USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 77
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Governor Turner has been twice married, his first wife having been Miss Ida Lanier, who be- came the mother of four children: Mabel N., the wife of W. A. Colvert; Miss Laura L .; Edna E., who is the widow of the late George E. Nicholson; and Wilfred Jackson. The present wife of Gov- ernor Turner was before her marriage Miss Julie H. McCall, born in South Carolina, and they are the parents of two children: Dent and Miss Dorcas.
JOHN WILSON LINDSAY AND JACOB ARTHUR LINDSAY. Noteworthy among the prosperous and progressive business men of Davidson County are John W. and Jacob A. Lindsay, proprietors of the Lexington Home Furnishing Company, one of the more active business organizations of Lex- ington. Of pioneer ancestry on both sides of the house, both were born in Davidson County, in Thomasville Township, being sons of William Alnheus Lindsay.
Their grandfather, William Lindsay. had three brothers living in Davidson County, Wilson, Madi- son, and Andrew. He was a farmer. and, as far as known, a life-long resident of Midway Town- ship. His wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Mock, was a native of the same township, and there lived and died.
Born in Midway Township, Davidson County, William Alpheus Lindsay acquired a good educa- tion and as a young man taught school and also did a good deal of surveying in the county. He was employed as clerk in a store in Friendship, Guilford County, for a time, and while there mar- ried Lydia E. Hunt a daughter of John D. Hunt. After marriage, he bought land in Thomasville Township, Davidson County, and was there en- gaged in tilling the soil until his death, at the age of fifty-seven years. To him and his wife, eight children were born, namely: Lena, wife of M. F. Mastin: Mollie died at the age of twenty years; John Wilson; Eva, wife of H. O. Sapp; J. Arthur; Sallie, wife of Thomas Wakefield; and Pearl, wife of Thomas Chadwick. After the death of the mother of these children, the father married for his second wife Eliza Mastin, and they reared one child, Paul Lindsay.
John Wilson Lindsay gleaned his early book knowledge in the country schools, and later at- tended Yadkin College. He subsequently taught school three years, after which he was engaged in farming until 1895, when he was appointed deputy sheriff, a position which he filled efficiently for six years. Locating then in Lexington, he em- barked in the business with which he has since been actively and successfully identified, being in partnership with his brother, J. A. Lindsay. The maiden name of his wife was Lula G. Clinard. She was born in Abbotts Creek Township, David- son County, a daughter of Wilson and Elizabeth Clinard. Three children have been born of their union, namely: Annie, who is married, and has two children, Helen and John; Myrtle, wife of R. E. McCartney, has one child, Elizabeth; and John C. Mr. Lindsay is a member of Methodist Prot- estant Church, and his wife of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Fraternally Mr. Lind- say belongs to Lexington Council, Junior Order of United American Mechanics; and to the Sons of Liberty.
Jacob Arthur Lindsay was educated in the dis- trict schools and the Salem Boys' School. Be- ginning life for himself as a farmer, he con- tinued a tiller of the soil until twenty-nine years old, when he entered the employ of the Southern Railroad Company as fireman, where he remained for two years. Forming then a copartnership with his brother John, he established his present re- munerative business in Lexington, as above men- tioned.
Mr. Lindsay married Fannie Collett. She was born, bred and educated in Thomasville Township, a daughter of John and Sarah (Greene) Collett. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay have four children, Arline, Mildred, Grace Elizabeth, and Frances. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay are members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South.
Fraternally Mr. Lindsay is a member of Lexing- ton Lodge No. 473, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of Lexington Lodge, Knights of Pythias; and of Lexington Lodge No. 21, Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He cast his first presidential vote for William Mc- Kinley, and has since been an earnest supporter of the principles of the republican party. He served two years as county commissioner, and was can- didate, on a non-partisan ticket, for mayor of Lexington.
JAMES DIXON MURPHY has been a prominent lawyer at Asheville for over a quarter of a cen- tury and is also widely known because of his activities in church and various movements for social improvement and education. Mr. Murphy has had no higher aim in his profession than the attainment of such success as would enable him to be of the greatest and broadest value through his attainments and qualities to mankind in gen- eral.
