USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 66
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From the beginning of the great world war Mr. Hill has taken an active part in support of the cause of the Belgians, the French and the English, and frequently by pen and by speech advocated plans for greater preparedness on the part of our own country. Immediately after our entrance into the war he volunteered his services to the nation and to his state, and tendered the use for military purposes of Hillandale, his beautiful farm at Dur- ham, to the Government, free of charge, for the an active and generous supporter of the many war activities of his county and of his state. As chairman of the War Savings Committee of Durham County he has rendered untiring and con- spicuous service in carrying the real meaning of the war to all the people of his county, and in thoroughly organizing them for effective patriotic work.
JOSEPH H. AIKEN was postmaster of Hickory, Catawba County, at the time of his death, June 26, 1917. A better administration and service could not be desired than was rendered by Mr. Aiken. He was an old resident of Catawba County, and closely identified with the City of Hickory, both by business and family connections, and aside from the honor of the office his public spirited loyalty to the community in which he had spent most of his years impelled him to . make the postmastership a means of utmost service.
He was born at Hickory, North Carolina, in 1861, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Link) Aiken. The name is one of historic prominence in the Caro- linas. Aiken is an English name, and in colonial times the family located in South Carolina, where the City of Aiken bears the family name. Mr. Aiken's great-great-grandfather emigrated from Dublin to America and acquired property in South Carolina. Joseph Aiken, father of Joseph H., was born in North Carolina, and his boyhood and early manhood were spent on the Aiken farm in the northwest part of Catawba County in the vicinity of Hickory. He also lived for a time in what was then the small Village of Hickory, now one of the most important industrial centers in the state. Joseph Aiken volunteered his services for the de- fense of the Sonth at the beginning of the war, went out with a company from Catawba County, and fought valiantly with his command until the Battle of Gettysburg, where he fell on the field and sacrificed his life.
Elizabeth (Link) Aiken, mother of the subject of this sketch, represents some of the sterling elements of German stock that settled as pioneers
in Catawba County. Her father, Henry W. Link, served as postmaster of Hickory during the war. Her brother, the late A. C. Link, was appointed to the office of postmaster at Hickory under the Wilson administration, and died while still admin- istering its duties in April, 1915.
In his extreme youth Joseph H. Aiken came to know Hickory as an unimportant village and he also was impressed by some of the scenes and incidents of the late Civil war and reconstruction period. On his memory have been recorded the rapid advance which would make a complete his- tory of Hickory from an inland village until its modern industrial growth has made it a city. Most of his early education was acquired under the well known teacher, Miss Lou Brower. Many men and women owe this noble woman a debt of gratitude. She was notable for the excellence and thoroughness of her teaching and for the high character she imparted to the pupils who attended her school.
During Cleveland's second administration, Jo- seph H. Aiken was located at Asheville as office deputy in the office of the internal revenue col- lector. Subsequently he was transferred to the field work and was field deputy for the western district of North Carolina. When not engaged in the performance of official duties Mr. Aiken was for a number of years in the live stock and livery business at Hickory. Soon after the beginning of the Wilson administration he was appointed deputy United States internal revenue collector with head- quarters at Hickory. That position he filled until the death of his uncle, Mr. A. C. Link, above re- ferred to, in April, 1915, when he was appointed postmaster to fill the vacancy. He entered upon these duties with accumulated wisdom and busi- ness efficiency that added further honor to his pub- lic record. The rapid commercial and industrial growth of Hickory has given a steady increase to the business of the postoffice. It is now only a question of time when the equipment and facil- ities of the beautiful new postoffice building erected in 1914 will be taxed to capacity.
Mr. Aiken married Miss Martha E. Robinson of Catawba County. Reference should be made to her family which is one of the old and very prominent ones of Catawba County. She is di- rectly descended from James Robinson, who was of English lineage, and who settled in what is now Catawba County, North Carolina, about 1755. His son, Jesse Robinson, married a daughter of Henry Weidner, a German, who was the first white set- tler west of the Catawba River. The descendants of the Robinson family are still living on the old Henry Weidner farm about six miles from the present City of Hickory, where Henry Weidner lo- cated in 1750. Mrs. Aiken's grandfather, Henry Robinson, son of Jesse Robinson, at one time owned the land on which the City of Hickory was built. With the development of a town there he showed a public spirit which was partly respon- sible at least for much of the prosperity that the town has since enjoyed as a city. He made ex- tensive donations of land for streets, parks, churches, schools, railroad and all other public purposes. Mrs. Aiken is a daughter of the late John W. Robinson, who died in 1904. John W. Robinson married Elizabeth Shuford, daughter of Jacob H. Shuford. The Shufords are another old family of German stock who settled in Catawba County not long after the Weidners came.
