USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 64
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Mr. Carlyle had the public spirit and confidence to give his enthusiasm and his financial means toward establishing the cottou manufacturing in- dustry at Lumberton-the backbone of this modern city's prosperity. He is a large stockholder in the three mills at Lumberton, the Lumberton, Dresden and Jennings Mills, which have a com- bined capital of $650,000, and he is also sub- stantially interested in the St. Pauls Cotton Mill Company at St. Pauls.
A number of years ago Mr. Carlyle built three brick store buildings on the east side of Elm Street, the main business thoroughfare of Lum- berton. When they were completed he was well satisfied to receive a rental of $12.50 per month for each building. Today the fixed rental is $50.00 per month, and that is mentioned as a definite evidence of how Lumberton has grown in a busi- ness way.
Mr. Carlyle is now largely interested in the stock business at Lumberton and is one of the extensive farmers and land owners in Robeson County. His best farm is five miles south of Fairmont. It comprises 440 acres, largely planted to tobacco and cotton. While it today ranks as one of the finest and most valuable farms in the county, it was a virgin timbered wilderness some years ago when he bought it and the land was all cleared and developed under his im- mediate supervision. He also owns a farm at his father's old home in Saddle Tree Township, and three other farms near Lumberton. The extent of his agricultural operations may be measured by the fact. that he operates about thirty plows. Mr. Carlyle's mother, who died some years ago, has a lasting place in the memory of all
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the people of Lumberton for her zeal and activity as a church woman. She was originally a mem- ber of what is now the First Baptist Church of Lumberton, and was with that congregation when it worshipped in a small and poorly located church building. She was one of the leaders in a move- ment which led to the erection of a much larger and finer edifice in the best residence district. A church meant to her not merely a place for individual worship but an opportunity for service, and her zeal and interest in home missionary work finally lead her to withdraw from the First Bap- tist Church and found the Tabernacle Church at Lumberton, an undenominational church of a mis- sionary nature open to people of all religious faith and especially attended by the mill workers of the city, as well as by all who had no regular denominational connections. From its founding until her death she was a guiding spirit in this prosperous congregation, and as a religious insti- tution it stands as a monument to her Christian work and influence.
Mr. Carlyle married Miss Lillian Vampill, only daughter of the late Dr. Rudolph and Jane (Har- grove) Vampill, of Lumberton. Their family of seven children consists of Rudolph R., Janie, Frank Ertel, Hazel, Sarah, Lillian and W. W., Jr.
Dr. Rudolph Vampill, father of Mrs. Carlyle, was a remarkable man with a mind enriched by scholarship and true learning and of many talents that rendered him a source of service to human- ity. He was born at Breslau, Germany, had a university education in his native country, grad- uated in medicine, and when about twenty-two years of age came to America. He located at Mullins, South Carolina. Among his varied ac- complishments was a practical knowledge of botany, music and horticulture, exemplified in love of flowers and trees, which led him to beau- tify his home at Mullins with gardens, groves, the construction of an artificial lake, and alto- gether he surrounded the place with such charm and landscape effects that it became noted and every year attracted hundreds of visitors. Here he turned his talents successfully to the practice of medicine and lived a beloved and greatly esteemed figure in the entire community. His daughter, Mrs. Carlyle, is an active member of the Tabernacle Church.
DANIEL J. COCKERHAM, a Confederate veteran, and long active in business affairs at Elkin, was born on Mitchell's River seven miles from Elkin in Surry County, July 15, 1841.
His parents were Daniel and Sally ( Roberts) Cockerham, and his paternal grandparents were David and Mary (Burch) Cockerham and his maternal grandparents Pleasant B. and Polly (Bowles) Roberts. Both grandfathers were plant- ers in Surry County. Grandfather Cockerham was a lifelong resident of that county, while Grand- father Roberts came to this state from Georgia. Grandfather Roberts was quite active in public affairs and at one time represented Surry County in the State Legislature. Daniel Cockerham, father of Daniel J., was a planter who owned numerous slaves and refusing to sell them at the time of the war he lost all of them by the emanci- pation proclamation. His death occurred at the age of seventy-five and his wife passed away at sixty-five.
