USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 89
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Doctor Peacock married, in 1901, Minnie Pearl Barringer, who was born in Rowan County, North Carolina, a daughter of George and Margaret (Clutdz) Barringer. Five children have blessed their union, namely : Juanita M., Evelyn B., Ellen Clarice, James W., Jr., and Thomas Ludwig. The Doctor and Mrs. Peacock are members of the Lutheran Church, and liberal contributors towards its support. He has ever evinced a genuine in- terest in matters pertaining to the public welfare, and as chairman of the board of road commis- sioners of Davidson County has done his part in establishing and maintaining good roads. Doctor Peacock is a member, and the president, of the Davidson County Medical Society; and a valued
member of the State Medical Society. He is local surgeon for the Southern and Carolina & Yadkin River railways. Fraternally he belongs to Thomas- ville Lodge No. 214, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; and is also a Scottish Rite Mason.
ERNEST LYNWOOD HINTON. A boy who came from the rural districts of North Carolina, who went to work in a humble position and was general utility clerk in a store at Clayton some thirty-five years ago, Ernest L. Hinton now has interests of business and civic connections that would not be to the discredit of any man in any town or county of North Carolina or anywhere in the United States for that matter.
Mr. Hinton was born in Johnston County, North Carolina, March 17, 1864, son of Malachai and Elizabeth (Hood) Hinton. His father was a farmer, and during his early youth the son at- tended a subscription school kept near the old home. At the age of sixteen he left the farm and went to work in a general store at Clayton, and in 1887 became an employe of J. G. Barbour. While his duties at first with Mr. Barbour were not important or fundamental to the success of that business man, he more and more made his services worth. so much as to constitute him a right hand man and the continued growth of the Barbour interests is largely credited by people who know what Mr. Hinton has put into the busi- ness. At the same time he has acquired many independent and important business connections and is now president of the Liberty Cotton Mills, the Clayton Oil Mills, the Chatham Oil and Fer- tilizer Company, is a director of the Clayton Banking Company, the Clayton Cotton Mills, the Lillington Oil Mills, and the Pine Level Oil Mills.
Mr. Hinton has been honored in a civic way almost constantly by the people of his home com- munity. For twenty-one years he held the office of mayor, seventeen years in succession. Practi- cally every important improvement in the town was made under if not as a direct result of his administration. He served as postmaster of Clay- ton four years and as a member of the County Board of Commissioners four years. He has also served as trustee of the graded schools, and is an active member of the Baptist Church.
August 26, 1892, Mr. Hinton married Lela El- lington. daughter of Senator Joseph C. Ellington, of Wake County. They have one son, Ernest Lynwood, Jr.
LAWRENCE V. LEE, M. D. Born and reared in Cleveland County, with present home at Latti- more, Dr. Lawrence V. Lee has combined in an exceptionally fortunate degree the practice of medicine with growing and extensive business in- terests.
He was born about five miles from his present home at Boiling Springs in Cleveland County in 1871, son of T. G. and Permelia (Holland) Lee. His father, still living at Boiling Springs, where he was born in 1844, was a successful farmer during his active life. In the war between the states he was a member of Company F, Thirty- Fourth North Carolina Troops, and saw much hard and active service on Virginia battlefields. At the Battle of the Wilderness he was wounded. Doctor Lee's grandfather, Osborn Lee, had his home also at Boiling Springs, and in that locality the Lees have lived for four generations since
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they came out of Virginia about the time of the Revolution.
Doctor Lee was educated in the Boiling Springs High School. He began the study of medicine at Davidson Medical College and in 1894 grad- uated from the Atlanta Medical College. For two years he practiced at Bostic in Rutherford County, and then located permanently at Latti- more in Cleveland County. He has an extensive practice both in the town and throughout the surrounding country, and besides the confidence reposed in him by his professional patrons he is a member in good standing of the County and State Medical Societies.
In a business way Doctor Lee is interested in several flourishing and successful enterprises. He is active vice president of the Farmers Bank and Trust Company of Lattimore, this being a branch of the Farmers Loan and Trust Com- pany of Forest City, of which Mr. J. F. Alex- ander is president. Doctor Lee is also president of the Kendrick Brick and Tile Company, oper- ating a large plant at Mount Holly in Gaston County. This is one of the most profitably con- ducted industries of its kind in this part of the state.
