USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 102
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Doctor McLeod was born near Carbonton in Deep River Township of Moore County in 1857, son of Angus and Catherine (McRae) McLeod. His mother was a daughter of Gilbert McRae, a native of Scotland. Her mother was a Murchison. All these names represent the best blood of the Scotch race in this part of North Carolina.
Doctor McLeod grew up on his father's planta- tion, attended country schools, and for three years was a student of Professor John E. Kelly at the famous Union Home School of Moore County. From this preparatory school he entered the University of North Carolina, was a student there three years, the last year being devoted to medical studies. His medical education was finished in the Medical De- partment of the University of Maryland at Balti- more, where he was graduated with the class of 1882. His first work as a practicing physician was done at Morven in the southern part of Anson County, where he remained four years, but in 1887 established his home and office at Carthage, county seat of his home county. Dr. McLeod is a mem- ber of the County and State Medical societies and the American Medical Association. He is a Pres- byterian, as have been his ancestors. In 1886 he married Miss Sarah Catherine Cole, daughter of the late Thomas Cole of Cole's Mills in Moore County. Their four children are: Miss Katie Lee, Miss Bessie, Thomas Cole and William Gilbert McLeod.
ALEX H. MCLEOD, M. D. For at least a century the name McLeod has represented some of the fin- est Scotch stock of Moore County, and many of the name have played useful and honorable parts in local activities, as farmers, soldiers, public of- ficials and in the professions. One of the most skillful physicians and surgeons of the county is Dr. Alex H. McLeod, who for nearly twenty years has practiced at Aberdeen.
Doctor McLeod was born in the lower part of Moore County, six miles from Aberdeen, in 1871, a son of Alex and Maggie (Warner) McLeod. His grandfather, John McLeod, was born in Scotland, and when four years of age, in the early part of the nineteenth century, was brought to North Caro- lina by his parents. A number of the McLeods and their connections located in the lower part of the
county. John McLeod reared a family of seven sons and five daughters, and all of them were un- usually strong and vigorous and exemplified the best characteristics of lineage. One of the sons of John McLeod was the late Evander McLeod, who died in April, 1917, at the age of seventy- seven. He was the historian of the family and of almost the entire group of Scotch people found in Moore, Cumberland and adjoining counties. He possessed great intelligence and a remarkable mem- ory for names, dates and incidents. John McLeod's wife was a Johnson, and her brother attained dis- tinction by his long service of twenty-five years as sheriff of Cumberland County.
Alex McLeod, Sr., father of Doctor McLeod, was born at the ancestral home, about a half mile from the Doctor's birthplace. During the war between the states he served as a special courier on the staff of Gen. D. H. Hill in Virginia. He was selected for this position on account of his skill- ful horsemanship and his unusual talent and apti- tude for scout duty. He was a great lover of horses, always had a number of fine animals, was a keen sportsman, fond of hunting, and in the early days usually killed from fifty to sixty deer in a season, besides great numbers of wild tur- keys and other minor game. By occupation he was a turpentine operator and a farmer.
Doctor McLeod's mother, Maggie (Warner) Mc- Leod, who passed away at the age of eighty-four, was born in Moore County, near Carthage, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Her mother was a Living- stone, a Scotch name.
Doctor McLeod spent his early life on his fath- er's farm. He prepared for college in addition to the advantages of the local schools by one year at Thompson's Military School at Siler City, and 2 years under the special tutelage of Maj. Jesse McLean at Red Springs. From there he entered Baltimore Medical College, and some time before he was graduated with his Doctor of Medicine de- gree in 1896 this institution was amalgamated with the University of Maryland. Doctor McLeod be- gan practice at Hoffman in Richmond County, but twenty-two months later, on March 25, 1898, es- tablished his home at Aberdeen and now for a number of years has enjoyed a large general prac- tice in both medicine and surgery. He is a very active and progressive man, both in professional affairs and civic life, and one of the leading men of Aberdeen, the financial and railroad center of Moore County and of the Sand Hill region. Doc- tor McLeod is a member of the County and State Medical Societies and the American Medical As- sociation. He married Miss Carry Broom, of Union County, North Carolina.