He represents a prominent old family of Du- plin County, North Carolina, where he was born July 24, 1858, son of Dr. Hanson Finlay and Elizabeth Aun (Simpson) Murphy. His father was an able physician, and is distinguished as having founded the Town of Pender, North Car- olina. James Dixon Murphy spent most of his boyhood at Wallace, North Carolina, attended the Clement High School there, and in 1881 grad- uated from the University of North Carolina. He studied law in the law department of the State University and also in the noted Dick & Dillard
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Law School at Greensboro, North Carolina, where he completed his work in 1884. From that time forward until 1890 he practiced law at Green- ville, but in the latter year removed to Ashe- ville, where he has since been busied with the handling of a large general practice. Mr. Mur- phy was elected a representative of the General Assembly in 1905, and in 1908 was appointed judge of the Superior Court.
Since 1912 he has been chairman of the Board of Education of Buncombe County, and it is not too much to assert that anything connected with schools, with public enlightenment and moral bet- terment never fails to arouse the interest and elicit the support of Judge Murphy. He is a former president of the Mountain Retreat Association, a Presbyterian institution, is president of the Chautauqua Association of the South at Macon, Georgia, and for years has been very active in church, Young Men's Christian Association, Chau- tauqua and various educational movements af- fecting the mountaineers of the state. He is a member in the First Presbyterian Church of Ashe- ville, and has served as commissioner to the Gen- eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States and moderator of Asheville Pres- bytery.
Judge Murphy is a member of the North Car- olina and American Bar associations, and is a member of the American Bar Association's Com- mission on Uniform Laws.
April 7, 1887, he married Miss Mary Bruce Moore, of Greenville, North Carolina. They have only one living child, Marcellus Dixon, fifteen years of age and still a schoolboy. Judge and Mrs. Murphy lost three children, two in infancy, and one, a daughter, Elizabeth, at the age of twenty-one.
WALTER LINTON PARSLEY is president of the Hil- ton Lumber Company and the Plate Ice Company at Wilmington and continues a lumber manufac- turing business established by his father more than three-quarters of a century ago.
His father, Oscar Grant Parsley, was born in Onslow County, North Carolina, and moved to Wil- mington about 1830 to manage the lumber interests of Gov. E. B. Dudley, at that time largely inter- ested in the commercial growth of Wilmington. Later he established himself in this branch of in- dustry, which has continued in regular succession, from father to son, since that time. Oscar G. Par- sley married Anna M. McKay, a native of Wil- mington.
Walter Linton Parsley was born in Wilmington June 18, 1856, was educated in the private schools of that city and at Horner and Graves Military Academy at Hillsboro, but owing to his father's disabilities was obliged to abandon further ad- vanced studies when seventeen years of age, asso- ciating himself with his father and learning under him tho details of the lumber business.
He married Agnes MacRae of Wilmington, daugh- ter of Donald and Julia Norton MacRae. Her father was a well known capitalist and business man, a native of Wilmington. Mr. and Mrs. Par- sley havo three children: Julia Norton, wife of Henry B. Pcschau; Anna, wife of Dr. L. H. Love, of Pacific Grove, California; and Donald MacRae.
ANDREW JACKSON HARRIS has been identified with the North Carolina bar over thirty years, is one of the leading practitioners of Henderson,
and in addition to the honors and successes he has won as an individual he takes just pride in the fact that two of his stalwart sons are now enrolled in the service of the National army.
Mr. Harris was born in Granville County, North Carolina, October 28, 1861, a son of Benjamin Franklin and Ann Eliza (Rogers) Harris. His father was a merchant and farmer. Mr. Harris was well educated, attending Yadkin College and the University of North Carolina, where he fin- ished his work with the class of 1884. He studied law in the noted law school of Dick and Dillard, and since his admission to the bar in October, 1885, has practiced continuously at Henderson, being one of the oldest lawyers of that city. He served one term as mayor and has accepted many opportunities to be of service to his home com- munity. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
In 1889 Mr. Harris married Miss Lee Mitchell, of Granville County. She became the mother of five children. Andrew Jackson,. Jr., is an attorney by profession. He joined the army as a private in the Mexican border troubles and has now given up his practice to become captain of Company E of the Three Hundred Forty-first Regiment of Infantry. George M. is a sergeant in Company C of the One Hundred Twentieth Infantry. The three younger children are: Cary F., a student of Wake Forest College; Dorothy L. in the Salem Female College; and Ann, Mrs. William H. Craw- ford of Washington. District of Columbia. For his second wife Mr. Harris married in March, 1907, Margaret Reed of Baltimore, Maryland. There are four children by this union: Reed Hopkins, Mary, Margaret and Lawrence Reed. The family are members of the Methodist Protestant Church.
