USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume IV > Part 97
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Mr. Bowden was married to Miss Molly Meredith, and they have three children: John Atwood, Mag- gie May and Mrs. Willie Starling.
Since early youth Mr. Bowden has been a com- municant in the historic old Bluff Presbyterian Church, in which he has been an elder for several years. Bluff Church was founded iu 1758 by the Scotch Presbyterians and probably is the oldest in the state. The original church edifice still stands on a bluff overlooking the Cape Fear River, about one mile from the Town of Wade. It is not now used for regular services, the congregation wor-
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shiping in a more modern building at Wade. The old church and surrounding graveyard are kept in good condition and each year, in the month of September, a reunion and historical meeting of the members and their friends are held here. The old communion cups, presented to this church in 1775 by the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, with a suitable inscription thereon, are still, after a lapse of 140 years, in the service of the congrega- tion but taken out only at the annual reunion. These are beautiful cups of solid silver of exquisite design and workmanship. Mr. Bowden is their custodian and keeps them secure in his own home. He has always been an earnest citizen but has never accepted any other public office than membership on the board of county commissioners.
HON. OLIVER MAX GARDNER. In November, 1916, the people of North Carolina elected to the office of lieutenant governor a young lawyer of Cleveland County whose brief career in public life is one of the most brilliant witnessed in this state in the present generation. He has been called a new leader in politics, and that means that he not only has the resources of mind, the wit and logic, the savoir faire and the personal charm and graces of eloquence which have al- ways been considered requisite to attainment in politics, but also the broad minded vision, the depth and sincerity of purpose, and both dis- interestedness and competence which are the es- sentials of real statesmanship.
Mr. Gardner was born in Shelby March 22, 1882, a son of Dr. O. P. and Margaret Gardner. His father, the late Doctor Gardner. was a dis- tinguished physician in Western North Caro- lina. He was a prominent leader in the state during the trying days of secession and war. He was a member of the General Assembly and the Secession Convention of North Carolina, and sub- sequently organized and became captain of a com- pany from Cleveland County for active service in the field. From the close of the war until his death he practiced medicine, gave his life with the utmost zeal to his calling and to the service of humanity, and left a memory to be cherished. Governor Gardner's mother, Margaret (Young) Gardner, represented in her maternal line the distinguished Blanton family. Her grandfather, Burwell Blanton, was a man of wealth and dis- tinction, reared a large family, and all of them made their mark in the world. The Blantons of the present generation are leaders in commerce and industry in Western North Carolina, and are a strong and virile race that has not died out, but are progressive and have increased in influ- ence and substance. For several generations the Blantons have furnished some of the strongest and most successful characters to their section of the state.
Oliver Max Gardner attended local schools and in 1903 graduated Bachelor of Science from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of North Carolina at Raleigh. During his college career he was captain of the football team, and was also prominent in other student activities, being the winner of the debater's medal and the ora- tor's medal. After graduating he spent two years as instructor in chemistry in the Agricultural and Mechanical College. He subsequently studied law in the University of North Carolina, and while there was also a member of the famous foot- hall team of 1905, which defeated Virginia. He was elected captain of the team.
Mr. Gardner was admitted to the bar in 1906, and during the past ten years has rapidly risen in his profession and has practiced at Shelby. He is not only a strong and forceful lawyer, but is also interested in practical farming, and has a fine place of 500 acres three miles from Shelby, where he raises between 75 and 100 bales of cot- ton in every year.
For seven years he was captain of Company G, First Regiment, National Guard of North Caro- lina. His brother, Col. J. T. Gardner, is now colonel of the same regiment and is commanding it in service on the Mexican border.
Mr. Gardner's active connection with democra- tic politics began as soon as he reached his ma- jority. He was formerly chairman of the County Democratic Executive Committee, and is now a member of the State Executive Committee. In 1908 he was president of the association of the College Democratic Club, and as such he organ- ized 2,700 college men into clubs. He was a member of the State Senate of the General Assem- blies of 1911 and 1915. In the 1915 session he was unanimously chosen president pro tem, and it fell to his duties to preside frequently over the Senate, and as president he proved a most able parliamentarian and kept the machinery of the Senate working with unequaled dispatch.