WILLIAM G. MUNYAN. The unexcelled manufac- turing facilities of High Point and the great hard- wood industry in this section of the state has attracted many experienced and successful men to this center, and one of them is William G. Mun- yan, a native of Ohio, and for many years engaged in lumber manufacture in that and other north- ern states.
Mr. Munyan came to High Point in 1910 and became secretary and treasurer of the Southern Veneer and Panel Company. In 1916, with the reorganization and amalgamation of several sim- ilar industries, there was organized the Consoli- dated Veneer and Panel Company, of which Mr. Munyan has since been secretary, treasurer and general manager. This is one of the largest cor- porations manufacturing lumber products in the
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state. Besides a large plant at High Point they operate another at Thomasville, in Davidson County; one at West End, in Moore County, and one at Taylorsville, in Alexander County. Mr. Munyan is prominent among his business asso- ciates, and is a member of the Southern Furni- ture Manufacturers Association.
He is of old American stock and one branch of lineage goes back to the time of the Mayflower. He was born at Ravenna, county seat of Portage County, Ohio, son of Augustus and Marietta (Gib- son) Munyan, and grandson of John and Thirza (Knapp) Munyan. His great-grandfather was John Munyan. John Munyan, Jr., his grandfather, spent his life at Thompsou, Connecticut. He was survived by his wife, who followed her children to the wilds of Ohio, where she died.
Augustus Munyan, father of the High Point business man, who was born in 1799, and in 1817 moved to the new State of Ohio. This journey was accomplished with ox teams and over almost unbroken trails and roads. He bought a tract of timbered land in Charlestown Township of Port- age County, erected a log house there, and was associated with the early pioneers in clearing up and establishing homes. Late in life he moved to Ravenna and died there in 1876, in his seventy- seventh year. His wife was born at Warsaw, New York, and died at the age of seventy-nine. They had four children, Celia, Charles, George and William G.
William G. Munyan spent his early life in one of the typical high class communities of old Ohio Western Reserve, was well educated in the public schools, and also at Oberlin College. At the age of eighteen he began teaching and taught in sev- eral localities of Ohio. His first industrial expe- rience was as a cheesemaker, an art he learned thoroughly, and for a time he operated a cheese factory.
Mr. Munyan's experience in the veueer business covers a period of thirty-five years. He estab- lished a veneer panel factory in 1882 in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and operated it successfully for sev- eral years. Later he was similarly engaged in different states and also in Canada, and was a man of high standing in lumber circles when he joined forces with the High Point community in 1910. He is a member of the High Point Com- mercial Club and is affiliated with High Point Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1880 he married Miss Ida Thankful Wet- more, who was born at Kelloggsville in Ashtabula County, Ohio, a daughter of John and Juliette Wetmore. Mr. and Mrs. Munyan have had two children, John and Marietta. John, who died at the age of thirty-four, married Lucy O. Downey and is survived by three children, Ida C., William D. and John J.
HERSEY BAYLIES PARKER, JR., while creating for himself an enviable reputation as a lawyer and enjoying a practice at Goldsboro that ranks him among the leaders of the bar in the state, does not confine all his interests to his profession. He is a leader in the democratic party, has been an indefatigable worker in behalf of church and Sunday school, and has participated in many civic movements to their benefit.
He was born at Como, Hertford County, North Carolina, March 14, 1870, a son of Rev. Hersey Baylies Parker, Sr., and Maria Agnes (Majette) Parker. He was educated at Buckhorn Academy
at Como in Hertford County, and was for one year in the academic department with the class of 1893 in the University of North Carolina. He also read law at the university, and obtained a license to practice law before the Supreme Court of North Carolina in February, 1892. He was in the prac- tice of his profession at North Wilkesboro until January, 1895, and since then at Goldsboro. As attorney he represents a number of important in- terests, though he has held no office in any corpo- ration except as president of the Ford Garage Company of Goldsboro. He is legal adviser of the Goldsboro Savings & Trust Company, and of the Virginia Lumber and Box Company, which maintains a large manufacturing plant at Peters- burg, Virginia, and Goldsboro, North Carolina. For twenty-six years Mr. Parker has been local representative for R. G. Dun & Company. He has not acquired much wealth, only sixty or sev- enty thousand dollars and perhaps has no strong ambition in that direction, but while he has made some money he has, spent his years chiefly in laboring for others, and in that has found more pleasure than in mere money making.
