USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 88
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In brief form the above is the military record of a soldier and officer of the highest standing, one who has acquitted himself with honor and distinction upon all occasions, reflecting credit on his name and his community. That his services were highly appreciated by his commander, Gen- eral Young, and the governor of the state, is shown by the fact that in October, 1917, Major Malloy was officially appointed captain of the Home Guards for Robeson County, and was authorized to recruit a home guard company of ninety-eight men in preparation for possible serv- ice in the great tragedy of the World war. Major Malloy rapidly accomplished the recruiting of the company which, under his watchful eye, is under- going military training.
Major Malloy was married to Miss Ida Warner, who was born at Troy, Montgomery County, North Carolina. Since 1912 Major Malloy has resided on his plantation situated a half mile from the pleasant Town of Parkton, and is successfully engaged in general farming operations but with no loss of interest in the conduct of the great military operations at home and abroad. He is one of the best rifle shots in the South, having held the championship of the State of North Caro- lina for years.
JAMES SOUTHERLAND PATTERSON came to Dur- ham in January, 1914, highly recommended and qualified by training and talents for the prac- tice of law, and has been justifying the expecta- tion of his friends and admirers for the work he has done. He now has a most satisfactory general practice as a lawyer.
Mr. Patterson was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, March 22, 1887, son of Henry Houston and Mary Elizabeth (Hogan) Patterson. His father was a merchant at the university town. The son was educated at the public schools and in private schools and in 1910 was graduated from the University of North Carolina, and in 1912 completed the law school course there. The following year he spent in New York City as a student in Columbia University, and with the ad- vantages of some of the best schools of both tho North and South he returned to his native state to follow his professional career. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association.
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CLAUDE AUGUSTUS SHELTON. An enterprising and successful business man of Mount Airy, Surry County, Claude Augustus Shelton is an excellent representative of the native born citizens of this section of the state, his birth having occurred February 27, 1885, in Mount Airy. He is a son of the late William Bass Shelton and comes of old Virginia stock, his Grandfather Shelton having spent his entire life of ninety-two years in Vir- ginia, dying at the home of a daughter in Grayson County.
William Bass Shelton was born and reared in Carroll County, Virginia, and there served an apprenticeship at carpentry. At the outbreak of the Civil war he left the carpenter's bench to enlist in a Virginia regiment, and was with his command in many important engagements up to and including the battle of Gettysburg, where he was captured by the enemy and confined as a prisoner of war until the close of the conflict. Being then paroled, he returned to his old home in Virginia, and when ready to resume his trade came to North Carolina, locating at Mount Airy, where he was actively engaged in carpentering until his death in 1905, being then seventy-one years of age, his birth having occurred in 1834.
The maiden name of the wife of William Bass Shelton was Julia Lemmons. She was born in Gaffney, South Carolina, a daughter of Perry Oliver and Emily (Camp) Lemmons, the former a native of Cleveland, North Carolina, and the latter of Spartanburg, South Carolina. She sur- vived her husband, and is still a resident of Mount Airy. She has three children, Claude Augustus, Clyde Oliver and Clarence Bass.
Claude Augustus Shelton received a practical education in the schools of Mount Airy, and after his graduation from the high school, at the age of seventeen years, entered the employ of the Southern Railway Company as truckman at the Mount Airy station. Proving himself to be a faithful and trustworthy workman, he soon won promotion, and in 1904 was made cashier in the office. Two years later he was again promoted, and from 1906 until 1915 served as station agent. Resigning that position, Mr. Shelton embarked in business on his own account, and has since been actively and prosperously engaged in trade, as a dealer in coal, and agent for Texas oil, meeting with signal success.
Mr. Shelton married, June 22, 1908, Miss Lucy Estella Poore, who was born in Mount Airy, a daughter of Floyd M. and Lucy (Hull) Poore. Into their pleasant household four children have made their advent, Frances, Margaret F., Lucy J. and William F. Religiously both Mr. and Mrs. Shelton are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Fraternally Mr. Shelton is a mem- ber of Granite Lodge No. 322, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of Magnolia Lodge No. 109, Woodmen of the World.
