chancellor of the State. He . is also affiliated with Lexington Lodge No. 473 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Lexingtou Chapter No. 35 Royal Arch Masons, Cyrene Com- mandery No. 5 Knight Templars of Asheville, and Oasis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Char- lotte.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HUGGINS. The death of George Washington Huggins on June 12, 1916, removed one of Wilmington's oldest and most holl- ored merchants and citizens. A few years after the war, in which he had served in the Con- federate army as an officer, he established a jew- elry business at 105 Market Street, and that loca- tion knew him as a factor in the commercial life of the city almost continuously until his death. In fact he attended to his business affairs up to within a few weeks of the eud.
He was born in Onslow County, North Caro- lina, in 1840, a son of Luke B. Huggins, a native of the same county. He spent part of his child- hood at Newbern, but in early boyhood removed to Wilmington, where he had his home for more than half a century.
At the outbreak of the war he enlisted as a private in the Wilmington Rifle Guard. In 1861 he was promoted to first corporal in his company, and in April, 1862, to junior second lieutenant. The Wilmington Rifle Guards subsequently became Company I of the 18th North Carolina Regiment. He served with distinction in the army of North- ern Virginia, and was present at the battles of Hanover Court House and Mechanicsville, Cold Harbor, and Malvern Hill. At the close of the seven days' fighting before Richmond, he was wounded in the foot at Harrison's Landing, and on account of that wound was disabled for serv- ice until July, 1863. Soon after rejoining his reg- iment in Virginia he was detailed for duty in the quartermaster's department at Wilmington. When that city was evacuated he went to Johnston's army and remained until the surrender, when he was paroled. For a great many years Mr. Hug-
Mr. W. Huggins
Geo My fuggino
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gins was an honored member and comrade in Cape Fear Camp No. 254, United Confederate Veterans, and the surviving members of that camp were present at his funeral.
Even before the war Mr. Huggins had had some experience in the jewelry trade and in 1869 he founded the store on Market Street which for upwards of half a century has continued to serve the most exacting demands of the trade in this particular line. He was an able and successful merchant, and also possessed many admirable traits of character that endeared him to his large circle of friends. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church and was always ready to give his time and energies to philanthropic and civic affairs.
The old family home for many years was at 412 Market Street, where Mr. Huggins died .. October 23, 1866, he married Miss Elizabeth Allen, daughter of W. H. Allen of Wilmington. Mrs. Huggins and two sons, Henry Allen and George Allen Huggins survive him.
GEORGE ALLEN HUGGINS, the older son of the late George W. Huggins, and his wife Elizabeth (Allen) Huggins, received a thorough training in business in his father's jewelry establishment in Wilmington, but for a number of years has been most widely known as a successful farmer and planter. His home is in Scott's Hill.
He was born June 17, 1867, and was reared in Wilmington, attending the Cape Fear Academy and the Kings Mountain High School. At the age of fifteen he began working in his father's jewelry store, and is still connected with that busi- ness, being vice president of the firm which is in- corporated under the name G. W. Huggins. How- ever, his principal interests are his splendid estate of thirty-five hundred acres at Scott's Hill, where he is very successfully raising general crops, espe- cially peanuts, and is a large stock farmer. He is a member of the Farmers Educational Union.
Mr. Huggins was married November 29, 1899, to Miss Eva Pierce of Scott's Hill. She died December 15, 1906, leaving two sons: George Allen, Jr., and William Henry, both of whom are now in school.
H. ALLEN HUGGINS in 1902 became actively as- sociated with his father, the late George W. Hug- gins, in the management of the jewelry business established by the elder Huggins on Market Street in Wilmington nearly half a century ago, and since the death of his father, which occurred in June, 1916, the business has been incorporated under the name George W. Huggins, Incorporated, with H. Allen Huggins its secretary, treasurer and general manager.
H. Allen Huggins was born at Wilmington August 12, 1879, son of George W. and Elizabeth (Allen) Huggins. He received his early educa- tion in the Cape Fear Academy and in 1900 grad- uated from the Agricultural and Mechanical Col- lege at Raleigh. He received a technical train- ing and for two years after his graduation was employed as a chemist in Caraleigh Phosphate Works. He then returned to take up his per- manent business career in his father's store, and had assumed the heavy responsibilities of its man- agement several years before his father's death. Mr. Huggins is a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and is past master of St. John's Lodge No. 1, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons.
He and his family are active in the First Presby- terian Church.
On April 19, 1905, he married Miss Lena Ever- ett of Wilmington. . They have one son, Allen Everett Huggins, born April 21, 1906.
CHARLES REUBEN MOORE, of Asheville, has a specialty as a promoter and developer of land, especially city and suburban subdivisions and al- lotments. He has done this work all over the United States, and few men have been as success- ful and have accomplished more that is perma- nent or of more lasting benefit to the communities concerned.