In 1901 Mr. Parker joined Company D, Second Regiment, North Carolina State Guard, in a few months was elected corporal, then sergeant, then captain in September, 1901, a position he filled until July, 1903, when he resigned on account of personal injuries received in a railroad wreck May 19, 1903. He was appointed assistant in- spector-general of North Carolina with the rank of major under Governor W. W. Kitchin in 1908, and served through his term, when he resigned. He took a very vigorous part in the campaign by which Governor Kitchin was elected.
Mr. Parker was the first elected mayor of North Wilkesboro in 1893 and served until he moved to Goldsboro in January, 1895. He served as a member of the North Carolina Legislature in 1903. During that session he was author of the clause in the Revenue Law that put the gam- bling musical machines out of business in North Carolina. He is also credited with being author of the first child labor law ever introduced into a North Carolina Legislature, and he pushed the passage of that bill to a successful enactment. He also aided in passing the first State Audubon law, and prohibition measure known as the Watts Act. On account of poor health Mr. Parker de- clined renomination. He has served as secretary of the County Democratic Executive Committee from 1900 to the present time, and was chairmau of the County Board of Elections from 1903 until 1916, when he resigned on account of press of business.
As to fundamental politics Mr. Parker is a democrat of the old school with respect to eco- nomical administration of government, and at the same time is very progressive in his ideas. He realizes the need of agricultural development of the state, and to quote his own language he "thinks the state which honors overalls the most will lead in the race of development." Fraternally Mr. Parker is a member, though not active, in the local branch of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Junior Or- der of United American Mechanics and the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks.
He became a member of Buckhorn Missionary Baptist Church of Como, Hertford County, North Carolina when nine years of age. He is now superintendent of the First Baptist Church Sunday School of Goldsboro, an office he has
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filled fourteen years. He was secretary and later president and chairman of the executive committee of the Wayne County Sunday School Association, and during his official connection sought to make it the best in the state. He served a number of years as member of the executive committee of the State Inter-Denomina- tional Sunday School Association under N. B. Broughten as chairman. He is deacon of the First Baptist Church at Goldsboro. He was sec- retary of the building committee during the erec- tion of the handsome new edifice of the First Bap- tist Church.
On February 16, 1905, Mr. Parker married Miss Helen A. Vann, of Como, North Carolina, daugh- er of T. E. Vann, a planter of Hertford County and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. T. E. Vann is a brother of Dr. R. T. Vann, former president of Meredith College and now secretary of the Board of Education of the Baptist State Conven- tion. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have two children: Edward Vann Parker and Mary Frances Parker.
Taken with such an individual career of so much solid achievement and attainment, there is every reason why Mr. Parker should feel honor- able pride in his worthy ancestors, many of whom have played an important part in the history of North Carolina since Colonial days.
His ancestry in the paternal line leads back to William Parker, who was born about 1697 and died in 1760. He was a brother of Joseph and Jonathan Parker, and came over from England with them in 1717, and was a member of the first Baptist church ever established in North Carolina-Old Bethel, founded in 1727 in Perqui- mans County. It was afterwards iu 1729, named and moved to Shilo, a few miles distance, in Cam- den County, North Carolina.
William Parker also founded Meherin Baptist Church, the second Baptist church in North Caro- lina, and gave the land on which the site of church building is now situated. This was in 1735. The church is within one mile of the Town of Murfreesboro. The old building was torn down about 1905 and rebuilt of stone.
The will of Joseph Parker, a brother of Wil- liam, is recorded in the office of the Secretary of State at Raleigh and was probated in January court, 1749. The legatees were his daughters, Mary Cannon, Ruth and Lenina, and his sons were Jacob, Tobe, Mathew and Joseph. The Coat of Arms of the Parkers was a couchant lion, or a sleeping lion.