BARNARD B. VINSON. Naturally studious and in- dustrious, devoted to his profession, and possessing abilities that have made him thoroughly familiar with many branches of the law, Barnard B. Vinson, of Thomasville, a well known attorney, is meeting with well deserved success in his legal career, dur- ing the comparatively short time that he has been in the city having built up a substantial patronage. He was born in Brinkleyville Township, Halifax County, North Carolina, March 17, 1889, a son of Littleberry Vinson, Jr. His paternal grandfather, Littleberry Vinson, Sr., married Elizabeth Pitts,
and for many years thereafter was actively identi- fied with the best interests of Halifax County.
Littleberry Vinson, Jr., was for many years actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, having been the owner of upwards of 500 acres of land in Halifax County, his large plantation being lo- cated in Brinkleyville Township. Prominent in public affairs, he was elected register of deeds, and served in that capacity for four years, after which he resumed farming. Erecting a knitting mill in Littleton, Halifax County, in 1900, he was there prosperously engaged in the manufacture of stock- ings until his death, in 1910, at the age of fifty-two years. The maiden name of his wife was Dora Garrett. She was a daughter of Dr. Frank Garrett, who served as a surgeon in the Confederate army, and later was engaged in the practice of medicine in Halifax County. Five children were born of their union, as follows: Elizabeth; Ruby; Barnard B .; Fannie; and Sadie E., who married S. H. Pritchard, and has one son, George Pritchard.
Fitted for college in the Warrenton High School, Barnard B. Vinson entered the University of North Carolina, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1908. Making good use of the knowledge he had thus acquired, Mr. Vinson subsequently taught school for six years. During that period he employed his leisure moments in reading law, and when well prepared for more extensive study entered the law depart- ment of his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, and in 1915 received his license to prac- tice his chosen profession. Mr. Vinson immediately opened an office in Thomasville, where the com- paratively large practice that he has won bears evidence of his legal skill and ability.
On April 19, 1916, Mr. Vinson was united in marriage with Helen Julian, a daughter of Dr. C. A. and Carrie (Cramer) Julian. Religiously Mr. Vinson is a consistent member of the Episco- pal Church, while Mrs. Vinson, true to the faith in which she was reared, is a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
JOSHUA GRAINGER WRIGHT. While special indi- vidual mention should be made of the career of the late Joshua Grainger Wright because of his services as a soldier and one of the leading busi- ness men and citizens of Wilmington, the family and its connections have a particular historic re- lationship with this part of North Carolina, and a number of names might appropriately be re- called.
The Wrights were an English family, immigrat- ing to America early in the seventeenth century. They were of the nobility of old England, and after coming to the Carolinas became distinguished along the Cape Fear for their intelligence, wealth and high personal and civic virtues. One of the early members of the family in North Carolina was Thomas Wright. Thomas married Anne Grainger, and that introduces another prominent name into the lineage.
Anne Grainger was a daughter of Joshua and Catherine Grainger. This Joshua was a son of Joshua Grainger and Elizabeth Toomes. The Graingers came from England, first settling at Charleston in South Carolina, and afterward com- ing to the Cape Fear district, where they were likewise people of distinction and wealth. Joshua Grainger, the first named, was one of the founders of Wilmington which was then known as Newton, and afterward New Wampool, and still later was
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named Wilmington, for the Earl of Wilmington, the intimate friend and patron of Governor Gabriel Johnson. Joshua Grainger served as justice of the quorum. The family were large land holders in this section. Caleb, a son of Joshua, held many positions of honor during the colonial period, and Caleb's son, Maj. Caleb Grainger, was one of the intrepid and gallant officers of the Amer- ican army during the War of the Revolution.
From Thomas Wright and his wife, Anne Grainger, the line of descent to the late Joshua G. Wright is as follows: Judge Joshua Grainger Wright, who married Susan Bradley; Dr. Thomas Henry Wright, who married Mary Allan; and Joshua Grainger Wright.
Dr. Thomas Henry Wright was a prominent North Carolina physician and was also an able financier. He served as president of the Bank of Cape Fear from May, 1847, until his death on September 21, 1861. In the early years of the nineteenth century one of the most attractive and sought after belles and beauties of Cape Fear was Miss Mary Allan, who gave her hand in marriage to Doctor Wright, then a young physician.