Mr. and Mrs. Aiken are the parents of four
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children : H. R. Aiken, Joseph H. Aiken, Jr., John Aiken and Aileeu Aiken.
JOHN ALFRED GAVIN, a former representative in the State Legislature, has been an active mem- ber of the bar at Kenansville for the past twenty years.
Mr. Gavin is a native of Duplin County, where he was born February 18, 1877, son of substantial farming people of this locality, Samuel Henry and Martha E. (Frederick) Gavin. He grew up on his father's farm, had a public school educa- tion, and took his college and professional work in Wake Forest College, where he graduated from the law department in September, 1897, before he was twenty-one years of age. Since his ad- mission to the bar Mr. Gavin has practiced at Kenansville, and has risen steadily in the estima- tion of the people and enjoys a large and profit- able clientage. He served as a member of the Legislature from Duplin County in 1909, having a committee chairmanship and also was member of the judiciary committee. Mr Gavin was also honored with the office of mayor of Kenansville in 1914-16 and again in 1917-18 He and his family are members of the Missionary Baptist Church and he is affiliated with the Masonic Order.
October 27, 1909, Mr Gavin married Ella Beasley, of Magnolia, Duplin County. Her father is Maj. Austin Beasley, a well known Duplin County farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Gavin have two children: Mary Carlton and Vance Beasley.
L. G. LEWIS of Walnut Cove has lived a long life. As a young man he fought with all the ardor of his soul and strength of body for the Confederacy in the war between the states. For many years after that struggle he applied his energies to farming and since theu largely to mercantile enterprise in the village of Walnut Cove, where he is one of the most esteemed, citi- zens.
Mr. Lewis was born on a farm five miles from Leaksville in Rockingham County, North Carolina, April 30, 1839. The Lewises were pioneers in Rockingham County. His father, James M. Lewis, had a farm in that county and lived there until the war times when he removed to Forsyth County and spent his last years. His death occurred in his eighty-ninth year. He married Agnes Dixon, who was born in Rockingham County and died at the age of seventy-nine.
L. G. Lewis, who was one of four children, at- tended the rural schools during his youth and also assisted in the management of the home farm. He was twenty-three years of age when on Sep- tember 13, 1862, he enlisted in Company D of the Sixty-third Regiment, North Carolina Troops, and was soon in the midst of some of the heaviest fighting of the war. He served continuously with his command except for a very brief interval. He fought in many of the historic engagements that occurred on Virginia soil in the defense of the capital at Richmond, and on April 2, 1865, was captured near Petersburg and was confined as a prisoner of war at Point Lookout, Maryland, until the last of June. Being paroled he set out for home and arrived on the second day of July. Mr. Lewis then engaged in farming near Walkertown, and was one of the enterprising agriculturists of that community until 1892, when he came to Wal- nut Cove. In Walnut Cove Mr. Lewis entered merchandising while his wife conducted the Hotel
Lewis, which under her management became noted among commercial men and tourists as a favorite hostelry. Mr. Lewis conducted active business as a merchant for nineteen years and he and his wife now live retired in a modest and comfortable home in the village.
On March 27, 1862, he married Eleanor C. Smith. They have been married much beyond half a century, have a family of teu living chil- dren, the youngest thirty-five years of age, aud also have grandchildren and great-grandchildren about them. Mrs. Lewis was born in Spartanburg District, South Carolina. Her grandfather, John Smith, was born in Maryland and removed to Spartanburg as a young man. A wheelwright by trade and a very expert workman, he made his living by that occupation and also bought and developed a farm which he occupied for many years until his death when he was eighty. He married Ellen McElrath, who was born in County Down, Ireland, of Scotch ancestry. She and her sister were the only members of her family to come to America. She reared ten children, oue of whom was Henry Dixon Smith, father of Mrs. Lewis. He was born in Spartanburg District, subsequently bought land there and was a pros- perous general farmer until his death at the com- paratively early age of fifty-three years. He mar- ried Lottie Martin Wood, who was born in Green- ville District of South Carolina, a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Dean) Wood.