MURRAY ALLEN. Among the lawyers of Raleigh who are specializing in the difficult department of railway and corporation law, Murray Allen has gained a recognized position of prominence. Since his admission to the bar, in 1903, he has been connected with cases of constantly increasing im- portance, and his services have been retained by a number of leading corporations of this part of the state. He is a native son of Raleigh, and was born July 1. 1880, being a son of Charles S. and Annie E. (Murray) Allen.
Educated primarily in the public schools, Mr. Allen next pursued a course at the Raleigh Male Academy, an institution which has been the train- ing place for many of Raleigh's most prominent professional men, and then entered Trinity Col- lege, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1900. His law studies were prosecuted at the University of North Carolina, as a member of the class of 1903. and immediately following his graduation he settled down to prae- tiee. At first following a general professional business. he gradually displayed particular talent in the field of railway and corporation law, and now his practice is largely confined to this denart- ment. At this time he is district counsel for the Seaboard Air Line Railway Company, and is con- nected in an advisory capacity with a number of Raleigh's chief industries. A predilection for busi- ness has led Mr. Allen to exert his energies iu a number of enterprises which are contributing to Raleigh's business growth, and among his connec-
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tions may be mentioned the Commercial Printing Company, of which he is secretary and treasurer. He belongs to the North Carolina Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and is socially identified with the Country Club and the Sigma Nu Fraternity. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party.
On June 6, 1907, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Lena L. Latta, of Raleigh, and they have one child: Molly Whitehead.
HARRY HOWELL. One of the highest positions in the state educational service is the city super- intendency of the Asheville public schools. Since 1913 the incumbent of that office has been Mr. Harry Howell, an educator who has well won a recognition and position among the leaders in school affairs in this state.
Mr. Howell has been an active school man since he graduated from the University of North Car- olina in 1895 with his degree Ph. B. He had ac- quired his early education in the public schools of Goldsboro, in which city he was born August 3, 1875, a son of Robert Philip and Ella (Doug- lass) Howell. His father was a farmer and also a prominent banker at Goldsboro.
After leaving university Mr. Howell did a work which secured him his reputation as a progres- sive educator. He organized the public school system at Washington, North Carolina, and re- mained in charge as superintendent of the pub- lic schools of that city for a period of thirteen years. Then for three years, from 1908 to 1911, he was superintendent of the graded schools of High Point, and following two years with a pub- lishing house he came to his present position as superintendent of the Asheville City schools. Here he has the supervision of a large staff of 135 teachers and 6,000 scholars enrolled. Asheville has one of the most magnificent school buildings in the state, used for high school purposes, cost- ing $250,000.
Mr. Howell is a member of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly, and the National Educational Association.
December 3, 1903, he married Addie Lee Short, of Washington, North Carolina, daughter of Eu- gene M. and Bettie (Hancock) Short, her fa- ther a lumber manufacturer. Mr. and Mrs. Howell have five sons: Harry, Jr., Robert Philip, Frank Short, Murray Short and Logan Douglass.
OSCAR PEARSALL has been continuously a factor in the commercial enterprise of Wilmington for up- wards of half a century. His is a name readily distinctive of success, of a splendid commercial integrity, and of all that goes with true and en- lightened citizenship.
Though most of his active years have been spent in Wilmington, Mr. Pearsall was born in Duplin County, North Carolina, April 9, 1849. His par- ents were William Dickson and Sarah (Whitaker) Pearsall. His father was a planter and at one time filled the office of clerk and master in equity. The father came of Scotch descent and the family can be traced back to the fifteenth century. The mother came from an old New England family who settled in Rhode Island in colonial days.