The third son of Doctor Wright and his wife, Mary Allan, was Joshua Grainger Wright, who was born April 17, 1840. His birth occurred in the old family homestead at the southwest corner of Market and Third streets in Wilmington. This old homestead is known as the Lord Cornwallis headquarters, and has been owned by the Wright family for a century.
Joshua G. Wright was prepared for college at Wilmington, completing his education in the Uni- versity of North Carolina, and graduating A. B. with the class of 1861. While in the university he was a member of the Dialectic Society.
The war was imminent before his university studies were completed. With the secession of the state he promptly volunteered for the military service of the Confederacy, and in the spring of 1862 became orderly sergeant of an independent cavalry company. After a short time with that command he became a member of the First North Carolina Infantry and was commissioned first lieu- tenant of Company E. Thereafter he saw ardu- ous and active service, participated in the battles of Boonstown, South Mountain, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. At Chancel- lorsville he was severely wounded, and being un- fitted for further field duty was assigned to the office of provost marshal at Wilmington, where he spent the remaining months of the war.
In 1865 Mr. Wright accepted a position with the firm of Williams & Murchison at Wilmington, and he remained steadily in the employ of that firm for eighteen years. On resigning he formed the well known Real Estate Agency, which still bears his name and is now successfully conducted by his son. Thomas H. Wright under the name J. G. Wright & Son. He continued to be identi- fied with that business until his death on Decem- ber 29, 1894.
He was long a prominent citizen of Wilmington, and deeply interested in all questions affecting the welfare of his home city or state. He was a democrat. was a member of Cornelius Harnett Council No. 231, Royal Arcanum, Carolina Lodge No. 434, Knights of Honor, and was a member of Cape Fear Camp No. 254, United Confederate Veterans, and of the Cape Fear Club. His church
home was St. James Episcopal, and he was a mem- ber of the parish vestry for many years.
In St. John's Church at Fayetteville, North Carolina, in October, 1865, Mr. Wright married Florence Maffitt, a daughter of Capt. John Neu- land Maffitt, who gained distinction as a naval officer under the Confederate government. Her mother was the first wife of Captain Maffitt, Mary Florence Murrell, of a family long distin- guished in Virginia and Alabama. She was a niece of Col. Joseph Murrell, of Mobile, Alabama. Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Wright had the following chil- dren : James Allan Wright, who married Ida Farrar; John Maffitt Wright, who married Jo- sephine Whitaker; Joshua Grainger Wright, who married Gertrude Clark; Thomas Henry Wright, who married Eleanor Gilchrist; Mary Allan Wright, wife of Robert Northrup; and Caroline Laurens Wright, who married Arthur Van Buren.
THOMAS HENRY WRIGHT. A son of the late Joshua G. Wright and a member of the old and prominent Wright family elsewhere referred to, Thomas Henry Wright was born at Wilmington December 18, 1876. After completing his educa- tion he entered the office of his father in the real estate and insurance business, and has con- tinuously been identified with the Real Estate Exchange, founded and for many years conducted by his father. After his father's death he suc- ceeded to the business of J. G. Wright & Son, and since then has extended his business connec- tions until they now include a wide scope of in- terests.
He is secretary and treasurer of the Cooperative Building & Loan Association, which he founded, is secretary and treasurer and manager of the Carolina Apartment Company, is president of the Southeast Realty Company, is secretary and treas- urer of the Wrightsville Beach Interurban & De- velopment Company and a director of the Peoples Savings Bank.
For six years he served as mayor of the Town of Wrightsville. Mr. Wright is a member of the Cape Fear Club, the Cape Fear Country Club, the Carolina Yacht Club, and he and his family are prominent social leaders in Wilmington. On January 28. 1914, he married Miss Eleanor Gil- christ, of Wilmington. They have one daughter, Eleanor Gilchrist Wright.
ROBERT M. OATES. One of the encouraging phenomena witnessed by students of affairs since America entered into the great war has been the increasing practice all over the country of calling to places of public responsibility men of proved success and power in business and finan- cial fields, men not normally inclined to accept the risks and hazards of politics but who have been prompted by a sincere patriotism to sur- render their regular tasks temporarily in order to give a united nation the best of their individual resources and leadership.
