USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 62
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February 10, 1852, Mr. Bryan married in Wil- mington Miss Susan H. Loftin, ward of Nicholas N. Nixon. She came of a wealthy family and owned valuable landed estates at Scott's Hill in what is now Pender County. In June, 1855, Mr. and Mrs. Bryan removed to Scott's Hill, settling on his wife's estate. Though in later years he had a temporary home in other localities, this was his permanent home, and has been continuously in the family and is now the residence of his son Robert K. Bryan, Jr.
In 1858 Mr. Bryan was elected and served as a member of the Lower House of the General As- sembly representing New Hanover County. New Hanover at that time included Pender County, which was organized in 1875. In 1869 and con- tinuing for over a year, Mr. Bryan in association with the late Maj. William H. Bernard, edited the Carolina Farmer, an agricultural journal at Wilmington. In the fall of 1878 he was elected on the democratic ticket to the office of state senator, from the Twelfth Senatorial District, composed of New Hanover and Pender counties. His was a prominent part in the legislative record of that period. He was chairman of the Committee on Propositions and Grievances. It was during this session of the Assembly that Zeb Vance was elected to his first term as United States Senator.
In the spring of 1880 Mr. Bryan began the publication of the Fayetteville Examiner, which he conducted for three years. Selling the paper in 1883 to Maj. E. J. Hale, he removed, at the solicitation of friends, to Hickory, North Carolina,
and edited and owned the Hickory Press for four years.
In the fall of 1886 he lost the sight of one of his eyes by an obscuration of the retina, but con- tinued his editorial work at his desk. In February, 1887, his remaining eye began to fail, and eventually he had to live in total blindness. Not- withstanding this affliction, he remained the same gentle, strong, courageous, cheerful character he had always been. For several years he had an un- failing source of comfort in the kindly and constant administrations of his wife until she passed away November 26, 1890. After that he continued a life of hopefulness and serenity, and died at his home at Scott's Hill June 9, 1898, when past seventy years of age.
He is remembered as a man of splendid dignity, a dignity based upon proved values and not of his own assumption. He was wonderfully clear in his mental processes, as his editorials abundantly tes- tify, and while he could when occasion demanded resort to controversialism and wield a trenchant pen, he was always singularly free from bitterness and rabid partisanship. His lifelong friends knew and appreciated the splendid purity and upright- ness of his character. He was exceedingly progres- sive and enterprising and there can be no question that his work did much to further the cause of commercial and industrial development, the build- ing of railroads and good highways, and all other measures for the enlightened progress of the com- munity and state.
For some years just after the close of the war in 1865 Mr. Bryan conducted an academy for boys at Scott's Hill and later on in Wilmington. Associated with him in this educational enterprise was John C. Calhoun, nephew of the great com- moner of that name. Many business and profes- sional men now living in Wilmington were trained in this fine old school. It was a training school of character as well as of mental efficiency. One of its students entered the University of Virginia and contrary to usual precedence was accepted as a student there without preliminary examination.
Mr. Bryan 's name is inseparably connected with the history of Pender County and he was a leader in the movement for its separation and organiza- tion. About 1870 the residents of the northern portion of old New Hanover County had begun agitation for a separate county division. In that period of Reconstruction New Hanover County was dominated by northern carpet baggers associated with ignorant negroes. It was realized that if a new county could be formed that the county could be made democratie and governed by white people. Prominent in the agitation and in the eventful fruition of the movement were Mr. Bryan of Scott's Hill, Doctor Satchwell, and Dr. E. Porter of Rocky Point, and Dr. H. F. Murphy of South Washington. These men visited Raleigh many times during legislative sessions, and while meeting with count- less obstacles and discouragements on account of the turbulent political situation of the times, they finally won their purpose and object. The new county of Pender, named for Gen. W. D. Pender, was created by an act of the General Assembly enacted in 1875.
ROBERT K. BRYAN of Scott's Hill, Pender County, has long been prominent as a member of the North Carolina bar, is a successful planter and farmer, and is present chairman of the County Board of Education of Pender.