The ten children of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are named James Henry, Jefferson Van Buren, John Alvis, Joseph King, Walter Judson, Mary Hen- rietta, Carrie Emma, Dora Frances, William Luther and Agnes. James Henry married for his first wife Powell Samuel and for his second wife Ella Lashmitt, and by the second union has six children named David H., Fred, Dewey, Sadie, Smith and Mary. The son Jefferson Van Buren married Mrs. Dyer. John Alvis married Mary Barnes and his two children are William L. and Willard. Joseph King married Lessie Carmichael, now deceased, and their children are Wallace, Thelma Mabel-Cavin and Mary Frances. Walter Judson married Beulah Wade, their children being Walter Franklin and Eleanor Christine. Mary Henrietta married T. T. Watkins of Advance, and their children are Linzy, Mary and Atlee Pom- erene. Carrie Emma married David Boyles and their children are Linzy Elwood, Ora Cavin, J." Van, Busie, and Moselle. Dora Frances married J. M. Young, their children being Millard Smith, Har- lee Eleanor, and George Howerton. William Luther married Amy Bell Stull and their children are Otis Wood and Elsie Leighton. Agnes married R. P. Sartin of Wiuston and has no childreu.
JOHN HAAR. There is hardly a more popular and influential citizen in Wilmington than Johu Haar, who upwards of fifty years ago came to Wil- mington, a young German, and has made good both in the ability with which he has conducted his busi- ness affairs and also as a sterling and public spirited citizen.
He was born in Germany March 9, 1844, a son of Martin and Catherine (Schnakenberg) Haar. His father was a brick mason by trade. John Haar was educated in Germany, learned. the car- penter's trade there, and at the age of twenty-one set out for America. After living in New York for three years he arrived in Wilmington in 1868, and soon afterward entered business as a grocer. He was in the grocery trade until 1886, then took
John Haar
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up life insurance, and after three years was elected to the office of register of deeds for New Hanover County. He carried into that office the confidence of the great majority of his fellow citizens, and his administration from 1890 until 1896 was a complete justification of his election. After leav- ing the office of register of deeds he was again in the life insurance business until 1906, when he was again chosen for county office, and has since served as recorder of deeds.
Mr. Haar is a member of the Germania Club of Wilmington, of the German American Alliance, has for years been an active member of the Lutheran Church and has served as trustee and deacon, is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and politically his allegiance has been given without reserve to the democratic party.
On October 9, 1872, at Wilmington, he married Miss Margaret Catherine Tiencken. Four children have been born to their marriage: John Edward of Wilmington, Lottie Margaret, Emma Gisine, and Martin Heury. The last named is a member of the United States Army and stationed at Fort Caswell.
BASCOM B. BLACKWELDER. Representing in his lineage some of the oldest and most prominent families of the Catawba District of North Carolina, a youug man whose start in life was fortunate as a result of early home training and influences, Bascom B. Blackwelder has won and sustained a fine reputation as a lawyer and is easily one of the leaders in the bar of Hickory and Catawba County.
He was born at Catawba in Catawba County in 1884, a son of John Wilson and Mary (Long) Blackwelder. The Blackwelders came from Penn- sylvania into Cabarrus County, North Carolina, some years prior to the Revolutionary war. The earlier ancestors came to Pennsylvania out of Ger- many. They are a sturdy, thrifty race of people, and in the past mauy of the name have proved their worth as men and as citizens.
Mr. Blackwelder's great-grandfather was Henry Blackwelder. The chief occupation of the family through the different generations has been farm- ing. The grandfather, Wilson Blackwelder, was born in the northwest section of Cabarrus County, North Carolina, his birthplace being on the old Gold Hill Road about four miles northeast of Concord. He married Leah Cruse. Wilson Black- welder was for a number of years engaged in grist milling in the northwest part of Cabarrus County, operating an old water power mill, which subse- quently became known as the Dodson Mill.
John Wilson Blackwelder was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, in 1855, and in 1871 came to Catawba County, locating at the Town of Catawba on the Catawba River. Some years later he removed with his family to Hickory, of which thriving and rapidly growing industrial city he is one of the most substantial citizens. Here he is engaged in the grain and feed business.