In the democratic state primary of 1916 Sen- ator Gardner was the unanimous choice of his party for the office of lieutenant governor. It is said that he is the youngest man to be thus hon- ored by the people of the state for such an im- portant office during a period of half a century. No man has risen more rapidly politically in North Carolina, and the qualities which have con- tributed to this rapid rise are happily described in an editorial that appeared in the Winston-Sa- lem Journal in October, 1916, under the title "A New Leader. "
"Any man, and especially any young man, who can present the cause of a political .party with such convincing power as Hon. O. Max Gard- ner presented the cause of democracy to the vot- ers of Forsyth County here last night is bound to become a political leader of tremendous force and great influence. And we dare say that it won't take very many such campaigns as Mr. Gardner is making in North Carolina to-day to lift him into this high sphere.
"There are speeches that thrill and speeches that soothe but do not convince. There are speeches that please democrats very much, but make republicans so very mad that they don't count for anything on election day. There are speeches that help and speeches that injure the cause which they espouse. And then there are speeches that have no appreciable effect one way or another.
"Mr. Gardner's speech in Winston-Salem last night was a vote winning speech. And it is a very, very rare thing to see a political cam- paigner who is able to make just that sort of a speech. When any political party discovers such a speaker it usually ties to him. Speakers who can arouse democrats are valuable assets of the democracy in North Carolina. They help get democrats to the polls. But a much more val- uable asset is the speaker who can win votes. For one vote won is worth two votes held, when the time comes to figure up the majority.
"Because Mr. Gardner is such a speaker, be- cause he can both enthuse and convince, because he has a remarkable grasp on the issues of the
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day and knows how to present them with that extraordinary effectiveness which can only be at- tained by one whose lips are touched with some- thing akin to the divine fire of eloquence, because, along with these gifts, Nature has endowed him with a personality that wins men, we hail him as a new leader."
Mr. Gardner was happily married November 6, 1908, to Miss Fay Lamar Webb, daughter of Judge James L. Webb. He and his wife are the parents of three children: Margaret Love, James Webb and Ralph L. Gardner. The family are members of the Baptist Church.
WALTER ALEXANDER GOODMAN. Conspicuously identified with the promotion of the leading busi- ness interests of Rowan County, Walter Alexander Goodman is numbered among the more intelligent, prosperous and progressive merchants of Spencer, where he has built up an extensive and profitable trade as a general merchant. A native of Rowan County, he was born in Atwill Township, January 8, 1870, being descended from one of two cousins who came from Pennsylvania to North Carolina in colonial days. His great great grandfather, William Goodman then called "Gutermann," was but eight years old when brought by his parents from Germany to America. On attaining man's estate he located in that part of Rowan County, North Carolina, that is now included in Barringer Township, Iredell County, securing title to a tract of land in the vicinity called Amity, and there spent his remaining years.
William Goodman, grandfather of Walter A. Goodman and grandson of the original William Goodman, was born on the parental homestead in Barringer Township in 1807, and his son Alfred, the next in line of descent, was born in the same township, his birth occurring in 1838. A lifelong farmer of Barringer Township, William Goodman married Ann Burton Cook, and both lived to an advanced age, his death having occurred at the age of eighty-one years, while she lived to the age of eighty-three years.
Alfred Goodman, Mr. Goodman's father, grew to manhood on the ancestral homestead, and assisted in its care until the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861 he enlisted in what was first known as the "Iredell Blues, "' and later as the "Santillo Boys". The organization became Company B, Fourth Regiment, North Carolina Troops, which was commanded by Captain Andrews, while the regiment was first under the command of Colonel Anderson and then under Colonel Grimes. Going to the front with his command, he was wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines. Upon recovering from his injuries, he rejoined his command and in the Battle of Gettysburg was captured and afterward confined as a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware and Fort Lookout and while thus con- fined was employed as an instructor in carpentry. He was released on parole in January, 1865, but was not exchanged in season to join his command before the surrender. Returning home, he was subsequently prosperously engaged in farming in Rowan County until his death, January 17, 1916.