John or Jonathan Parker, a son of William, was born about 1745, and was one of the com- mittee who laid off the Town of Murfreesboro, North Carolina, in 1787. His fourth and last wife was Elizabeth Banks Parker. Their children were: Dr. King Parker, Jacob Parker, who was born April 10, 1822, and died June 10, 1901, having lived and died at Warrenton; and Elizabeth or Betsey, who married Samuel Moore of Maneys Neck Township, Herford County. Jonathan Par- ker and Elizabeth Banks were married in Yonkers, New York, the home of her parents.
Dr. King Parker, who was a doctor of dental surgery and a son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Parker, was born in 1815 and died at Marion, Alabama, in 1870. He married at Murfreesboro, North Carolina, in 1834, Frances Sackett Ogden Rea. She was born October 30, 1819. Her father, William Rea, was born September 23, 1792, in Boston, Massachusetts, and died about
1860 in Yonkers, New York. His parents were Daniel Rea and Rachel Johnson. William Rea went from Boston to Yonkers, New York, and then to Murfreesboro, North Carolina. He was one of the first merchants to introduce oil lamps into North Carolina. Daniel Rea, his father, a native of Boston, died February 13, 1803. He married in 1764 Rachel Johnson. William Rea was married four times. His first wife was Mar- garet Wynn, his second wife was her sister, Mary Wynn, both of Hertford County, North Carolina, his third wife was Mary Peck, and his fourth wife, the mother of Frances Sackett Ogden Parker, was Julia A. Blackwell, both of New York state, the latter of whom he married December 24, 1818. William Rea and wife, Julia A. (Blackwell) Rea, moved back to New York and lived and died in the Manor House in Yonkers which was used by George Washington as his headquarters while fighting in New York. Julia A. Blackwell was the daughter of James Blackwell and Elizabeth Hallett. James Blackwell at one time owned Blackwell's Island in New York Harbor. James Blackwell and Elizabeth Hallett were married June 23, 1779.
The late Rev. Hersey Baylies Parker, Sr., a son of Dr. King Parker and Frances Sackett Og- den Rea Parker, was born at Murfreesboro, North Carolina, February 22, 1838, and died at Aulander, North Carolina, November 12, 1916. He was edu- cated at Buckhorn Academy, now Como, and at, Princeton College in New Jersey. He graduated at Princeton with the class of 1856. Though only eighteen years of age, he stood eighth from the head of a class of ninety-six members. He read law at the University of North Carolina in 1856- 1857. Professing religion at Chapel Hill, under the preaching of Pierson, the Presbyterian Evan- gelist, he abandoned his law course in 1858 and began to preach. He later joined the Buckhorn Missionary Baptist Church at Buckhorn, now Como, and remained with that denomination until about 1890, when he withdrew because he objected to the methods of carrying on missions by the expensive method of boards and to the authority which the Baptist Association and. Conventions seemed to be taking over the individual churches. He organized a number of churches in Hertford, Northampton, Bertie and Perquimans counties and served as pastor until a few years prior to his death, when he gave up the work on account of failing strength and health. He joined the Con- federate Army, and served until the surrender, and was a faithful and fearless soldier. He was re- garded as one of the ablest Baptist ministers in the state, and was a most pious and devoted nian in his community.
Rev. H. B. Parker and Maria Agnes Majette were married at her father's home in Southamp- ton County, Virginia, December 12, 1858. She was born February 20, 1836, and died at Como, North Carolina, January 9, 1907. Her parents were James and Penelope A. (Darden) Majette. Her parents were married July 29, 1824, in Hert- ford County, North Carolina, and they lived a few miles distant, in Southampton County, Vir- ginia, all their lives.
James Majette was the son of William Maget (the name was later changed by the Legislature to Majette) to conform to the French pronuncia- tion. William Majette married Sallie Knight, a widow. William Maget came over from France with three brothers. James Majette was born October 6, 1803, and died June 19, 1862, from
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heart failure. His sudden death occurred under a large hickory tree on his home farm which marked the line between North Carolina and Vir- ginia, while he was observing his slaves at work.