Mary (Long) Blackwelder is a member of a very prominent old time family of North Caro- lina. She is a daughter of Thomas and Camilla (Neil) Long of Iredell County. Through her mother she is related to the Brevards, Alexanders, Grahams, and other historic families of Scotch- Irish ancestry who played an important part in the carly history of North Carolina, and whose descendants are now found in Iredell, Lincoln and Mecklenberg counties. Thomas Long was a son
of William and Rachel (Roberson) Long. The Robersons were from Haywood County. William Long was one of the prominent figures in his day. He was of strong character and showed remarkable business enterprise. His name figures in the in- dustrial annals of the state as a pioneer in the building of cotton mills. He was associated with Dr. A. M. Powell under the firm name of Powell & Long. This firm built the old cotton mill at Long Island in Lincoln County. It was one of the first if not the first cotton mill in the state. At any rate it makes good its claim to being con- temporaneous with the establishment of a similar industry by Elijah Holt in Alamance County. Doctor Powell, it should be recalled, was a citizen of constructive spirit and enterprise, and subse- quently was one of the builders of the Western North Carolina Railway, now part of the South- ern System. William Long was a man of cour- age and independence, well shown in his pioneer attempt at cotton manufacture, and in the various other affairs he handled. When convinced of its wisdom he did not hesitate to launch out in a new and untried industry, and he made it successful be- cause he was personally a man of almost unlimited resources and of thorough business ability. This William Long, grandfather of Mrs. Mary Black- welder, was a native of Maryland, and came from Port Tobacco in that state to North Carolina, crossing the Catawba River at Beatty's Ford in the year that George Washington died. Mrs. Mary Blackwelder during her girlhood often heard him refer to that event as an incident of his journey.
Bascom B. Blackwelder took into his professional career a training and culture derived from the finest of early associations and attendance at the best schools of the state. For several years he was a student in Catawba College at Newton, also at Lenoir College at Hickory, and in 1906 he graduated in the literary course from the Univer- sity of North Carolina. Subsequently he took up the study of law at the university and was granted his degree Bachelor of Laws in 1911 and admitted to the bar in the same year. Mr. Blackwelder be- gan practice at Hickory, the rapidly growing me- tropolis of Catawba County, and his ability has enabled him to realize the many splendid oppor- tunities offered in that city.
Mr. and Mrs. Blackwelder are active members of the Corinth Reformed Church of Hickory. Mrs. Blackwelder before her marriage was Miss Esther Shuford, daughter of the late Abel A. Shuford. Mr. Shuford was one of the wealthiest and most prominent citizens of Catawba County. He was a great-great-grandson of the pioneer, John Shu- ford, who came to what is now Catawba County from Pennsylvania about 1750. The Shufords were of Germau origin, and it is one of the names about which many substantial associations cling in the early annals of this section of North Caro- lina. Mr. and Mrs. Blackwelder have two children: Bascom B., Jr., and Esther Shuford Blackwelder.
THADDEUS JONES has for many years played a varied and useful part in the affairs of Duplin County, is widely known as a prominent Baptist, whose work in behalf of that church has resulted in the growth and advancement of several con- gregations, and he is also a successful lawyer practicing at Kenansville.
Mr. Jones was born in Duplin County July 23, 1864, a son of Marshall B. and Lucy (Lce) Jones. Ilis father was a farmer and operator of saw. mills and cotton gins. Thaddeus Jones grew up
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at the old homestead, and was well educated in private schools and also the Davis Military Acad- emy and the famous Quackenbush Institute. In early life he followed various lines of business and also church work, and in the meantime became interested in law, studying in private offices and also in the law department of the University of North Carolina. He was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court in February, 1900, and has since handled a growing practice at Kenansville. From 1900 to 1902 Mr. Jones filled the office of register of deeds of Duplin County and was again incumbent of that office from 1904 to 1908. For fourteen years he was postmaster of Kenansville.
Mr. Jones is a deacon and lay minister of the Baptist Church and for sixteen years was pres- ident of the Interstate Sunday School work in North Crolina. Both in an official capacity and through his private means he has done much to advance the cause of religion and church establish- ment. There are three flourishing churches in his part of the state that practically owe their origin and maintenance to his efforts. These are known as Jones Chapel, Bethel Church and Cedar Grove Church.