Mr. Moore is a native of Georgia, born at Weston in Webster County, November 3, 1867, son of Dr. Charles R. and Amelia (Sharpe) Moore. He was educated in the grammar and high schools at Dawson Business College, and for ten years was in the clothing business in the City of Ma- con. In 1907 he removed to Asheville, North Carolina, and established the Southern Land Auc- tion Company, of which he is sole proprietor. This company under his auspices has laid out and de- veloped many subdivisions and has not only put them on the market but advanced them to that degree of success where they represent real home builders and are an integral part of the com- munity. This firm was responsible for more than fifty homes built at Weaverville, a suburb of Ashe- ville. Mr. Moore has also developed Lake Juanita, where he has his own home and a tract of fifty- seven acres. Mr. Moore is a former mayor of Weaverville and while in that office he was in- strumental in establishing a system of water- works in the village. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America, and also the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Moore married Mrs. Louise Finney, of Macon, Georgia. Mr. Moore has one son by his first marriage, Maury Rouse.
JOSEPH C. CHAMBERS has been identified with the commercial life of Old Salem and Winston- Salem for over a quarter of a century. A number of years ago he established himself as a general merchant, and his business has gone forward prospering and developing under his management, and he has long enjoyed a position due to his success as a business man and to his thoroughly publie spirited attitude toward the community.
Mr. Chambers is a native of North Carolina and was born on a farm in Iredell County, May 10, 1860. His grandfather, Henry Chambers, was a native of Rowan County and was a lineal de- scendant of one of three brothers who came to America in colonial times and settled on the present site of Salisbury and founded that old city of North Carolina. The descendants are numerous and many of them are found in various states. The family as a whole has contributed worthy men and women to various walks and professions and industries. Grandfather Henry Chambers lo- cated four miles east of Statesville, where he owned and occupied a fine farm and lived on it until his death in 1867. The maiden name of his wife was Jane Cowan. She died a few years before her husband. Her father William Cowan was a resident of Rowan County. Henry Chambers and wife reared eight children: William Steele, Arthur Curtis, Joseph, Robert Cowan, Elizabeth Melissa, Ruth Asenath, James Ebenezer and Jane
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Adaline. Three of these children were dwarfs, Arthur C., Ebenezer and Melissa. Arthur C. was thirty-seven inches tall, while Ebenezer was four feet in height. Melissa weighed twenty-four pounds at the age of twelve when she died.
Robert Cowan Chambers, father of the Winston- Salem merchant, was born on a farm four miles east of Statesville August 12, 1821. He grew up on the farm and made farming his regular occupa- tion. Before the war he employed his own slaves in the fields. He became a soldier and for three years wore the gray uniform and gave a good account of himself in many a battle. After the war he took up the threads of lite as a farmer and continued so until his death on December 29, 1873. The maiden name of his first wife was Jemima Kilpatrick. At her death she left five children named William A., Henry B., Jennie, Carrie and Mary. Mr. Joseph C. Chambers is the son of his father's second marriage to Mrs. Eliza- beth Caroline (Hicks) Kilpatrick, widow of his brother-in-law Asa Kilpatrick. Joseph C. Cham- bers has one sister, Ellen L. . The mother was born in the north part of Iredell County, daughter of Elijah and Mrs. (Johnson) Hicks, her father having owned and occupied a farm ou the South Yadkin River in Iredell County. Mr. Chambers' mother, who died July 15, 1886, had reared two children by her first marriage, William and Eliza- beth.
Joseph C. Chambers had to face the serious responsibilities of life at an early age. He grew up on a farm and all his schooling came from the free schools of his neighborhood. He was thirteen years old when his father died and thereafter the care and working of the home farm devolved upon his youthful shoulders. He proved equal to the task and remained at home as a farmer until 1889.
In that year he removed to Salem and began his business career as a clerk. He applied himself with diligence to his work and rapidly mastered the details of merchandising. In 1900 he capital- ized this experience in a business of his own and opened a general stock of merchandise at Salem. That business has grown into his present large store in the twin cities.
Mr. Chambers first married in 1879 Miss Clemen- tine Shoemaker. She was born in Iredell County, daughter of John P. and Rosa (Padget) Shoe- maker. They were married for less than ten years when Mrs. Chambers died April 9, 1887. She was the mother of four children: Cora, Charles, Mamie and Lillie. The daughter Mamie died at the age of seventeen. Charles by his marriage to Rose Hardester has four children named Ralph, Irene, Clement and Walter. Lillian is the wife of Eugene Blankenship and her three children are: Kolunie, Hollis and Tarnis.