The maiden name of the wife of Alfred Good- man was Rebecca Shinn. She was born in Iredell County in 1840, of old and honored ancestry, having been a descendant in the sixth generation from John Shinn, the immigrant, the line being continued through Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac and Rebecca. John Shinn, a native of England, came to America in 1678, settling in New Jersey,
where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a Quaker, and reared his family in the same faith. Samuel Shinn, the founder of the North Carolina family of Shinn, came to North Carolina in pioneer days, bringing slaves with him, he having left the Quaker Church on account of its antago- nism to slave owning. Sojourning for awhile in Virginia, he lived in Hopewell in the valley south of Winchester. Continuing southward he then settled in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, where he purchased residential property, his home having been on the site now occupied by the railroad station at Concord. He married in New Jersey, Abigail Urie and after locating in Cabarrus County, they united with the Presbyterian Church, at their deaths both being buried in the Presby- terian Churchyard at Old Bethpage. Joseph Shinn was born in Hopewell, Virginia, but was reared in Cabarrus County, North Carolina and as a young man located in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Enlisting as a soldier in the Revolution- ary Army, he became captain of the militia com- mand of Mecklenburg in 1781. Both he and his wife, whose maiden name was Jane Ross, spent the later years of their lives in Mecklenburg County. Isaac Shinn, a native of Mecklenburg County, moved to Iredell County and having bought land in the Cool Springs community, im- proved the farm on which he lived and labored throughout the remainder of his life. His first wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Plunkett, bore him eleven children. By his marriage with his second wife, Elizabeth Wilkins, the maternal grandmother of the subject of this sketch, seven children were born, one of whom was Rebecca Shinn.
Rebecca (Shinn) Goodman died in 1910. To her and her husband, four children were born and reared, namely: James William, a graduate of Davidson College, is a Presbyterian minister; Walter Alexander; John Finley is an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Hendersonville, North Carolina, and Laura Jane is the wife of Samuel McCorkle, of Rowan County. Both parents were active and faithful members of the Presbyterian Church at Hendersonville and Alfred Goodman was for forty-one years a ruling elder in Thyatira Church at Mill Bridge.
Acquiring his rudimentary education in the public schools, Walter A. Goodman completed the course of study at the Mill Bridge High School, and in 1897 was graduated from Davidson College with the degree Bachelor of Arts as Valedictorian of his class. He subsequently taught school five years, and the following four years was in the employ of the Southern Railroad Company as cashier at the Salisbury station. In 1906 Mr. Goodman became interested in business in Spencer, where he has since been actively and successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits under the name of the Spencer Mercantile Company, having built up an extensive and highly remunerative trade as a general merchant. He, however resided in Salis- bury, North Carolina at 403 South Main Street.
Mr. Goodman married in 1904 Lucy Brown, of Salisbury, a daughter of Jeremiah M. and Virginia (James) Brown. Mrs. Goodman is a direct lineal descendant of one of the prominent and early pioneers of Rowan County, named Michael Braun, as he spelled his name. He was the great-great- grandfather of Mrs. Goodman. Michael Braun acquired large tracts of land and the large stone house, located about four miles east of Salisbury, which he built is still standing and in a good
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state of preservation. The will made by this pioneer of the division of his property is now possessed by Mrs. Goodman's father and bears the date of 1807. The successive generations between Michael Braun and Mrs. Goodman were represented by Jeremiah Brown, her great-grand- father, Jeremiah M. and Charlotte Caroline (Verble) her grandparents, and Jeremiah M. and Virginia (James) Brown, her parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Goodman have one child, Virginia Alexander Goodman. Both Mr. and Mrs. Good- man are members of the Presbyterian Church at Salisbury, and he is a member of its board of deacons. Fraternally Mr. Goodman is a member of Salisbury Lodge No. 24 Knights of Pythias, in which he has filled all of the offices, and in 1915 joined the Grand Lodge.