Daniel J. Cockerham was one of nine children, grew up on a farm and had a country school education. On June 5, 1861, he enlisted in Com-
pany H of the Twenty-first Regiment, North Caro- lina Troops, and fought gallantly with his comrades- in every campaign and battle iucluding Gettsburg until he was captured almost at the end of the war on April 6, 1865. As a prisoner of war he was sent to Johnson's Island in Lake Erie, was kept there until the following July when he was released. He reached home a war-worn veteran on the 26th of July.
After that for a number of years he was a public school teacher, spending his wiuters in the schoolroom and farming the rest of the year. In February, 1892, Mr. Cockerham engaged in the merchandise business at Elkin, his active as- sociates being his five sons. The business was conducted under the name D. J. Cockerham & Son and he had an active part therein until 1917, when at the age of seventy-six he retired.
At the age of twenty-eight Mr. Cockerham mar- ried Elizabeth Jarvis Roberts. She was born in Surry County, daughter of Sanborn Woodson and Melinda Roberts. The seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Cockerham are Clarence Ralston, Ella Mage, Warrick Woodson, Charles Everett, Thomas Ver- non, Grady Hoke and Ruby Grace. Mr. and Mrs. Cockerham are active members of the Missionary Baptist Church and reared their children in the same faith ..
JOSEPH T. KERR. In 1877 the first vegetables from the Wilmington district of North Carolina made their appearance iu the northern markets. The man who made the shipment, Joseph T. Kerr, has been a producer and shipper of such crops from this section to the northern markets in every one of the subsequent forty years and thus enjoys the distinction of being the pioneer of an industry which has grown to immense proportions and has made New Hanover County famous as a truck growing region and has contributed a large pro- portion of the total wealth and income to the people of this district. Mr. Kerr's carly truck crops were cantaloupes, tomatoes, egg plant, cab- bage, radishes, etc. He continued the shipment of miscellaneous vegetables for a number of years. After it was completely demonstrated that lettuce could be successfully and profitably grown in this district in the open ground, he concentrated more and more of his attention upon the crop and the larger volume of his business for a number of years has been lettuce. Mr. Kerr knows the culture and handling of lettuce to the point of being an authority on the subject. He has studied and ex- perimented with the soil, with cultivation, with types and varieties, with various methods of han- dling and shipping, and out of this wide experience has acquired a just fame as one of the most suc- cessful lettuce growers around Wilmington. An- other important main crop on his farm is potatoes and a portion of his ground is devoted to the other typical truck crops of this region. His place con- tains about ninety acres and lies on the Gordon Road about four miles northeast of Wilmington, being situated on Acorn Branch in Cape Fear Township.
Mr. Kerr was born at old Soutlı Washington now known as Watha in Union Township in what is now Pender County but was then New Hanover County. He was born in 1849, a son of Daniel and Martha Elizabeth (Malpass) Kerr. The Kerrs are an old and prominent family in Duplin, Sampson, Pender and New Hanover counties and are of Scotch origin. One of the notable members of the family was the late Dr. Charles Kerr of Kerr,
Joseph J. Kerr
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Sampson County. Except in the case where physi- cians are scientists and have gained fame as original discoverers or founders of new methods, the services of the profession have permanent re- wards only in the more or less uncertain memories of their grateful patients. But in the Village of Kerr stands a fine monument to Dr. Charles Kerr, a monument erected directly at the initiative and through subscriptions from his old patients, neigh- bors and friends, and it is probably the only monu- ment erected under such auspices to a physician in the United States. The home of the Kerr an- cestors was on the Black River in Sampson County, and it was in that county that Joseph T. Kerr's father was born.
Joseph T. Kerr grew up on a farm, and has always been a farmer, that vocation making pri- mary claims upon his interests and energy. His youth was spent in the poor period of the South's history, during and after the war, and consequently his educational advantages were limited. He at- tended country schools during about two years only. For all that he has become one of the solid, sub- stantial citizens of the state, a man enjoying the confidence and respect of all, and from a humble beginning and through the merit of hard work and constant application has achieved a definite success.
