USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 82
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John Dillard Bellamy, of this review, lawyer, capitalist, manufacturer and an influential factor in state and national politics, is regarded as one of the most able men in the South, conservative and cautious, but also far-sighted, enterprising and progressive. He was privileged to acquire a liberal education at Cape Fear Military Academy, con- ducted at Wilmington by Gen. Raleigh E. Colston ; Davidson College, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Art; and at a number of other schools, including the academic and law departments of the University of Virginia, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1875. For more than forty years Mr. Bellamy has had an active and brilliant career before the bar of North Carolina, both as a general practi-
yours truly John Diceamy
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tioner and as an attorney and counsellor for many of the largest corporations in the South. He served for many years as one of the counsels for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, and in 1912 resigned to accept the appointment of dis- trict counsel for the Seaboard Air Line Railway. He is also counsellor for the Western Union Tele- graph Company, the Southern Bell Telephone Com- pany, and many other corporations requiring expert legal advice. Mr. Bellamy established and was the principal owner of the Wilmington Street Rail- way up to the time of its electrification. He is president of the North Carolina Terminal Com- pany, president and sole owner with J. Walter Williamson, his son-in-law, of the Bellwill Cotton Mills, the largest stockholder of the Delgado Cot- ton Mills, and a director in various other in- dustrial enterprises and banks. He was grand master of the State of North Carolina of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows in 1892, and rep- resentative to the sovereign grand lodge of that order for the two following years.
In public life Mr. Bellamy has rendered valua- ble service to the state and nation for years as a member of the democratic state executive commit- tee, as chairman of the county executive commit- tee, as state senator, and as a member of the United State House of Representatives. His first public office was that of city attorney of Wilming- ton, and subsequently he became county attorney for Brunswick County. In 1891 he was elected a member of the Senate and sent to the North Caro- lina Legislature, and in this connection we may not inappropriately quote from an editorial estimate which appeared in the Raleigh Observer: "Senator Bellamy has made a more favorable reputation for ability and learning than any other member of this body."
In 1892 Mr. Bellamy was chosen as a delegate- at-large to the national democratic convention held at Chicago, and again, in 1908, was a delegate to the convention of his party held at Denver. His entry into national politics began in 1898, when he was nominated as democratic candidate for the Fifty-sixth Congress. At that time his district was the largest in the state and included the cities of Wilmington and Charlotte. It was termed the "shoe-string" district. Mr. Bellamy's opponent was Hon. Oliver H. Dockery, the foremost repub- lican in the state. When the spirited campaign was over and the votes counted it was found that Mr. Bellamy had carried the district by a majority of 6,000, reversing a 5,000 republican majority in the previous election. His opponent saw fit to con- test his right to incumbency on the plea that a local political riot, which occurred three days after the election, was the cause of the result. He did not claim that Mr. Bellamy had any part directly or indirectly in the trouble, but insisted that his seat in Congress should be withheld as a rebuke to the state and local democracy. The position of Mr. Bellamy was upheld by such distinguished men as the late Hon. John Hay; Thomas Nelson Page, now ambassador to Italy; and former Attor- ney-General John W. Griggs. Mr. Page vigorously defended Mr. Bellamy in the columns of the Wash- ington Post, commending him as a patriot, gentle- man and scholar. Although the matter attracted much attention in a public print, a Congres- sional Committee, upon investigation, found the basis of complaint to be unworthy of a report. As a tribute to the personal worth of Mr. Bellamy he was again elected, in 1901, this time to the Fifty-Seventh Congress, by a greater majority than
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the amazing vote polled in 1899. He has been frequently urged by the most prominent men in all parts of the state to become a candidate for the office of governor of North Carolina.
Socially Mr. Bellamy is a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, the Cape Fear Club, the Cape Fear Country Club, and also holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the State Historical Association and the North Carolina Bar Association. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian Church, Mr. Bellamy being a firm believer in the doctrines of John Calvin.