Thus at Hendersonville Robert M. Oates, widely known as a successful cotton manufacturer and banker, was called to the chairman of the Board of the County Council of Defense and the Liberty Bond Committee and also was prevailed upon to become food administrator and fuel adminis- trator for the county.
Mr. Oates was born at Charlotte, Northi Caro- lina, Mareli 30, 1869, son of David W. and Anna (Blanks) Oates. His father was a cotton buyer and manufacturer, and was educated in the Caro-
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lina Military Institute. Mr. Oates was prepared under Capt. William A. Barrier for college and finished his education at Davidson College in 1888. Since then he has had a very active and strenous business career. When he was only twenty-one years of age he was superintendent of the Charlotte Cotton Mill. In 1891 he built and owned the first knitting mill at Charlotte, and he also established the first dye house in the South for fast black cotton dyeing. In 1901 Mr. Oates sold his interests at Charlotte and since 1903 has had his home at Hendersonville. Here he established the first Light & Power Com- pany and in 1904 incorporated it and developed the first water power in Henderson County, the plant being located on Big Hungry Creek, seven and a half miles from Hendersonville. He is pres- ident and manager of the Hendersonville Light & Power Company, and is vice president of the First Bank & Trust Company. Mr. Oates is a member of the Board of Trade, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. He is also chairman of the Democratic Executive Commit- tee of Henderson County.
December 9, 1892, Mr. Oates' married Claudia Holt, daughter of William E. and Amelia L. (Holt) Holt. They have two children: William Holt and Anne, the latter a talented musician. The son is a first lieutenant of the One Hundred and Second Infantry and is now with the Amer- ican armies in France.
DOLPHIN ALSTON DAVIS, a prominent banker during the early half of the nineteenth century, and long a distinguished citizen of Salisbury and other sections of the state, was born at Fayette- ville in 1802 and died December 14, 1881.
His father, Dolphin Davis, was born in Halifax County, Virginia, and came to North Carolina with his parents soon after the Revolutionary war. He had served in the Revolution, and while a soldier was in North Carolina and a participant in the battle of King's Mountain. He secured land in the vicinity of Fayetteville, and both he and his wife spent their last years in that community. He married Ann Stevenson, whose parents were early settlers in North Carolina. Dolphin Davis served as a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church. He and his wife had the following sons and daughters: Willie Jones, Mary Hodges, Elizabeth, Thomas Drew, Orindatus Goodorum, Ann, Dolphin Alston and Emelia B.
Dolphin A. Davis was sixteen years old when his father died and soon after that event he was appointed a clerk in the Fayetteville branch of the Bank of the United States. In May, 1825, he bought a farm near Fayetteville and looked after its operation and management for twelve years. In 1835 he was elected cashier of the Branch Bank of Cape Fear at Salisbury, and in the same year moved his home to that city, where it ever afterwards remained. He had served as financial agent for Cumberland County and was then chosen to a similar position in Rowan County. He was a stockholder in the Salisbury Cotton Mill, a director in the Salisbury and Taylorsville Plank Road Company, a director of the North Carolina Railroad, was chairman of special court and for many years a trustee of Davidson College.
About the close of the war the Bank of Cape Fear was discontinued and he then established a private bank under the name D. A. Davis, which he conducted as a substantial and liberally patron-
ized institution until his death. At the age of twenty, Mr. Davis joined the Presbyterian Church and soon afterward was made church clerk. In December, 1839, he was elected elder and in that office he continued until his death. He also served for a number of years as treasurer of his church.
October 21, 1821, he married Jane Wall, a native of Warren County, North Carolina. She died leaving three children: Ann, Mary and Louisa. For his second wife he married Mary Horah, a native of Salisbury and daughter of William H. and Louisa Horah. To this union were born the following children: William H., Jane E., John W., Oren D. and Robert M.
JAMES WALTER PEACOCK, M. D. A man of vig- orous mentality and tireless energy, possessing marked ability in the diagnosis and treatment of the various ills to which flesh is heir, James Walter Peacock, M. D., an active and prominent physician and surgeon of Thomasville, is well qualified, both by temperament and training for the distinguished rank he has gained in the medical circles of Davidson County. He was born, June 26, 1875, on the Honeycutt estate, in Township No. 7, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, which was also the birthplace of his mother.