Mr. Kerr moved from Pender County to New Hanover County in 1871, the first engaged in farm- ing on what was known as the Rose Hill Farm near the present village of Wrightsboro about four miles north of Wilmington. From the first he took an active interest in the growing of garden and truck crops and did much to set the example which has made practically this entire region a vast vege- table garden. He is also prominent in public affairs, showing that his neighbors and fellow citizens appreciate his strong qualities and his ability as a representative in affairs of govern- ment. In 1900 he was elected to represent his county in the Lower House of the General As- sembly, serving during the session of 1901. In 1910 he was elected a member of the Board of County Commissioners in Hanover County for a term of four years, and was re-elected in 1914. He served the people of the county faithfully in this important position until December, 1918, a period of eight years.
Mr. Kerr married Mrs. Margaret (Westbrook) Johnston. She is a daughter of the late Jackson Westbrook of Harrison Creek, Pender County, where she was born, and granddaughter of Jesse Westbrook, a native of Jones County, North Car- olina. Jesse Westbrook and family in the late '20s moved to that part of New Hanover County that is now Pender County, first locating near Top- sail, but a year or two later moving to a per- manent home on Harrison Creek. The ancestors of the Westbrook family in North Carolina came from the State of Maine. One of Mrs. Kerr's cousins, Mr. David George Westbrook, came from Harrison Creek to New Hanover County in 1885 and his fam- ily located on the Gordon Road about a mile north of the Kerrs, where he has a nice farm and a good home. These families are among the substantial, . sturdy pioneer people who have made this a rich agricultural region.
Mrs. Kerr by her first marriage to James John- ston had three children: Mrs. Annie Miller, J. Herbert Johnston, and Mrs. Ella Kerr. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr have four living children: Colin E. Kerr, Mrs. Marietta Morris, Mrs. Lillian May Woodberry and Lottie Catalina, wife of Mr. N. L.
Johnston. N. L. Johnston is superintendent of the St. Helena Colony in Pender County.
WALTERS DURHAM. The cashier of the Me- chanics Savings Bank of Raleigh, Walters Dur- ham, has been connected with this institution since 1896, having started his career in the employ of the institution and from a modest beginning worked his way to a responsible office. His entire business life has been spent in banking, and among his associates he is known as a man of financial skill, shrewd foresight and keen discrimination.
Mr. Durham was born at Goldsboro, North Caro- lina, June 25, 1874, and is a son of Columbus and Lila M. (Walters) Durham. His father was a Baptist minister, of Goldsboro and Durham and afterwards the corresponding secretary of the Baptist State Board of Trustees. The public schools of his native place furnished Walters Dur- ham with his early education, following which he attended the Morson & Denson Private School, where he was prepared for his higher education. He next took a full course at Wake Forest College, where he took the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws, and was graduated with honors in the class of 1895. In January, 1896, Mr. Durham began his connection with the bank in which he now holds official posi- tion, which, however, was then known as the Me- chanics Dime Savings Bank. From a minor posi- tion he arose to be bookkeeper and teller, and in 1900 was elected cashier of the institution, an office which he has retained to the present time.
Mr. Durham is treasurer of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. He belongs to the Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks and to the Country Club, in both of which he has many friends, as he has also in business and banking circles. In politics he is a democrat, but he has not cared for public life and only takes an active part in those movements which affect the welfare of his community. He is a good representative of the banking material that has made Raleigh so financially strong.
'R. C. LAWRENCE. At a stage of his career when he is only beginning to do his best work, it is possible to speak about R. C. Lawrence of Lumberton as a highly successful lawyer, a man of exceptional scholarship and range of interests, and of a depth and maturity of experience such as is rarely associated with men of his years.
Mr. Lawrence was born at Raleigh, North Carolina, February 7, 1877, son of V. D. and Mary (Corbelle) Lawrence. He is of Norman French ancestry on both sides. Several gener- ations of the Lawrence family in America lived in Hanover County, Virginia, while the Corbelles had their home in Nansemond County of the Old Dominion. V. D. Lawrence was a merchant at Raleigh and died when R. C. Lawrence was six years old.
It is doubtful if any member of the bar of North Carolina began tasting the joys of the fruits of his own work so early as R. C. Lawrence. Soon after his father died he was assigned duties proportionate to his years in the office of Ed- wards & Broughton at Raleigh. Subsequently he served as a page in the State Senate, and was a boy in years when he was appointed postmaster of the Senate. His culture and ready familiar- ity with literature and history causes most of the acquaintances of Mr. Lawrence to regard him as a product of a thorough classical education. The
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fact is he hardly went to school at all. A remark- able native talent led him practically without direction to absorb and search out knowledge in many diverse fields.