FRANK LEE JACKSON. The value of modern efficiency in business methods, bookkeeping, ac- counting and kindred work, has long been recognized by large institutions the daily main- tainence of which makes necessary the handling of a wealth of incidental matter, but it has been left until recent years for this business efficiency to be applied in a sound, practical manner to the management of our schools of learning. One of the first to realize the benefits accruing from such a work was Davidson College, one of the historic institutions of learning in the South. This old and honored college was founded in 1837 under the auspices of the Concord Presbytery, as a result of a movement inaugurated by the Rev. Dr. Robert Hall Morrison, and many noted men have been trained in its historic halls, notable among them being President Woodrow Wilson. That an institution of such established standing and reputation should adopt business efficiency as a part of its management is a distinct act of appreciation of such work, and the benefits which have been discernible since the appointment of Frank Lee Jackson, in 1914, to the position of business manager and treasurer of the institution, show that the course was wisely taken.
Frank Lee Jackson was born in Gaston County, North Carolina. in 1882, and is a son of John Frank and Mary Isabelle (Adams) Jackson, both of whom are still living in their home in Gaston County. John F. Jackson was born in York County, South Carolina, but when still a young man, shortly after he was married, removed just across. the line into Gaston County, North Carolina, and settled on a farm eight miles south of Gastonia. In later years he has resided at his present home, a fine farm within a mile and one- half of Gastonia, within easy distance, in fact
almost in the suburbs, of the highly prosperous and rapidly growing industrial city. He is a first class modern farmer and stockman, takes great pride in his farm, and has taken many prizes at fairs, etc., with the products of his farm.
Frank Lee Jackson was reared on the farm and attended the local schools. He spent four years as a student at Davidson College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1906, and then taught school at Maysville, for one year, and for the following two years at Belmont, Gaston County. From 1909 to 1913, inclusive, he was secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Montreat Association, at Montreat, in western North Carolina. It is at Montreat. that the summer assemblies of the Southern Presbyterian Church are held, conducted under the name of the Mon- treat Association. It is one of the important features of church life in this denomination.
In 1914 Mr. Jackson accepted the position of treasurer and business manager of Davidson Col- lege, North Carolina, a newly created position. Previous to that time the business and financial affairs of the college, correspondence, etc., had been conducted by members of the faculty who combined their work with their teaching duties. In this new position Mr. Jackson has charge of all business and financial affairs, maintaining for this purpose a modern office system and modern accounting and auditing. In the regular course of business his office handles something over $40,000 annually. In addition to this as treasurer of the Board of Trustees, he has the responsibility of collecting the endowments, holding the college assets of three quarters of a million dollars and accounting for same. The business and financial affairs of the college have never before been conducted in such an efficient and resultant man- ner. It is the unanimous verdict of the faculty and board of trustees that Mr. Jackson has made good in this position, and they have shown their appreciation of this fact in a substantial and satisfying manner.
Mr. Jackson is a graduate of Walton School of Commerce in general accountancy and commercial law, and is a certified public accountant, having successfully stood the North Carolina examination as set by the Board of Accountancy in 1917.
Mr. Jackson is a member and an elder of the Presbyterian Church. He was first made elder in Montreat church and after moving to David- son College was also elected elder in the Davidson church. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Jackson married Miss Annie Chaffin, daugh- ter of Robert and Sue (MacQueen) Chaffin, of Lumberton, North Carolina, the latter being a direct descendant of Col. James MacQueen, the founder of the famous MacQueen family in Robe- son County, North Carolina. They have three children : Susie MacQueen, Annie Chaffin, and Frank Lee, Jr.