Mr. Bellamy was married at Hibernia, near Townesville in Granville County, North Carolina, December 6, 1876, to Miss Emma May Hargrove, daughter of Col. John and Mary (Grist) Hargrove. To this union there have been born five children, as follows: Eliza M., who was educated at Mrs. Le- febvre's School, Baltimore, Maryland, married James Walter Williamson, and is the mother of one child, Emma Bellamy; William McKay, edu- cated at the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia, and now a practicing attorney of Wilmington, having married Miss Anne Thornton Spence of Atlanta, Georgia; Emmett Hargrove, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Bachelor of Art, 1912, also attended Davidson College, Harvard and Columbia universi- ties, graduating with the degree of LL. B. in the latter institution in 1916 and is now a lieutenant in the Eightieth Field Artillery of the United States Army, now in France; Mary Hargrove, edu- cated at the National Cathedral School at Wash- ington, District of Columbia, and the Finch School, New York City; and Marguerite Grist, educated at the school of Miss Hart at Wilmington, North Carolina, and a graduate of the Finch School, New York City, obtaining her degree in 1918.
Mr. Bellamy is possessed of much more than ordinary literary talent, and is the author of a number of historical essays, among them being: "The Life and Services of General Robert Howe, of the American Revolution" and "The Life of General Alexander Lillington." In his reading, outside of the law, he prefers the classics and French and German authors. He believes that the best interests of the state and nation may be pro- moted by strict adherence to Jeffersonian democ- racy, and by permitting women to vote and share in the responsibilities of government.
The life of John Dillard Bellamy has been one of active labor. He has been a useful man to his generation. Regarding his success in life he enunciates a strict adherence to these principles : Promptness and punctuality; never put off until tomorrow what can be done today; fidelity to your friends and to your clients; work without ceasing and always be ready for trial.
GEORGE PIERCE PELL, lawyer and jurist, and known everywhere to the legal profession by his work as an author and editor, is member of a family that has given several distinguished names to the professions.
His parents were William Edward and Virginia Carolina (Ramsay) Pell. His father was a prom- inent minister of the Methodist Church, and during the '50s located at Raleigh and became editor of the Conference organ known as the Episcopal Methodist, now the Raleigh Christian Advocate. During the war he was a member of Governor Vanco's private war council, and at the same time was editor of the Confederate and later of the Conservative. In August, 1865, he founded the
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Raleigh Sentinel, which in 1869 he sold to Josiah Turner, and which later became the News and Observer. His health failing, he retired and died November 11, 1870. His widow survived him until July 2, 1908, and supported herself and her children for some years as a teacher of music.
One of the older sons of Rev. William E. Pell is Robert Paine Pell, who was born .in 1860, grad- uated from the University of North Carolina in 1881, and has since been active as a teacher or in the Presbyterian ministry; was for a number of years president of the Presbyterian College for Women at Columbia, South Carolina, and is now president of Converse College at Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Still another member of the family, and a brother of George Pierce Pell, is Edward Leigh Pell, who was born at Raleigh in 1861, spent ten years in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and is now a resident of Richmond, Virginia, and author of a number of religious and biblical works which have had a very extensive circulation and sale.
George Pierce Pell, the youngest of his father's family, was born at Raleigh, June 19, 1870. Owing to the fact that his mother was a teacher of music in several colleges for women he received part of his early education in those schools, attending the Davenport Female College, the Thomasville Female College and the Greensboro College. He also attended city schools, and in the years 1884, 1885, 1886 and 1889 was a student in Trinity College. He studied law at the Columbian University in Washington, D. C., and at George- town University, D. C., from , which latter institu- tion he received his LL. B. degree in 1896.
The years 1890, 1891 and 1893 he spent in newspaper work, at first with Josephus Daniels, as city editor of the Daily Chronicle at Raleigh, then on the Daily Sentinel at Winston-Salem, and with the Yadkin Valley News at Mount Airy.
Mr. Pell began practice in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1898, but later removed to Ashe County where he was associated with Capt. Joseph Todd; was in practice there five years and then moved back to Winston-Salem. He was secretary of the North Carolina Code Commission which published the Revisal of 1905. In 1908 he edited and published what is known as "Pell's Revisal"' a complete annotated edition of, the state code in three volumes. He later wrote "Pell's Forms of Pleading and Practice, " "Pell's Banking and Negotiable Instruments Law," "Pell's Lien Laws" and "Pell's Monographs on the Laws of North Carolina."