He was born at Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, in 1853, but since infancy has
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lived at the old Bryan plantation at Scott's Hill. He is a son of the late Robert K. Bryan and Susan H. (Loftin) Bryan. His early education was directed by his father and he began the study of law at his home finishing under Prof. N. Y. Gulley at Wake Forest College. Mr. Bryan was licensed to practice in 1904, and since then has responded to the demands of an increasing clientage, in the courts of Pender, New Hanover, Onslow and sur- rounding counties and also in the state and Fed- eral courts.
At one time he followed the example of his father and was in the profession of journalism. He was responsible for establishing the Wilming- ton Dispatch in 1895, and was its editor the first two years.
His home, the old Bryan plantation at Scott's Hill, is one of the most charming and attractive estates in this part of North Carolina. Here he engages in general farming and is a large producer of the staple crops and also of the trucking crops. Scott's Hill is in the midst of an agricultural region noted for its richness and productiveness. As his father was almost solely engaged in literary pursuits, and could spare no time for farming, the son early became manager in charge of the planta- tion, and even since becoming a lawyer has given it much of his active supervison. The plantation contains about 800 acres.
Mr. Bryan has served continuously as chairman of the County Board of Education of Pender County since 1907.
He married Miss Gertrude Shepard, daughter of the late Dr. J. C. Shepard of Wilmington, a prom- inent physician and surgeon of his day. Doctor Shepard received the best medical advantages of this country and was in Paris taking post-graduate work when the war between the states began. Returning home immediately, he offered his services to the Confederacy, and was a surgeon in the Southern armies throughout the period of hos- tilities.
Mr. and Mrs. Bryan have two children: Ger- trude and J. Shepard. The daughter is the wife of E. M. Toon, a lawyer of Whiteville, North Carolina. The son graduated from the University of North Carolina with the class of 1915, and is now prin- cipal of the Hemenway School at Wilmington. He is a young man who is rapidly achieving distinction as an educator.
WILLIAM FITZHUGH WILLIAMS. A notable fig- ure in the lumber industry of North Carolina was the late William Fitzhugh Williams of Red Springs, Robeson County. Mr. Williams was of a very prominent old Virginia family, and he and his brother, James G. Williams, became iden- tified with the North Carolina lumber industry about thirty years ago.
The lumbermen of the state experienced a sense of bereavement in the death of William F. Williams, which occurred at his home in Red Springs March 19, 1917. That sense of loss was emphasized and multiplied in the community where he had lived for so many years, and where he was esteemed as one of the foremost men of business and as a genial personal associate and friend of many. William Fitzhugh Williams was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, in April, 1851, and was not yet sixty-six years of age when he died. He was a son of James and Rosalie (Fitzhugh) Williams, of Culpeper County, Vir- ginia. His mother was of the noted Fitzhugh family of Virginia. On the paternal side he
represented a long line of distinguished people. His great-grandfather, Gen. James Williams, was a gallant officer in the continental line in the Rev- olutionary war. As an officer he subsequently be- came a charter member in the Society of the Cincinnati. The late William F. Williams, as the oldest son of his father, was likewise a member of the Order of the Cincinnati. Gen. James Wil- liams' home was the noted "Soldiers' Rest"' in Orange County. This old ancestral home of the Williams family is at Edgewood, two miles from and within view of Culpeper Court House. Dr. William Williams was the father of James Wil- liams, who in turn was the father of the late William F. Williams.
The late William F. Williams came to man- hood through the turbulence and turmoil of the decade of the '60s. He was well educated and when little more than a boy he gained his first experience in lumber manufacturing. That was in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and his first experience gave him a pursuit which he followed successfully the rest of his life. While at Pitt- sylvania his brother, James G. Williams, became associated with him and for about ten years they operated saw mills on quite an extensive scale.
In 1888 the Williams brothers came into North Carolina and established headquarters at Red Springs, Robeson County, on the 11th of June of that year. Here they organized the Red Springs Lumber Company, and soon had their business in operation on a large scale, employ- ing hundreds of men. They built a lumber mill at Red Springs and in order to get their supply of timber constructed a narrow gauge railroad for logging purposes from Red Springs to Wa- gram in Scotland County. This logging road extended a distance of nearly twenty miles, be- sides a branch line extending to Bomer in what is now Hike County. This road was known as the Red Springs and Bomer Railroad. Though it was not built for a common carrier it hauled in addition to the logs for the Williams Broth- ers Mill, a considerable amount of supplies for planters and merchants in the territory. When all the available timber was cut and the road had served its purpose the rails were taken up and the right of way abandoned.