On Christmas Day, December 25, 1887, Mr. Chambers married for his present wife Rebecca Caroline Tucker. She was born in Iredell County, daughter of Roby Tucker, who was born in the same couuty in May, 1808, a son of a farmer, and so far as known a lifelong resident of Iredell County. Mrs. Chambers' father succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead and lived there until 1870, when he sold and bought an adjacent farm on which he continued to prosper until his death in 1886. The maiden name of Mrs. Cham- bers' mother was Rachel Mason. She was a native of Iredell County, daughter of John Mason, a well-to-do farmer of that section. Mrs. Chambers' mother died in January, 1914, having reared nine children whose names were John, Rufus, Isabel,
Alfred, Charles, Rebecca, Emma, Lizzie and Alice.
Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have two sons, William and Orville. William married Mattie Farris and has two children, William and Herbert. Orville married Elsie Morris, and their two children are Mildred L. and Orville M.
Mr. and Mrs. Chambers are two of the most loyal members and consistent workers in the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church South. He has served as class leader, steward and a member of the Board of Trustees. Fraternally he is affiilated with Salem Council No. 14 Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
W. LEE HARBIN. The business community of Lexington has known and appreciated the services of W. Lee Harbin as a contractor and builder for over thirty years. Mr. Harbin's work as a cou- tractor has not been confined to this one locality but has extended over several states, and a long list might be prepared of many important public and private structures erected under his super- intendence and with his staff of expert workmen which he has trained and disciplined to every branch of the building industry.
Mr. Harbin was born on a farm at Boston Bridge three miles from Statesville in Iredell County, North Carolina. His father James F. Harbin was a native of the same county and was reared and educated there. When a youth he learned the trade of carpenter and that was his vocation altogether for a number of years, but later he bought a farm at Boston Bridge and combined its superintendence with work at his trade. Late in life he moved to Statesville, where he died at the age of eighty-four. He was three times married. The name of his third wife was Clara Tucker of Iredell County. She was left an orphan at an early age and was reared by rela- tives in Georgia, but after reaching womanhood returned to Iredell County. Her death occurred at the age of fifty-six.
W. Lee Harbin is the ouly child of his mother. He had four half brothers named Jonah, Albert, Walter and John, Jonah having lost his life while serving with the Confederate Army in the battle of Seven Pines. There was also a half sister, Mrs. Laura Shuford.
W. Lee Harbin attended the public schools at Statesville and when only a boy began working with his father at the carpenter trade. He acquired a thorough knowledge of all the tools and methods of carpentry and joinery, and did journeyman work at Statesville until 1881, when he removed to Lexingtou and here for four years was a journeyman carpenter. In 1885 he took his first contract for building and his success was almost immediate. He developed a large business, handling contracts in North and South Carolina and Georgia, and has a large amount of money invested in capital and facilities for performing every class of contract in building and in every class of material.
In 1882 Mr. Harbin married Lula Pickett. She was born iu Lexington, daughter of D. W. and Sarah Pickett. Mr. and Mrs. Harbin are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with Lexington Lodge No. 473 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Charlotte Commandery of the Knights Templar, and Oasis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charlotte.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN CARTER. One of the more talented and prominent attorneys of the state, and
2.7 Carter
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
one of the most valued and honored citizens of Mount Airy, William Franklin Carter is widely recognized as a man of broad mental attainments and superior legal knowledge and ability. Through his professional labor and skill he has won a well merited reputation as a successful lawyer, and as a man of integrity and honor. The posthumous son of William F. Carter, he was born on a farm situated in Rockingham County, near Wentworth.
Archibald Carter, Mr. Carter's grandfather, an extensive planter and slaveholder, owned and oc -. cupied a plantation in the vicinity of Mocksville, Davie County, and there spent the larger part of his life. He was influential in public matters, for a number of years serving as clerk of the Mocks- ville courts, He married Letitia Wilson, and they reared a family consisting of four sons and three daughters, as follows: William F., father of Mr. Carter; Jesse; Cornelius; Robert; Elizabeth, who became the wife of P. H. Dalton; Ann, who mar- ried William Brown; and Letitia, who married Oliver Spencer.
Born in Mocksville, Davie County, William F. Carter was given liberal educational advantages, and after his graduatiou from the literary depart- ment of the University of North Carolina decided to enter the legal profession, for which he was eminently qualified. Admitted to the bar, he was for a time engaged in the practice of law. He subsequently located on land in Rockingham County, and with the assistance of slaves there operated a plantation until his death, which oc- curred at the early age of twenty-eight years.
The maiden name of his wife was Cora Isora Galloway. She was a daughter of Robert and Susan (Carter) Galloway, and a niece of Rawley Galloway. Four children were born of their union, namely: Letitia, wife of Judge William N. Me- bane; Mary Susan, unmarried; Galloway; and William Franklin, whose birth occurred three months after the death of his father. The mother of these children married for her second husband Jesse Carter, brother of her first husbaud, and to them four children were born, as follows: Jesse, Cecil, Cora, and Archibald.
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