Doctor Lee married Miss Susan Lattimore. She is a daughter of A. M. Lattimore, member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Cleveland County and for whom the Town of Lattimore was named. They have one son, Nor- man Lee.
PETER WASHINGTON DALTON, a veteran of the Confederate Army, has been a resident of Winston- Salem and identified with its business and civic life for over forty years.
He was born in Patrick County, Virginia, August 9, 1841. His people were pioneers of North Carolina. Going back several generations his ancestor Samuel Dalton came out of Ireland to America accompanied by two brothers named William and Robert. After a brief residence in New Jersey Samuel Dalton moved to Georgia, living for a time on the present site of the City of Savannah and finally located ten miles above the present site of Madison in North Carolina. He was a remarkable man in energy and vigor and attained the age of one hundred and six years.
Samuel Dalton, Jr., was born on Beaver Island in Rockingham County, North Carolina, and lived there until his death at the age of thirty years. Nicholas Dalton, of the next generation, and the grandfather of Peter W., was born in Rockingham County, and remained in the state all his life. He married Rachel Hunter. Her grandfather, James Hunter, Sr., was a native of Ireland of Scotch ancestry, came to America when a young man, and was a pioneer in Rockingham County, North Carolina. He married a Miss Martin, aunt of Governor Alexander and Col. James Martin. Gen. James Hunter, Jr., father of Rachel Hunter, was born on a plantation at Beaver Island April 8, 1740, and was a leader of the Regulators before and during the Revolutionary war, and on that account always bore the title General. He repre- sented Rockingham County in the State Legisla- ture from 1778 to 1782 and also served as sheriff of the county. General Hunter married a Miss McFarland.
James Hunter Dalton, father of Peter W., was born in Rockingham County, North Carolina, in 1796. He afterwards moved to Patrick County,
Virginia, where he was a planter. He died in 1880. James Hunter Dalton married Nancy Critz. She was a native of Virginia. Her father Capt. Haman Critz, commanded a company in Col. Abram Penn's regiment during the Revolu- tionary war and for his services was granted a tract of land in Patrick County. This revolution- ary soldier married Nancy Dalton. Mrs. Nancy Critz Dalton died in 1880, having reared eleven children.
Peter W. Dalton grew up on his father's farm and was not yet twenty years of age when the long impending war broke out between the states. In April, 1861, he enlisted in Company H of the 42nd Regiment, Virginia Infantry, was soon com- missioned first lieutenant, and remained in active service except for wounds and imprisonment until the close of the war. He was wounded at Kerns- town while fighting with the Army of Virginia on March 23, 1862, sustained another wound at the great battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863, and at Spottsylvania Court House was captured. He was first confined at Fort Delaware, after- wards on Morris Island, South Carolina, and was one of the immortal six hundred who spent sixty days in that northern prison. Another sixty days he spent as a captive of war at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, and was then taken to Hilton Head, South Carolina, but on the 2d of March, 1865, was taken back to Fort Delaware and remained in that northern prison until July, 1865, when he was released.
Returning home to Patrick County, Virginia, after a year he came to the state of his ancestors and for five years was engaged in the tobacco business in Rockingham County, North Carolina. After that he lived in Virginia until November, 1873, when he identified himself with the growing town of Winston. For a number of years Mr. Dalton was a merchant and subsequently dealt extensively in tobacco. He is well known in social circles, and is an active member of M. W. Norfleet Camp of the Confederate Veterans. He is a member of Salem Lodge No. 289, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Winston Chapter No. 24, Royal Arch Masons, Piedmont Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar, of which he was a charter mem- ber, and has held the post of past high priest in the chapter and past generalissimo of the com- mandery.
Mr. Dalton was married in 1869 to Nancy Anderson Dandridge, of Henry County, Virginia. Her parents were William Alexander and Mary Hamner Dandridge. Mrs. Dalton comes of an interesting, historical family, being a lineal descendant through her father of Pocahontas, Gov- ernors, Major General Alexander Spottswood and John West and also a descendant from William the Conqueror, Robert Bruce and other historical characters. Her ancestor William Dandridge (the first) had a distinguished naval career. From 1737 until 1743 he commanded the Wolfe, the South Sea, and the Ludlow Castle, all three in His Majesty's service. He also took part in Oglethorpe's attack on St. Augustine and Admiral Vernon's siege of Carthagenia. Mrs. Dalton's father was a planter in Henry County, Virginia, and spent all his life there. Mr. and and Mrs. Dalton have reared four children: Edgar E., Ada A., Harry Lee and Charles D.