However, the operations of the mill at Red Springs were continued, and some years ago the name of the firm was changed to W. F. and J. G. Williams, under which it is still continued. W. F. Williams had the enterprise and the judg- ment which make successful men. Besides these lumber industries he was interested in other enterprises financially and for some years was president of the Harnett Lumber Company of Harnett County, and he and his brother, J. G. Williams, became extensively interested in farm- ing. They established and developed a fine farm now consisting of about 2,200 acres between Red Springs and Wagram. They also had some large holdings of Florida timber lands.
William F. Williams was noted not only for his business ability but for his charity and his liberality of time and means in behalf of all worthy causes. He was a man of the highest honor and integrity, and he did much for the community of Red Springs in particular. He was an active member of St. Stephens Episcopal Church. He was laid to rest in the old family burial ground at Culpeper, Virginia.
County, Virginia, to
Mr. Williams was married in Pittsylvania Miss Margaret Walker,
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daughter of Nathaniel B. and Eleanor (Nun- nelly) Walker, of that county. Mrs. Williams, four daughters and one son, and several grand- children, survive him. The children are: Mrs. Louis Hall, of Wilmington; Mrs. T. A. McNeill, Jr., of Lumberton; Mrs. John Heath, of Ha- vana, Cuba; Miss Lucy Williams and Mr. J. A. Williams, of Red Springs.
Capt. James G. Williams, younger brother of the late William F. Williams, was closely asso- ciated with his brother in business affairs for about forty years. He is now active head of the lumber business which he and his brother established and built up. Besides the mill in- terests in Red Springs and his share in the fine farm above mentioned, and the timber holdings in Florida, Capt. James G. Williams has a fine place in Culpeper County, Virginia, about four miles from his birthplace.
James G. Williams was married to Miss Jes- sie Wood, of Brandy Station, a historic old town of Culpeper County. They are the parents of five children: Annie Belle, Mary Fitzhugh, George M., James G., Jr., and William F.
REV. CHRISTOPHER THOMAS BAILEY, who died in 1895, was one of the distinguished Baptist min- isters of North Carolina and served his church faithfully and well both as a pastor and as an editor for thirty years.
He was born in William and Mary County, Virginia, in 1835, a son of William and Alice (Clarke) Bailey. He took his higher education in William and Mary College and Richmond Col- lege in Virginia, but was still in school when the war came on, and before finishing his course left to enlist in the Confederate army. He served as a private during the war and then entered the Baptist ministry. He was pastor at Carrsville, Virginia, from 1865 and afterwards came to North Carolina and until 1876 was pastor successively at Reynoldson, Edenton, and Warrenton. From 1876 until his death in 1895 he was editor of the Biblical Recorder at Raleigh, and by that work exercised his largest influence in the Baptist churches throughout the state.
He also served as trustee of Wake Forest Col- lege and as trustee of Shaw University. He was a democrat and a Mason. He married Annie Sallie Bailey, a daughter of Josiah C. and Sarah (Cooper) Bailey, of Greenesville County, Virginia. Their children were: Sallie Bailey, wife of W. N. Jones; C. T. Bailey, Jr .; J. W. Bailey; E. L. Bailey, who died in 1915; and Bayard Gates Bailey, who died in 1883.
JOSIAH WILLIAM BAILEY. Now one of the leading lawyers of Raleigh, Josiah William Bailey was for a number of years editor of the Biblical Recorder, succeeding his father in that office, and has also filled many important civic positions in the state at large.
Born in Warrenton, North Carolina, in 1873, the second son of Rev. C. T. and Annie S. Bailey, both of whom came to North Carolina from Vir- ginia, he spent seven years in the Raleigh public schools, two years in the Raleigh Male Academy, and four years at Wake Forest College, where he received his A. B. degree in 1893. On leaving col- lege Mr. Bailey entered his father's office with the Biblical Recorder and on the death of his father in 1895 was formally elected editor of that paper. That was his work and position until 1907, though in the meantime he had determined upon the law
as his real profession and had taken preparatory steps for admission to the bar. He studied law under Doctor Mordecai of Trinity University and Doctor Gulley of Wake Forest, and was admitted to the North Carolina bar in February, 1908. Since that date he has been active in practice at Raleigh.