On April 3, 1910, he was appointed by the gov- ernor as judge of the Superior Court of the Elev- enth Judicial District to fill the unexpired term of Judge E. B. Jones. He was not a candidate for nomination for the regular term, but retired to the practice. He is a member of the North Carolina Corporation Commission, his term expir- ing in January, 1919. During 1891-93 he served as reading clerk of the North Carolina Senate. From 1901 to 1903 he was a director of the State Railway, the North Carolina Railroad.
On May 25, 1892, Mr. Pell married Mary Vic- toria de Shazo of Henry County, Virginia. Her grandfather came from France with Lafayette. They are the parents of three childrn: Mary Vir- ginia, now Mrs. Wallace Bruce Lea, whose husband is a tobacco buyer at Danville, Virginia; Wil- liam Edward, who graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1916, and Josephus Daniels,
now a student at the State College of Agriculture and Engineering.
M. HERBERT STONE. Scholarly in his attain- ments, possessing business ability and judgment, and an excellent knowledge of law, M. Herbert Stone, a rising young attorney of Thomasville, is a fine representative of the native-born citizens of Davidson County, his birth having occurred in Thomasville. He comes of pioneer stock, being a descendant in the fifth generation of Solomon Stone, who settled in North Carolina prior to the Revolutionary war, the line of descent being con- tinued through Jehu Bloomfield, Roswell K., to M. Herbert.
Solomon Stone, a native of Maryland, was of German descent, the immigrant ancestor of his family having been born in Germany, where the name was spelled "Stein." Coming to North Carolina in colonial days, he was one of the pio- neers of Rowan County, where he redeemed a farm from the forest.
Born in Rowan County, Jehu Stone remained with his parents until becoming of age. Locating then in what is now Thomasville Township, Dav- idson County, he bought land lying four miles northwest of the present site of Thomasville, and immediately began the development of a home- stead. Soon after his arrival in that vicinity, he was appointed deputy sheriff, and subsequently served in that capacity the greater part of his active life.
A native of Thomasville Township, Bloomfield Stone acquired his early education in the district schools. An ambitious student, he obtained by in- telligent and extensive reading a good knowledge of law, but was never licensed to practice. He came into possession of a tract of land by inheri- tance, and later his wife bought an adjoining tract; there with slave labor he improved a good farm, on which he spent his remaining days. The maiden name of his wife was Phranie Leonard. She was a daughter of Peter Leonard, and a lineal descendant of Valentine Leonard, who came. from Germany to the United States in colonial days, and after serving as a soldier in the Revolutionary war settled in what is now Davidson County, this state, becoming a pioneer of Lexington Township. Peter Leonard and his wife were both buried in the Pilgrim Church Cemetery. Bloomfield Stone was reared a Quaker, and his wife in the German Reformed Church. Both, however, were buried in the Pine Woods Quaker Burying Ground.
Roswell K. Stone was born, in June, 1849, in Thomasville Township, on the parental homestead, a part of which he inherited. After assuming its possession, he continued the improvements pre- viously inaugurated, among others erecting a sub- stantial set of buildings, and was there engaged in general farming until 1876. Moving in that year to Thomasville, he began work in a shoe fac- tory, of which he was later made superintendent. Subsequently resigning that position, he returned to his farm, which he still claims as his residence. He married Sarah J. Burton, a daughter of Solo- mon and Mary Ann (Gordy) Burton, and grand- daughter of Basil Burton, a prominent farmer, who for many years lived in the vicinity of High Point. Solomon Burton owned and occupied a farm in Thomasville Township, where he died at the age of four score and four years, while his wife, who survived him, attained the venerable age of eighty-seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Roswell K. Stone reared six children, as follows: Adol-
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phus L., M. Herbert, Augusta M., Effie B., Elsie B., and Fleeta.
M. Herbert Stone was educated in Thomasville, attending the public schools and the college. Be- ginning his active career soon after becoming of age, he was for three years employed as a travel- ing salesman, after which he taught school four terms. Mr. Stone, ready then to settle in life, em- barked in mercantile pursuits in Thomasville, where he has remained since, having built up a large and highly remunerative business. In the meantime, Mr. Stone has devoted his leisure hours to the reading of law, and having completed a course in the American School of Law at Chicago was admitted to practice in 1917, since which time he has served as solicitor for the Record- er's Court at Thomasville.