The county seat of Duplin County is Kenans- ville, and it was in the schools of that town that Oscar Pearsall acquired his early education. When twenty years of age, in 1869, he found a position as clerk in a Wilmington grocery house and re- mained steadily at his job, mastering all the details
of the grocery business, for a period of five years. He then became associated with Mr. Hall on a part- nership basis in the grocery jobbing business, and from 1875 until 1906 he was active as a member of the old and well known house of Hall & Pearsall.
In 1906 Mr. Pearsall withdrew from the older firm and established Pearsall & Company, Incorpo- rated. He is president of the company, Fred L. Pearsall is vice president and treasurer, and Horace Pearsall is secretary. While this company has always handled an extensive wholesale grocery business, one of the most important features of their business at the present time is the manufac- ture of fertilizers. They have a plant at Fernside, with a capacity for 20,000 tons of fertilizer per annum.
In affairs of citizenship Mr. Pearsall has always been a willing contributor to measures of com- munity advancement. For two terms he served as alderman. He was formerly an elder in St. An- drew's Presbyterian Church, but in 1914 trans- ferred his membership to the Pearsall Memorial Church, in which he is now an elder.
On May 21, 1872, he married Miss Rachel Whit- field Herring, a native of Lenoir County, North Carolina. Since then a family of nine children have come into their home and most of them are now grown and carrying responsibilities of home making and independent business affairs. The children are: Anne Dickson; Fred Leonidas, vice president and treasurer of the Pearsall Company at Wilmington; Elizabeth, Mrs. H. L. Hunt, of Wilmington; Florence, Mrs. R. M. Sheppard, of Wilmington; Horace, secretary of the Pearsall Company; Melzar, manager of the company's fer- tilizer plant; Oscar, Jr., also associated with the plant; William Victor, who is a graduate chemist and now in the United States Navy; and Rachel, now Mrs. Dozier Lotta.
JOSIAH CRUDUP KITTRELL began his active career as a teacher, read law in the intervals of teaching, for a time carried on the two profes- sions simultaneously, and in later years his pro- gram has been crowded with the demands of his profession, and of numerous engagements in busi- ness and public affairs at Henderson, his home city.
Mr. Kittrell was born at Kittrell in Vance County, North Carolina, a son of George W. and Lucy (Crudup) Kittrell. His father was one of the substantial farmer citizens of Vance County. Josiah C. acquired a liberal education. He was prepared for college under a private tutor and then entered Wake Forest College, where he graduated in 1893. He received numer- ous honors in the student body, was class prophet, and won other class honors, being distinguished by his abilities as an orator and debater. For four years he was superintendent of schools at Hert- ford and another four years superintendent of schools at Edenton. Altogether for ten years Mr. Kittrell was superintendent of the Vance County Public Schools, and has kept in close touch with the local educational facilities ever since. He has served as member, vice chairman and secretary of the City School Board and also as attorney for the County Board of Education.
Mr. Kittrell pursued his law studies privately and at Wake Forest Law School and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1901. Since 1904 he has had his home at Henderson and practiced law for a time while engaged in his duties as superin- tendent of schools. He is former city attorney,
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is attorney and director of several corporations. He is also a director and former secretary of the local Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason and a Modern Woodman and is very active in the Baptist Church. He was chair- man of the Building Committee when the Hender- son Church erected a beautiful edifice at a cost of $75,000. He now teaches the Baraca Class in Sunday School.
June 15,-1898, he married Nel Skinner of Hert- ford, North Carolina. They have a son and a daughter. The son, Thomas Skinner Kittrell, is now a junior in the University. The daughter, Lucy George Kittrell, is a student in the Hender- son High School.
THOMAS R. HARDING, M. D. An able and suc- cessful physician and surgeon of Yadkin County, Thomas R. Harding, M. D., is meeting with ex- cellent results in the exercise of his profession, his reputation for skill in the diagnosis and treat- ment of disease having won for him an extensive and remunerative practice, not only in Yadkinville, where he is located, but in the surrounding coun- try. A native of Yadkin County, he was born on a farm in Forbush Township, and is a descend- ant in the fourth generation of an early pioneer settler, William Harding, the line of descent being continued through Renny, William, and Thomas R.