The distinctive part of his record is the service he has rendered in various official capacities. From 1903 to 1907 he was chairman of the Anti- Saloon League of North Carolina and from 1904 to 1909 was also chairman of the Child Labor Commission. Active in democratic politics, he was elector at large on the ticket in 1908, and ยท can- vassed the state for the party in 1908, 1910, 1912 and 1914. In 1913 he served as a member of the Constitutional Commission, and in the same year was appointed collector of the internal revenue for the Eastern District of North Carolina, an office he still holds. He has served as a member of the Raleigh Township graded schools, of the County Board of Education, as trustee of Wake Forest College and Meredith College, and as a member of the State Board of Agriculture. In 1907 he delivered the baccalaureate address at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the missionary address at the Southern Baptist Con- vention. Mr. Bailey is a member of the Baptist Church, the Raleigh Country Club, the Neuseco Club, and the Panther Branch Club.
FRANK J. DEMPSEY was for many years one of the practical and thorough farmers of New Han- over County, but by reason of his administration during the last two years of the New Hanover County Home, of which he is superintendent, he has become one of the interesting men of the state, and much attention has been attracted to him and to his work by the press and state officials.
Mr. Dempsey was born near Wallace in the southern part of Duplin County January 19, 1860, and his father, the late George F. Dempsey, spent his life in Duplin County, was a farmer by occupa- tion and during the war served in the Confederate army the entire four years. Grandfather Dempsey was a native of Ireland, coming from that country to North Carolina in the early part of the nine- teenth century and locating in Duplin County.
Frank J. Dempsey was reared on a farm and has declined to be classified as anything but a farmer. It was on these qualifications primarily that he was selected by the Board of Commissioners of New Hanover to take charge of and manage the New Hanover County Home, a property worth ap- proximately $75,000 and famous as the best institu- tion of its kind in North Carolina.
Mr. Dempsey has a fine farm of his own, four miles north of Wilmington, on the Castle Hayne Road. He located there about 1896. It was in the latter months of 1916 that he became superin- tendent of the New Hanover County Home, and the duties of that position have occupied his entire time.
The home and adjacent buildings are located on the county farm two miles north of Wilmington on the Castle Hayne Road. The Atlantic Coast Line Railway passes through the farm and directly in front of the home. The farm comprises about 600 acres, 100 of which are in a thorough state of cultivation. At the end of the first fiscal year of Mr. Dempsey's management of the farm his inventory showed that the institution was more than self sustaining. After all bills had been paid the credit side of the ledger showed a total of
FRANK J. DEMPSEY
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about $2,900. This record is so unusual, and in fact almost unprecedented, especially in North Carolina, that it has drawn out many flattering comments from the press and commendation from the state officials, and of course the farm is a source of extreme local pride in Hanover County.
As typical of the comments made upon the insti- tution oue of the Raleigh papers printed the fol- lowing: "Commissioner R. F. Beasley of the de- partment of public welfare, has recently returned from New Hanover county where he found a county home that fed fifty people and turned over a profit of twenty-nine hundred dollars after meeting ex- penses. The keeper of the home is superintendent of the farm and the prisoners who are unable to do road work are sent there for service. The home is charged thirty-five cents a day for their labor and they still make a good profit after being kept in comfort all the year. The treatment of prisoners is one of the bright phases of prison work done by the commissioner, who has had to listen to sordid stories that sicken him. He has no censure for New Hanover. He thinks that the solidarity of com- munity spirit and enterprise is wonderfully de- veloped in New Hanover."'
The main building is a large two-story brick structure of pleasing architectural appearance, con- taining the rooms and wards for the white inmates of the home, together with eight rooms reserved for the personal use of Mr. Dempsey and family and assistants, with one office room. An adjoining build- ing also of brick is for the colored inmates. The buildings are equipped with modern conveniences, such as electric light, steam heat, etc., and since Mr. Dempsey took charge he has had a thoroughly sanitary water and sewerage system installed with plenty of bath room facilities, also a shower bath in a small separate building.