William Peacock, the doctor's grandfather, a millwright by trade, owned a farm in Township No. 7, Cabarrus County, and in addition to attend- ing to his agricultural labors he built a saw mill and a grist mill on his estate, and operated with slave help. Entering the Confederate service in 1864, he went with his regiment to the front, and as he was never after heard from it is supposed that he was killed in battle, and lies buried in an unknown grave. He had six children, four daugh- ters, all of whom married, and went West, and two sons, one of whom, Jacob, spent his last days in Indian Territory. His wife, the doctor's grand- mother, died before he joined the army, and he left his farm and mills in charge of a trusty slave named Clint Dry, cautioning him at the same time to look after the children until he should return. Clint, who is still a resident of Cabarrus County, proved eminently faithful to the trust. He man- aged the estate wisely, and cared for the children until they were grown.
Jonas Monroe Peacock was but ten years old when his father started for the war. An energetic, industrious lad, he began at once to make himself useful both on the farm and in the mills, and remained on the home place until it was sold, and the proceeds divided. He was a natural mechanic, expert in the use of tools, and soon after attaining manhood built an engine, and established a grist and saw mill, which became known throughout the locality as Dry Mill. He likewise had a cotton gin, and operated that and the mills successfully for several years. Removing from there to Salis- bury, Rowan County, he engaged in the manufac- ture of sash, doors and blinds, continuing there until 1901, when, on account of failing health, he removed to Lakeland, Florida, where he was similarly employed until his death, in 1912.
The maiden name of his wife, the doctor's mother, was Janet Elizabeth Cauble. She, too, was born in Township No. 7, Cabarrus County, coming from honored pioneer ancestry. Her mother was Polly Ann (Honeycutt) Cauble, and a daughter of James Honeycutt, an early pioneer of Cabarrus County. This James Honeycutt, great-grandfather of Doctor Peacock, came from England, his native country, to America in early manhood. Settling
ERNEST L. HINTON
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in North Carolina, he secured title to a large tract of land in Cabarrus County, and operated with slaves. One of his slaves having discovered the mine at Gold Hill, he operated it successfully several years, and then sold it to an English syn- dicate. At the close of the Civil war, he gave a tract of land to each of the slaves that had re- mained with him. He died at his home in Cabarrus County when about seventy-five years old. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Barrier. She was a lineal descendant of Mathias Barringer. The Barringers were all Lutherans until 1765, when a part of them withdrew from that denomination and joined the Reformed Church, at the same time changing the name to Barrier. She outlived her husband, dying at the advanced age of ninety-eight years.
Polly Ann (Honeycutt) Cauble, the doctor's maternal grandmother, was married soon after her graduation from Salem College, and but a short time later was left a widow. Her only child, Eliza- beth Cauble, was born a few months after the death of her husband. Feeling that she should support herself and child, she taught in the rural schools of Cabarrus County for a number of years. She lived to the age of sixty-seven years. Mrs. James M. Peacock is now living in Lakeland, Florida, where she has a pleasant home. She reared three children, James Walter, Anna Eliza- beth, and Carrie Lynn. Both she and her husband united with Saint Stephen's Church, a Lutheran Church, while living in Township No. 7, Cabarrus County, and were among its most valued members.
James Walter Peacock obtained his rudimentary education in the graded schools of Salisbury, after which he attended North Carolina College, at Mount Pleasant, for two years, and the University of North Carolina for three years. Going then to New Orleans he entered the medical department of Tulane University, from which he was graduated with honors in 1901, standing at the head of his class. The Boer war was then in progress, and Doctor Peacock was granted a commission in the British transport service, but, owing to his par- ents' objections, he declined it, and immediately began the' practice of medicine at New London, Stanly County, where he remained three years. Coming then to Davidson County, he has since con- tinued in active practice at Thomasville, being numbered among the foremost physicians and sur- geons of his community. Doctor Peacock is a con- stant student, and since coming to Thomasville has taken special courses in surgery and clinics at Mercy Hospital in Chicago, and at the Mayo Brothers' Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. He keeps in touch with the most advanced methods used in medicine and surgery, and is widely recog- nized as one of the most popular and successful physicians in this section of the state.
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