William Harding was born in Virginia, in 1745, and was there brought up and educated. Several years after his marriage, he came with teams to North Carolina, and settled with his family in what is now Surry County. Buying a tract of timbered land, he began the pioneer task of clearing a farm, which he subsequently managed, with slave help, until his death. Both he and his wife lived until well along in years, and at their deaths were laid to rest in the Patterson graveyard.
Renny Harding, a native of Virginia, was born in 1774, and as a child was brought by his par- ents to Surry County, North Carolina. He grew to manhood on the parental homestead, and when he came into possession, by inheritance, of a portion of the home estate, and several slaves, he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and with his wife, formerly a Miss Patterson, continued a resi- dent of Liberty Township until his death.
Born in . Liberty Township, Surry County, in 1808, William Harding attended the district schools in his boyhood days, and on the home farm was well drilled in the art and science of agriculture. Inheriting land and slaves, he turned his attention to the tilling of the soil, and in his efforts met with genuine success. Subsequently investing his surplus money in other land, he bought a farm in Forbush Township, Yadkin County, and there lived until his death, in 1868, a prosperous farmer, and a highly respected citi- zen. He married Jane Speer, who was born in Liberty Township, a daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Cain) Speer, and a grandniece of Daniel Boone. She died at the age of seventy-one years. To her and her husband, ten children were born and reared.
Thomas R. Harding acquired his rudimentary education in the rural schools of his native town- ship, and later attended the Huntsville High School. Ambitious to enter upon a professional career, he began the study of medicine with Dr. L. G. Hunt, and subsequently entered the Balti- moro College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D.
in 1885. Locating in Hunstville, Yadkin County, Doctor Harding remained there for three years, gaining professional knowledge and experience of value. Coming from there to Yadkinville, the doctor has been in active practice here since, hav- ing built up an extensive patronage.
Doctor Harding married, in 1892, Eliza M. Kelly, who was born in Yadkinville, a daughter of L. D. and Mary (White) Kelly. Of the union of Doctor and Mrs. Harding, eight children have been born, namely: William R., Mary V., Effie Lee, Thomas L., Daniel Boone, Benjamin H., Josieline, and Helen. William R., who took a course in electric engineering at the University of North Carolina, where he was graduated with the degree of A. B., is now in camp at Fortress Monroe as electric engineer. Mary and Effie Lee are students in Salem College. Doctor Harding is a member of both the Yadkin County Medical Society and the North Carolina State Medical As- sociation. Fraternally he belongs to Yadkin Lodge No. 162, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; and to David Lodge No. 118, Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows.
JAMES ENOCH RECTOR. The career of James Enoch Rector has been a successful one from the standpoint of a man who started life with little but honorable intentions and great indus- try and has also been beneficial and important to the people of his home community in Madison County, where he lived from the time he was ten years of age until 1914, moving then to Ashe- ville, where his home and offices as a lawyer now are.
Mr. Rector was born in Hamblen County, Ten- nessee, December 21, 1882, a son of Andrew J. and Mary E. (Perkins) Rector. His father was successively a farmer, mine operator and a mer- chant. In 1892 the Rectors moved to Madison County, North Carolina, where James E. re- ceived most of his public schooling. He also at- tended Dorland Institute and a noted academic institution of Eastern Tennessee known as Tus- culum College, which has turned a large number of capable and high minded young men into the larger and broader activities of life. Mr. Rec- tor studied law with another Tennesseean, J. J. Britt, former congressman and republican leader of North Carolina. Mr. Rector was admitted to the bar in February, 1909, and has since practiced both in Asheville and in Madison County.
In 1913 he was elected Madison County 's rep- resentative to the Legislature and did some nota- ble work while at the state capital. For one thing he introduced and had passed a bill providing an appropriation of $300,000 for the development of good roads in Madison County. At that time this county did not have a single automobile and there was not a road in the county over which a car could have been operated. Now a part of the famous Dixie Highway leads through Madison County and through Mr. Rector's influence the state authorized the use of convicts for highway work and fifteen miles of fine roadway were built. Mr. Rector was also prominent in securing a com- pulsory school bill for Madison County, provid- ing for a longer term for the public schools than is made obligatory by the general state law.
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