JOHN WALTER LAMBETH. Prominent and active in the business and social circles of Davidson County, and influential in public affairs, John
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Walter Lambeth, of Thomasville, a member of the Lambeth Furniture Company, holds high rank among the useful and valued citizens of his com- munity. He was born on a farm in Thomasville Township, Davidson County, coming on both sides of the house of honored pioneer ancestry.
His father, David Thomas Lambeth, married Caroline Simmons, who was a daughter of Ben- jamin Whitfield and Eliza (Hussey) Simmons, and paternal granddaughter of Benjamin Simmons, who married Annie Alexander, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Carruthers) Alexander; and on the maternal side was a granddaughter of Joseph and Sarah (Mock) Hussey.
Shadrach Lambeth, Mr. Lambeth 's grandfather, was a son of Josiah and Elizabeth (Loftin) Lam- beth, and a graudson of John and Sarah (Heath) Lambeth. His wife, whose maiden name was Jennie Thomas, was a daughter of David Thomas, and a sister of John Warrick Thomas, the founder of Thomasville. In the annals of North Carolina many of the names of the ancestors of Mr. Lam- beth are frequently and honorably mentioned, as will be remembered by those familiar with the pioneer history of the state.
Laying the foundation for his future education in the country schools, John Walter Lambeth sub- sequently attended the Thomasville graded school, and Old Trinity College. For two years after leaving college, he clerked in his father's store. Then, marrying, he assumed the proprietorship of the Lambeth Hotel, which he operated successfully for nine years. Mr. Lambeth then purchased an interest in the Lambeth Furniture Company, which had been previously organized by his brothers R. L. and F. S. Lambeth, and has since devoted his time, talent and energies to the business, which is in a flourishing condition. The plant is amply supplied with substantial buildings, which are equipped with all the up-to-date machinery and appliances for manufacturing furniture, and its products are iu constant demand.
Mr. Lambeth married, in 1890, Daisy Sumner, who was born in Thomasville, a daughter of Capt. J. E. and Jennie L. (Loflin) Sumner, being on both sides of the house of colonial and revolution- ary ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Lambeth have two children, J. Walter, Jr., and Ernestine. The son is a young man of brilliant intellect, noted for his scholarly attainments. During the four years that he was in Trinity College, he won a scholarship each year, and was graduated in 1916 at the head of his class of eighty students, and as class president.
Mr. Lambeth is a member, and a steward, of Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to which Mrs. Lambeth also belongs. He was one of the organ- izers of the Standard Chair Company, and one of the original stockholders, and is now a director of the High Point branch of the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company. Ever interested in local progress and improvements, Mr. Lambeth is ren- dering excellent service both as a member of the county roads commission, and as president of the Thomasville Good Roads Commission of 100 mem- bers. Fraternally Mr. Lambeth is a member of Thomasville Lodge No. 214, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Order of Masons; of Thomasville Chapter No. 62, Royal Arch Masons; of Salisbury Com- mandery, Knights Templars; and of Oasis Temple, at Charlotte.
JOHN GILCHRIST MCCORMICK is a lawyer by profession who has found his real sphere in the executive management and direction of various
large business enterprises, and though not yet forty years of age is one of the foremost business men and citizens of Wilmington.
He was born in Robeson County, North Caro- lina, November 22, 1877, and he laid the founda- tion of his successful career in that section of the state. His parents were Eugene Little and Sallie (Gilchrist) McCormick, his father a mer- chant and planter. Educated in the public schools, graduating from the University of North Carolina in the literary department in 1898, and from the law department in 1900, he at once entered upon that career which has been filled with such diver- sified undertakings during the past fifteen years.
For three years he practiced at Maxton and from 1903 to 1908 at Lumberton, both towns in Robeson County. Since 1908 his home has been at Wilmington. He came to this city to assume his duties as secretary -and treasurer of the Acme Manufacturing Company and as secretary and treasurer of the Con-es-Tee Chemical Company. Mr. McCormick is president of the Acme Stors Company, president of the Cherokee Supply Com- pany, director of the Bank of Robeson, director of the Jennings Cotton Mills at Lumberton, and has numerous other interests that indicate his standing as a business man and citizen.