Mr. Stone married, in 1899, Annie M. Burton, a daughter of Cyrus W. and Elizabeth (Gray) Burton, and grand-daughter of Wesley Burton. She comes of pioneer stock on both sides of the house, the Gordys and Burtons having been early settlers of Davidson County, and the Grays of Randolph County. Mr. and Mrs. Stone have one daughter, Audrey Stone, a young woman of bril- liant intellect, who was graduated from the graded schools of Thomasville at the age of fourteen years, and after spending a year at the Greens- boro College for Women, is now, at the age of sixteen years, a junior at Saint Mary's College, in Raleigh, and president of her class.
Interested and active in public affairs, Mr. Stone has served as a member of the Town Council; as secretary to Mayor C. G. Hill; and for two years was a member, and the secretary, of the Thomasville Water Committee. Fraternally he is a member of Thomasville Lodge No. 214, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; and of Thomasville Council, Junior Order of United American Mechanics. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stone are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
JOHN F. McFADYEN. One of the oldest and most historic families in Cumberland County is represented by John F. McFadyen, a prominent planter whose home is on the Yadkin Road, four- teen miles northwest of Fayetteville and near the famous Longstreet Church, which was founded in 1758, and which had some of the MeFadyen family as its first communieants.
The founder of the family in that locality was his grandfather, Archibald McFadyen, who was born in Scotland. In young manhood he immi- grated to America a number of years before the Revolution, settling near what is now Manchester in the northwest part of Cumberland County. His home was three miles west of the present Town of Manchester. He was part of a general migration of Scotch Presbyterian families to this Cape Fear section of North Carolina. No other class of peo- ple has so strongly influeneed and done so much to make history in this part of North Carolina. For a century and a half nearly all the leading and most substantial citizens have represented this Scotch Presbyterian stock. Archibald McFadyen was a communicant of old Longstreet Church, which together with Bluff and Barbecue churches was founded in 1758, a centennial anniversary being celebrated in 1858. It is probable that Archi- bald McFadyen was one of the ruling elders of the church. At any rate the history of the family is intimately associated with the church, and the McFadyens have lived in that vicinity since prior
to the Revolutionary war. Dougald McFadyen and his son, John F., have both served the church as its ruling elders.
Archibald McFadyen lived to be very old. He was married twice. Dougald McFadyen, father of John F., was the youngest child of the second marriage and was six years old when his father died. This accounts for such a long stretch of years covering only three generations. Dougald McFadyen was born in 1822 and died in 1892. His home adjoined the place where his son, John, now lives, three miles from Longstreet Church. He married Annie Lindsay, who is still living. She was born on the ocean coming from Scotland, daughter of John Lindsay, who reached this coun- try in 1838.
John F. McFadyen was born at his father's place in the northwest part of Cumberland County in 1861. He was reared in that locality, and his present home adjoins the old homestead which is still occupied by his aged mother. The McFadyen place is a short distance off the Yadkin Road, three miles from Longstreet Church, and 61/2 miles west of Manchester. Mr. McFadyen is active head of a general farming business. He has accumulated about 1,240 acres of land, and a portion of it has been turned over to his sons.
It is characteristie of the McFadyens to be substantial men of means, land owners, and good solid citizens of genuine worth and character. Those characteristics have been eminently identi- fied by John F. McFadyen. His success, however, was achieved from youth and young manhood by much toil and hardship. His father had gone blind, and being the oldest of the family John F. assumed the responsibilities of taking care of a household of twelve persons, including his parents. Moreover his early years were spent in the period following the war, a period notable for hard times, scarcity of money. lack of industries and almost starvation prices for farm products. Under such conditions John F. McFadyen had need for all his Scotch persistence and courage. During a part of his early manhood he was engaged in the tur- pentine business, but on the whole his chief work and the most profitable occupation with him has been farming. He is also a highly esteemed eiti- zen of Cumberland County. In 1914 he was hon- ored with the office of county commissioner and was re-elected in 1916. It is an office through which he gives highly competent and faithful service to his county.