THOMAS JARVIS MARKHAM. A noticeable fea- ture of the citizenship of Elizabeth City is the number of young men who have come to the front within the last decade who have made notable progress and in many cases have achieved successes which, in old times, would have been deemed ex- ceedingly creditable to those of middle or even farther advanced age. This alive, alert spirit espe- cially permeates the professions and is a very stirring factor in political matters. A case in point is the life and career of Thomas Jarvis Markham, lawyer, legislator and useful, progressive and dependable citizen.
Thomas Jarvis Markham was born at Elizabeth City, North Carolina, November 8, 1883. His par- ents are Thomas Crowder and Olivia (Brett) Mark- ham. For many years his father has been engaged in agricultural pursuits.
During the boyhood and youth of Mr. Markham he was a student in the select school of Professor Tillett, an educator of note in this section, was there prepared for college and, like many of his fellow students, he selected Wake Forest as his alma mater. Subsequently he entered the law de- partment of this institution and after completing his law course was admitted to the North Carolina bar in February, 1906. He immediately entered into practice in his native place and continues here and has made a fine record. He was elected
THOMAS J. MARKIIAM
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city attorney and served in that office for two terms, his complete efficiency in the same giving universal satisfaction.
After Mr. Markham's energy, ability and execu- tive talent in the office above named, his political party felt safe in proposing further political ad- vancement and to the satisfaction of his large circle of friends he was chosen for the Legislative race in 1911 and was elected with a flattering majority and entered upon his duties at Raleigh as the youngest member of the House of Representatives. Since his return to private life he has devoted himself largely to his ever increasing practice and is numbered with the leading men of the Pasquo- tank bar.
Owning a considerable extent of rich farming land, Mr. Markham is much interested in agricul- tural development and he is a member of the board of trustees of the Albemarle Agricultural Associa- tion. As a good citizen he promotes in every pos- sible and honorable way the local organizations in which he has entire confidence, and is serving as a member of the board of trustees of the State Normal School for Colored Race, and is a director and trustee of the Albemarle Building & Loan As- sociation and is also attorney for the same.
From its founding here Mr. Markham has been interested in the work of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, of which he is the present presi- dent. He is identified fraternally with such rep- resentative bodies as the Odd Fellows, the Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He is an acceptable member of the city's best social circles.
SAMUEL BOBBITT UNDERWOOD is an educator, and while one of the prominent men of his pro- fession in North Carolina today his activities are by no means confined to the routine adminis- tration of schools but have entered intimately into many movements of vital interest to the welfare of the state and his community.
Mr. Underwood was born in Stanly County, North Carolina, October 19, 1885, a son of Rev. John Edmund and Ella (Allen) Underwood. His father has been one of the leading ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in North Carolina for the past thirty years. The son was educated in private schools, in Trinity Park School, and he graduated with the class of 1906 from Trinity College at Durham, North Carolina. Since then he has given his time and energies un- interruptedly to his chosen work as an educator. For one year he taught English in the Southern College at Sutherland, Florida, for three years was superintendent of the graded schools of Hert- ford, North Carolina, was head master of Trinity Park School at Durham a year, for three years was superintendent of city schools at Kinston, and in 1914 came to Greenville and has since been superintendent of the Pitt County public school system. He is also instructor in school man- agement in the East Carolina Teachers Training School.
Among other activities that absorb his time and energies Mr. Underwood has been president of the Associated Charities of Greenville, is a member of the Pitt County Board of Health, a member of the North Carolina Social Service Con- ference, and is active in the North Carolina Teach- ers Assembly, being vice president of that body, and the National Education Association. He was chairman of the State Text-book Sub-commission
in 1916. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Carolina Club of Greenville, and in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of that city is lay leader and teacher of the Baraca class. He was a delegate to the General Confer- ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1918.
December 27, 1906, he married Miss Eloise Lis- ter, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. They have one son, Samuel Bobbitt, Jr., born February 2, 1911.
HON. JOSEPH M. PREVETTE, member of the State Legislature from Wilkes County, has success- fully combined the profession of law with practi- cal agricultural and horticulture in Wilkes County. He is a member of an old and well known family of Western North Carolina.
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