In 1908 he served as chairman of the Demo- cratic Executive Committee of Robeson County. He is a member of the North Carolina Bar Asso- ciation, is vice president and a very active factor in the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, is chairman of the New Hanover County Council of Defense and the Food Administration of New Hanover County, and belongs to the Cape Fear Country Club, the Carolina Yacht Club and the Cape Fear Club. October 7, 1914, he married Miss Sadie Larkins of Lynchburg, Virginia. He has one daughter, Sarah Low McCormick.
WILLIAM A. CROWDER. Recently one of the large city papers of North Carolina took occasion through its editorial columns to quote some facts from a story told by the Cleveland Star regard- ing the progressive operations of William A. Crowder on his farm near Lattimore in Cleveland County. It was stated that from his 420 acres of land Mr. Crowder made in 1917 100 bales of cotton and 2,000 bushels of corn. The editorial goes on as follows: "As a side issue Mr. Crowder dabbles a little in cattle. The Star says he has 'a modern barn with concrete floors and ample room to store vast quantities of feed.' Last winter he took care of a 117 head of cattle and did not buy a dollar's worth of feed. He not only made good returns from the sale of the cattle but what is more 'hauled out over a hundred loads of stable manure with which to enrich his farm.' Crowder has two automobiles and uses modern machinery. His friends call him a 'paper farmer' because he keeps books like a merchant, reads the farm journals and talks plant food, soil analysis, fertilizer ingredients and uses scien- tific terms. This class of farmer is becoming more numerous every year and explains in large part the remarkable degree of progress along agricultural lines this state has been scoring. They are demonstrating the fact to the world that in soil and climate North Carolina is the finest agricultural state in the nation."
Before amplifying and modifying in some de- tails this description, which is well deserved praise of Mr. Crowder's achievements, something should be said of him personally, since his story involves
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a rise from poor and humble begiuuings. Though a member of au old and solid family of Cleve- land County, partly by circumstance and partly by choice he began life dependent entirely upon his own exertions. Even his schooliug is a result of study and observation carried on through all the years with little contact with schools. In fact he never attended school more than six months altogether. He was born and reared on a farm, aud has always been a farmer. As a boy he found outside employment, aud his salary the first year was only ten dollars. For two subsequent years ne worked at wages of thirty dollars per annum.
At the age of twenty-two he fell heir to a small amount of money, and with this bought a small tract of land. In 1906 he made the beginning of his present place, "Forest Grove Farm," by purchasing 120 acres. To this he has added by subsequent purchases until he now has near 500 acres in one body.
"Forest Grove Farm" is located two miles north of Lattimore on the Lattimore-Newhouse Road. It is one of the richest sections of Cleveland County. The average cost of his farm per acre was $56, but nothing near that figure would cause Mr. Crowder to part with his land now. He is both an extensive and an intensive farmer, raises cotton on a large scale but is not an exclusive cotton planter. In 1917 he had 140 acres of cotton in cultivation. Alongside were extensive fields of corn and he also had a large amount of pastorage and hay. From his corn-fields were gathered in 1917 16,000 bunches of fodder and he also put up from thirty to thirty-five tons of hay. Besides the fine lint cotton that goes from his place. he brings back the cottonseed hulls and they are a prominent factor in his feed- ing ration. During the season of 1916-17 he kept 117 head of cattle, and fed them from De- cember Ist to about March 7th without a single item of outside expense, every pound of feed being grown on his own farm. As indicated in what has already beeu quoted, he carried on a very profitable business, and enters into the out- side markets in buying and selling of horses, cat- tle and hogs.
It has always been Mr. Crowder's policy to keep thoroughly abreast of the times in agri- cultural science and farm operation. His indi- vidual experience is supplemented and refined by constant reading of agricultural literature, and it is also true that the ideas he secures from read- ing are put to the test. of his own judgment and experience. He has never been in a hurry to adopt all the new ideas or to purchase all the new makes of machinery until their worth has been proved. There is a strong bent to con- servatism in William A. Crowder. He does not use all of the modern tools and implements so enthusiastically described in agricutural papers. Up to 1917 he used the ordinary cultivators in his fields. In 1917 he bought a double-row com- bination planter, with which one man can per- from the work of three. He has not been per- suaded to go so far as to buy a tractor. He prefers to await the time when a more satis- factory and economical machine is placed on the market.
By much study and experiment in fertilization problems he has figured out and adopted a scheme of fertilizing best suited for his own farm. As he expresses it, his fertilization system is one of the best "hired help" he has.