Mr. McFadyen married for his first wife Miss Zula Howard, who became the mother of his chil- dren and who died when the youngest was only four months old. She was born and partly reared in Sampson County and when a young girl went with her parents to the Longstreet Church eom- munity in Cumberland County. She was the mother of ten children : James Scott and Dougald William, both of whom are now in the United States Army; Tanie Parker, Annie Black, Fannie Lois, Effie Kate. John F., Jr., Duncan Graham, Zula Gertrude and Bennie Elizabeth. For his present wife Mr. McFadyen married Miss Mary Parker, who was born in South Carolina, but was reared in Hoke Countv. North Carolina, near the Longstreet com- munity.
MICHAEL HOKE JUSTICE, for nearly seventeen years judge of the Superior Court of North Car- olina. with residence at Rutherfordton, is one of the few men still on the bench and in the bar who were admitted and began practice in the
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early years following the throes of the war. He has rounded out a full half century of service and work as a lawyer and jurist. During that time he has been one of the men signally prom- inent in the public life of his native state.
Judge Justice was born in Rutherford County, North Carolina, February 13, 1844, a son of Rev. T. B. and Harriet (Bailey) Justice. When he was ten years old he entered Rutherfordton Acad- emy, where he prepared for college during five years of attendance, and then entered Golden Grove Seminary, under Professor Logan.
Judge Justice left school to enroll as a sol- dier in the Confederacy, enlisting in the Sixty- Second North Carolina Infantry. He was as- signed to duty as ordnance officer of his regiment, later was promoted to lieutenant of the company, and finally to adjutant of the regiment. He was in the war almost from the beginning to the close and his regiment was disbanded after John- ston surrendered to Gen. William J. Palmer at Rutherfordton.
The close of his career as a soldier found him still a youth of only twenty-one. He studied law with Judge John L. Bailey at Asheville, and in January, 1868, was enrolled as a member of the North Carolina bar. Since that date his home and practice has continuously been at Rutherford- ton. He has been prominent in the democratic party, has served as member of the Congressional Executive Committee and the Judicial District Committee. He was presidential elector of his district in 1884. Judge Justice served in the State Legislature in 1876-77, and was the first democrat to represent his district after the war. He was a member of the Senate in 1897, which was another critical period in the history of North Carolina. In that body he was one of six demo- crats. He was again in the session of 1899, which perfected the control of state affairs by the dominant white party. Judge Justice was elected to the Senate in 1901, and on July 1st of that year Governor Aycock drew him from the active realm of politics and appointed him judge of the Superior Court. In 1902 he was regu- larly elected for the eight year term and was re- elected in 1910.
Among other interests Judge Justice has a farm near Rutherfordton. He stands high in the Ma- sonic Order and is a member of the Baptist Church.
By his first wife, who died in 1893, Judge Jus- tice had five children, Edwin J., who was a suc- cessful attorney and was special assistant to the United States Attorney General, died July 25, 1917; Butler Alexander, also an attorney, died in May, 1917; Martha McRee, who is superintendent of the Rutherford Hospital; Gaston B. a physi- cian at Marion, North Carolina; and Michael Hoke, Jr., in the insurance business at Nor- folk, Virginia.
In 1895 Judge Justice married Lula B. Tanner, of Charlotte, North Carolina. They have a daugh- ter, Louisa Evans, who is a graduate of Converse College at Spartanburg, South Carolina, and is a teacher in the high school at Rutherfordton.
ALEXANDER FRANKLIN SNODY has lived on one farm in Surry County all his life. His is the en- viable lot and portion of the patriarch of old, who enjoyed his declining years in the abundance and plenty created by his own labors, and surrounded by children and grandchildren, an honored and revered figure.
Mr. Snody was born on this farm in Surry Coun- ty March 23, 1846. His grandfather was William Snody, and it is thought that he was born in Ire- land of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Some of the descendants of the family now spell the name Snoddy. William Snody lived for some years in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, but from there moved to North Carolina and located in Surry County, where he spent the rest of his days. He married Belinda Burgess.
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