Mr. Lawrence graduated from Wake Forest College with degrees of A. B. and LL. B. in 1898. He also took his law course at the same insti- tution and was admitted to the bar in 1898. Dur- ing his examination for admission to the bar his answers were submitted so promptly and concisely that he had covered the entire list of sixty-six questions iu about sixty minutes. This remark- . ably brief time, together with the quality of re- plies made, caused an exclamation of surprise from Judge Walter Clark of the Supreme Court, who was in charge of the examination, and who bestowed upon the young aspirant for attorney 's honors a most generous compliment.
After his admission to the bar Mr. Lawrence practiced at Raleigh with Col. John W. Hinsdale, and in 1903 established himself at Lumberton as a partner with Mr. Stephen McIntyre, the firm now being McIntyre, Lawrence and Proctor. This is one of the notable law firms of the state, com- bining a large general and corporate practice. They act as division counsel for the Seaboard Air Line, special counsel for the Southern Rail- way, and counsel for the Virginia & Carolina Southern, the Raleigh & Charleston Railroad, the Aberdeen & Rockfish Railroad, the Western Union Telegraph Company, and some of the cotton mills of Lumberton and other business firms.
While Mr. Lawrence finds the chief outlet for his energies and talents in the practice of his law firm, he has several delightful avocations and one of them is literature and writing. At different times he has devoted himself to preparing sketches of North Carolina legal celebrities, both living and dead, and a number of these have been pronounced as classics in style and as portraits and estimates.
Mr. Lawrence married Miss Emma Norwood, daughter of Judge William L. Norwood, of Waynesville, member of a family distinguished in North Carolina history since colonial times. Mrs. Lawrence is also a niece of Judge Garland S. Fer- guson, one of the oldest judges on the Superior Court bench of North Carolina. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence are Anna, Virginia and Mary.
WILLIAM JOHNSTON ANDREWS. Scholarly at- tainments and a business sense developed far be- yond the ordinary are characteristics which dis- tinguish William Johnston Andrews, one of the leading figures in the business circles of Raleigh, as well as a forceful personality in its social life. A man of ripened experience, he has brought his knowledge of men and affairs to bear upon his conduct of the several concerns with which he is connected, to such an extent that they have not only enjoyed a long era of prosperous activity, but have their influence in determining the standards of other houses of a similar character. In his career, Mr. Andrews is an earnest refutation of the claim that too much mental development is a handicap in the business world. Had he been less learned, his life history might have been entirely different. As it is, his scholarly pursuits lend a character to all that he undertakes and not only have proven beneficial to others, but vastly en- tertaining to himself.
William Johnston Andrews was born at Hender- son, now Vance County, then Granville County, North Carolina, March 1, 1871, and is the eldest
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son of Alexander Boyd and Julia Martha (John- ston) Andrews. Col. A. B. Andrews, his father, was for many years one of the best known men in railroad circles of the South, and at the time of his death was a director and first vice president of the Southern Railway. He was a veteran of the Civil war, having been captain of Company B, Ninth Regiment (First Cavalry), North Carolina Troops. After the war he entered actively into the work of reconstruction of railroad properties and other organizations pertaining to transporta- tion, and through nearly a half a century of con- nection with railroad building aud operation be- came one of the chief factors in the development of the new South, one of his most noted accom- plishments being the construction of the Western North Carolina Railroad to Paint Rock, the Ten- nessee line, and the branch to Ducktown, North Carolina.