Any evidences of the old fashioned "poor house" of former days are nowhere to be seen. On the contrary, the place gives one the impres- sion of a comfortable hotel or dormitory. The rooms all look cozy and comfortable, with pictures on the walls, magazines and reading matter, and a general atmosphere of cheer and contentment prevails. All those who are able are employed at useful work about the place, while those who are ill are well taken care of by the nurses and by the county physician under whose direction they work. There is a chapel in the main building, where re- ligious services are held every Sunday afternoon. The average number of inmates is between thirty- five and forty. Including the superintendent's family and staff a total of about fifty-five persons live at the home.
It is in farm management that Mr. Dempsey is at his best. The chief field crops are cotton, corn, sufficient grain and feed stuffs for the farm animals. However, the specialty is gardening and trucking. This department furnishes all the gar- den vegetables for feeding the home and besides a large amount of stuff is shipped at a good profit. Some of the principal crops are Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, soy beans, cabbage and tomatoes. The most profitable livestock are hogs, and Mr. Dempsey has arranged eight different hog runs, into which the drove is turned in succession furnish- ing them opportunity for foraging and for feeding themselves. In the smokehouse is an ample supply of meat, and adjoining that is a large refrigerator which Mr. Dempsey designed and built himself. It holds 500 pounds of ice, and is adequate to pre- servo all the fresh meat and other perishable goods consumed at the farm. To the successful admin-
istration of this farm Mr. Dempsey has brought long and successful experience and he gives to it the best of his knowledge and efforts so as to make it a genuine benefit to the unfortunate people kept there and a source of pride and profit to the county. All the work on the farm, which he per- sonally superintends, is thoroughly done and the program is carried out with exactitude for every day of the year. An important feature of farm- ing in this section is drainage, and the ditches at the county farm are kept at the top notch of use- fulness. All the work of preparing the soil, fer- tilizing, planting, cultivating and harvesting has been arranged on a plan at once systematic and efficient. It is not strange therefore that this farm has become a "show place" for the county, and is in fact a demonstration farm that many individual farmers have studied with profit to them- selves. Mr. Dempsey is constantly making new improvements. Among other live stock cows are kept in sufficient number to furnish an ample sup- ply of milk, cream and butter for the home, while the poultry yard supplies all the chickens and eggs. One of the early acts of his administration was the installing of a cannery. In 1917, 2,000 cans of tomatoes, all grown on the farm, were preserved for the use of the home, and a large, number of cans of miscellaneous fruit. These canned goods with occasional extra cakes and pastry, are features of the substantial meals that are greatly appre- ciated by the inmates and have a tendency to keep all in the best of health and spirits. All the buy- ing of groceries, dry goods, clothing, etc., for the use of the inmates, is done in wholesale quantities. Mr. Dempsey 's entire administration has been characterized by economy, so far as consistent with good judgment and common sense. In the house- hold department of the work he is aided and as- sisted by his wife, who is an expert in that sphere.
Some years ago Mr. Dempsey was for a term of two years county commissioner of New Hanover County.
He married Miss Savila Kerr. Their seven chil- dren are Mrs. Emma Hoggard, Mrs. H. S. Strick- land, George F., John B., William G., June L., and Clarence L. John B. Dempsey is active manager of his father's farm four miles north of Wilmington. The sons June L. and Clarence are both in the National Army, June being in the Engineering Corps with the Expeditionary Forces in France.
SAMUEL WILLIAMSON MCEACHERN. A well-known resident of Davidson County, Samuel W. McEach- ern, station agent at Linwood, and a successful farmer, is a man of excellen business capacity and judgment, and a citizen of high repute, A son of John C. McEachern, he was born in Cabar- rus County, North Carolina, of pioneer ancestry.
John C. McEachern was born and reared on a farm, and as a young man bought land in Number One Township, Cabarrus County, and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1881, at the comparatively early age of forty- four years. He married Mary Eugenia Davis, whose father owned and occupied a farm in Cabar- rus County. She died in 1885, leaving three chil- dren, as follows: Martha Jane, Anna, and Samuel
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