Mr. Jones married November 8, 1885, Mittie B. Elmore of Mount Olive, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have a very fine family of children : William B., a traveling salesman; Myrtle G., wife of William C. Herbert, superintendent of schools at Bennettsville, South Carolina; Leonidus Leroy, who graduated from the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1917 and is now a member of the United States Navy, stationed in the Naval Hospital at Norfolk, Virginia; Thaddeus Elmore; Francis Cor- nelia, who graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and is now a student in Greensboro State College; Harmon Lee, and Helen B. and Margaret, who are still a part of the family circle. Thaddeus Elmore and Harmon Lee are both in France in the service of the United States Army, members of the One Hundred and Thir- teenth Field Artillery.
JOHN GIDEON CLAYTON has spent all his life in Forsyth County and was born in June, 1873, on the farm where he still lives in Bethania Town- ship. His people have been farmers since the pioneer epoch in Western North Carolina. They have lived quiet and sturdy lives, have done their duty to state, nation and to the institutions of religion and home, and the name is everywhere mentioned with unqualified respect and esteem.
The founder of the family in this section of North Carolina was Mr. Clayton's great-grandfa- ther, who according to the best available informa- tion was a native of New England and one of the pioneers in Bethania Township where he im- proved a farm. Grandfather John Clayton was born in Bethania Township September 11, 1788, about the time the Constitution of the United States was approved and the colonies really be- came a nation. After reaching manhood he bought land in Bethania Township. This land was on the old road leading from Oldtown to Germanton. Germanton was then the county seat of Stokes County. Grandfather John Clayton found on this land a substantial log house. This house was subsequently weather boarded in 1860 and in its improved condition it is still standing and oc- cupied as a residence. John Clayton conducted his place as a general farm and owned a number of slaves who worked the fields. He lived there until his death on May 22, 1863. Grandfather
John Clayton married Elizabeth Moore who was born in Stokes County February 8, 1796, a daugh- ter of Reuben Moore, a farmer, and she died De- cember 11, 1858. Her nine children were named Mary, John, Elizabeth, Reuben, William, Matthew C., Gabriel, Gideon and Eleanor.
Matthew Columbus Clayton, father of John G. Clayton, was born on the old farm in Bethania Township first mentioned above on October 27, 1830. His early years were quietly spent with the experiences of a typical farm boy and with such advantages as came from the local schools. He left the farm at the outbreak of the war and enlisted May 22, 1861, in Company D of the Twenty-first Regiment, North Carolina Troops. On account of wounds and sickness he was unable to continue his service throughout the war, but was present in many of the greatest campaigns and battles including Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Drury's Bluff. He was wounded in a skirmish and narrowly escaped death. A bullet struck him in the corner of the right eye next to the nose, entered his head, and twenty-one days later was removed by the surgeon who located it behind the left ear. In passing through his head the bullet. almost miraculously missed the vital spots. In 1917 this old veteran of the Confederacy is still living and apparently is none the worse physically or mentally because of the dangers through which he passed as a soldier. He has many interesting recollections of early pioneer days of western North Carolina. When he was a boy his mother used to card, spin and weave and dress her family in home- spun. Matthew C. Clayton and wife commenced housekeeping in the old log building above men- tioned and his wife cooked by the open fire. After the war Matthew C. Clayton resumed farming at the homestead, and succeeded to its ownership. He erected a substantial brick home and frame barn and in many other ways improved his pos- sessions.
He was married February 26, 1866, to Sarah Mildred Mckinney, who was born April 2, 1840, and died January 9, 1916. Her parents were Gideon and Mildred (Doss) Mckinney of Surry County, North Carolina.
John Gideon Clayton was the only child of his parents. He has always lived at home and gave the utmost solicitude and care to his parents dur- ing their declining years. His early education was acquired in the district schools and also in the Oak Ridge Institute. He has long been recognized as one of the progressive and successful farmers of Bethania Township and his name is also associated with democratic politics. He served as chairman of the Executive Committee since attaining his majority, and for more than thirty years has been a justice of the peace. He is affiliated with Beth- ania Lodge No. 86, Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the New Garden Friends Church, though his parents were both active in the Protestant Bap- tist Church.
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