William Johnston Andrews secured his early education in the Raleigh Male Academy, follow- ing which he entered the University of North Caro- lina, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, class of 1891. He then entered Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, where, during 1893 and 1894, with William F. Hunt, of New York City, he developed the aluminum-zinc alloys, which were later success- fully used in the manufacture of bicycles, thus materially reducing the weight in bicycle con- struction, although it was not until ten years later that they received credit for this work and tests. Mr. Andrews graduated wtih the degree of me- chanical engineer at Cornell in 1894, and in that year accepted a position as superintendent of the foundry of the North Carolina Car Company, and as such was the only man who has ever been al- lowed to put the name Lobdell on a wheel made outside of their works in Wilmington, Delaware. He retained that position during that year, the following and a part of the next year. In 1896 he became private secretary to the United States minister to Mexico, the Hon. Matt W. Ransom, but in 1897 returned to Raleigh and in 1898 was made president of the Raleigh Electric Company, which operated the street railway and lighting plant, a position which he retained until 1906 when he and his associates sold this property to the company now operating it. Since the latter year he has been engaged in a variety of busi- ness ventures, all connected with the growing in- dustrial importance of the capital city.
With Mr. Jas. H. Pow and Mr. A. L. Murray he organized and developed the first of the now many suburbs of the City of Raleigh, which Mrs. Andrews named Glenwood. At the present time Mr. Andrews is president of the Monitor Graphite Company of Ashland, Alabama, which he formed and is operating; president of the City Land Com- pany, a director of the Citizens National Bank of Raleigh, president of the Raleigh Furniture Company, a director of the Melrose Knitting Mill, and an executor in both his father's and mother's estates, both of whom died in 1915. Mr. Andrews' business life has been a full one, but he has found time to develop and maintain delightful social and fraternal relations. He is a past exalted ruler of the Elks and present chairman of the house committee; has reached the Shrine in Masonry; and belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Royal Ar- canum. His social connections include member- ship in the Capitol and Country clubs. He also belongs to the American Society of Mechanical
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Engineers, is a member of the Sons of the Revo- lution, is an active member of the Raleign Chamber of Commerce, an honorary member of the Luther Burbank Society, and a life member of the North Carolina Agricultural Society, which operates the State Fair. Mr. Andrews has declined fiue offers to go to New York, Richmond and other cities but like his father he is devoted in his attachment to the State of North Carolina. As an engineer Mr. Andrews enrolled in the United States Public Service Reserve under the department of labor. His religious connection is with the First Presby- terian Church of Raleigh.
Mr. Andrews was married January 7, 1903, to Miss Augusta Webb Ford, daughter of Francis and Augusta (Webb) Ford. Mr. Ford was a prominent banker and business mau of Cincin- nati, Ohio, although he resided in Covington, Kentucky. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, namely: William Johnston Andrews, Jr. (deceased, Augusta Ware-Webb Ford Andrews, Martha Bailey Hawkins Andrews, and Jane Virginia Hawkins Andrews.
CHARLES LEE SMITH, distinguished by his schol- arship and his practical activities in the field of educational administration and sociology and economics, is a Raleigh man whose name is as- sociated with various business and civic responsi- bilities.
He was born at Wilton in Granville County, North Carolina, August 29, 1865, son of Dr. Louis Turner and Nannie Green (Howell) Smith. He is the descendant of a prominent English family that settled in Gloucester County, Virginia, in early colonial times. In the paternal line his great-great- grandfather was James Smith of Virginia, his great-grandparents were John and Nancy (Wil- son) Smith and his grandparents John and Sallie (Bradford) Smith. On both sides his ancestors rendered distinguished service in the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
In 1875, when Doctor Smith was ten years of age, his parents removed to Durham, North Caro- lina, where he prepared for college at Buchanan's School. In 1884 he was graduated from Wake Forest College. The honorary degree LL. D. was awarded him by that institution in 1906. During his senior year in college he was chief editor of Wake Forest Student. During 1884-85 he was in Raleigh as an instructor in the Raleigh Male Academy and at the same time was associate editor of the Biblical Recorder.
Mr. Smith did graduate work at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, from which he received the degree Doctor of Philosophy in 1889. He also studied abroad in Germany. At Johns Hopkins from 1886 to 1891 he was successively university scholar, fellow in history and politics, instructor in history and lecturer on sociology. It was dur- ing 1888 while a fellow by courtesy of Johns Hop- kins that Doctor Smith was a student in the University of Halle.
While still on the academic staff of Johns Hop- kins he served as general secretary of the Balti- more Charity Organization Society from 1889 to 1891, and in 1889 was appointed by the governor of Maryland a delegate to the National Confer- ence of Charities and Correction which met at San Francisco. He was elected a secretary to that body for 1890.
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