Naturally he is an employer of labor. He gives the men ou his farm a fully adequate amount of livestock for power, and the unit and standard of his operations might be expressed in man power and horse power. Rather than enacting the old-fashioned role of master among men, his idea is to make a partuer of each of his tenants. Beginning with the season 1917-18 he has offered a bonus of ten dollars iu gold to the tenant who raises above six bales of cotton with one mule. This is a big incentive to encourage thrift and industry.
On the ethical and moral side Mr. Crowder requires each of his tenants to send his children to Sunday School. The purpose is to build up a sound community of clean living, self respecting people.
Mr. Crowder was born near Polkville in Cleve- laud County in 1873, a son of Johu K. and Biddie (Walker) Crowder, both now deceased. He was only eighteen months old when his mother died. Her father, Jesse Walker, was a Ruther- ford County citizen. The Crowders are among the oldest families of Cleveland County. His great-grandfather, Robert Crowder, came to this section from Virginia and settled about where Lawndale now is. He and his son Allen, the latter the grandfather of William A. Crowder, were extensive land holders, and at one time Allen Crowder was spoken of as owning one of the largest bodies of land in this part of the state. The Crowders came to what is now Cleve- land County about the time of the Revolution, and in the upper part of the county were born three generations, Allen Crowder, Johu K. Crow- der and William A. Crowder. John K. Crowder was a soldier in the Confederate army in the Thirty-fourth North Carolina Regiment, and saw much active service iu Virginia aud toward the close of the war was wounded.
Mr. William A. Crowder is an active member of the Baptist Church and in politics has al- ways voted the democratic ticket. He has been twice married. By his first wife he had seven children: Lottie May, Forrest Sylvester, Biddie Leila, Plato Dixon, Hattie Lula, Maud Elizabeth and Daisy Lee. After the death of his first wife Mr. Crowder married Miss Fannie Jones. They have two children, Hettie Aline and John Jones. Mrs. Crowder is a daughter of D. W. and Mary (Magness) Jones of Lawndale. Her great-grand- father, Benjamin Magness, was one of the first settlers in what is now Cleveland County. He came here before the Revolution and obtained a large grant of land from King George. The Magnesses were an English family. It is a well authenticated family tradition that Cornwallis on a journey through this section of the state visited and ate dinner at the home of Ben Magness. That old tract of land therefore has considerable historic interest. A part of that grant to Ben- jamin Magness is still included in the Forest Grove Farm of Mr. Crowder. ..
REV. HENRY A. BROWN has been pastor of the First Baptist Church of Winston-Salem forty years. It is a service which for continuous identi- fication with one church has few parallels in North Carolina. Doctor Brown is one of the eminent divines of the state.
It is interesting to note that the year in which he came to Winston-Salem also marked the advent to that city of Bishop Roundthaler as pastor of the Moravian Church. In the same year Mr. Henry
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E. Fries established a Sunday school in East Salem. These three men have been continuously engaged in the good work they thus began until the present time. To each of the three earnest Christian workers has been built a beautiful mem- orial church. Brown Memorial on Fourth Street is a credit to the name it bears.
Henry A. Brown was born on a farm in Simp- sonville Township, Rockingham County, North Carolina, September 28, 1846. Three generations before him his great-grandfather came out of Eng- land and settled in this country near Winchester, Virginia, in colonial days. Doctor Brown's grand- father, Robert Brown, was a soldier in the Revo- lution. He became an early settler in Rockingham County, North Carolina, improved a farm, had his slaves, and was a man of no little distinction and influence in the community. The maiden name of his wife was Campbell. He was of Scotch ances- try and was second cousin of the famous General Sam Houston. This worthy couple each lived to be about seventy-five years old. Their four chil- dren were Alfred, Robert, Mary, and Margaret. Alfred died unmarried, but all the others reared children.
Robert Brown, Jr., father of Dr. Henry A. Brown, was born in Rockingham County in 1806, and considering the time in which his early youth was passed he acquired a good education. The old homestead was his inheritance and he also bought adjoining land and was successfully en- gaged in farming, employing slave labor until the war. His entire lifetime was spent on the home- stead in Rockingham County, where he died at the age of seventy-five. He married Sarah Alisbury Troth, who was born in the same county, and died in her seventieth year. Her parents, Henry and Cynthia (Baker) Troth, were natives of England or of direct English parentage. Dr. Henry A. Brown was the oldest of seven children, the others being James M., Margaret Ann, Abraham P., Cynthia, Robert and Sally.
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