Penelope Ann Majette was the daughter of Jethro Darden, whose wife was a Miss Moore. Penelope was born March 5, 1804, and died No- vember 12, 1881. She was a sister of Dr. Jet Darden of Hertford County. Jethro Darden, her father, lived in Hertford County, North Carolina, in Maneys Neck Township. Dr. Jet Darden rep- resented his county in the State Legislature for sixteen years, resigning on account of blindness.
Rev. H. B. Parker and wife had the following children : James Thomas Parker, who was born March 17, 1861, and died November 28, 1915, at Lynchburg, Virginia, leaving a wife, Daisy Cross Parker, and one daughter, Mary Blackwell Parker; Walter King Parker, born November 27, 1864; John Mitchell Parker, born April 27, 1867; H. B. Parker, Jr., born March 14, 1870; Julius Agnes Parker, born February 27, 1873, and died October 9, 1906; Frederick Pope Parker, born November 23, 1875; and Dr. Rea Parker, born October 27, 1878.
ABEL QUINCY KALE. One of the most impor- tant industrial enterprises of Gaston County, and one that affects the prosperity of a wide section, is the great cotton mill operated at High Shoals by the High Shoals Company, the superintendent and manager of which is Abel Quincy Kale, who is also an extensive landowner, farmer and breeder of fine cattle. Mr. Kale was born at Catawba, Catawba County, North Carolina, in 1872. His parents were Lawson Henderson and Catherine Elmira (Odem) Kale.
The pioneer settlers of Cawtaba and Lincoln counties, North Carolina, were mainly of German extraction, and many families, as did the Kales, moved from Pennsylvania to this state prior to the Revolutionary war. Lawson Henderson Kale was born in Cawtaba County, August 27, 1816, and died at Mount Holly in Gaston County, North Carolina, September 3, 1899. He was a mill- wright by trade and his main business through- out the active years of his life was the building of cotton mills in the Catawba Valley. He was twice married, the mother of Abel Quincy being his second wife. She was born June 19, 1844, and died February 2, 1893.
Abel Quincy Kale attended school and passed his boyhood and young manhood at Mount Holly. to which place the family had removed in his childhood, and under his father he learned the millwright trade and afterward worked at the same at Mount Holly and Charlotte, North Car- olin, and at Greenville, South Carolina, and ever since has been connected with the building and operation of cotton mills.
Owing to his thorough and efficient manner of working and to his uprightness in business transactions, Mr. Kale was fortunate enough to come under the attention and meet with the ap- proval of the late D. A. Tompkins, of Charlotte, North Carolina's great industrial leader and con- structive citizen. At that time Mr. Tompkins was the state's leading builder of cotton mills and other industrial plants and was a widely quoted authority on cotton mill machinery, equipment and construction. Mr. Kale entered his employ and in 1899 Mr. Tompkins sent him to High Shoals in Gaston County to build a cotton mill. Mr. Kale built the mill, completing it in 1890, and
this place has been his home ever since. He was made superintendent and manager- and has occupied the same official relations ever since, and is also a stockholder in the High Shoals Com- pany, owners of the mill.
A few words of description may be given to High Shoals Village, because it is an ideal place for such an industry as this great cotton mill. This is one of the most beautiful and picturesque- ly located mill towns in the entire South. It stands on the South Fork River, in the extreme northern part of Gaston County, and derives its name from the shoals in the river at this point. Along the banks of the river are beautiful groves, and springs of purest water are found. It is in the heart of the Piedmont region, at an altitude of about 1,000 feet, nestling among the pines, oaks and hickories of a North Carolina forest, with pure mountain air and charming vistas on every side. It is indeed an attractive spot. Hun- dreds of the mill operatives have their gardens around their pretty homes. Cleanliness is one of the requisites of village life and sanitary precau- tions and rules are in force, the result being the prevailing good health. The moral atmosphere is correspondingly clean and wholesome, this fea- ture having been enforced by Mr. Kale from the beginning. Ample church and school facilties are provided for all, as well as entertainment features. The Episcopal Church, with its accompanying school and social work, is an agent of great good. It grew from the faithful efforts of the Misses Eliza and Jane Wilkes, who were daughters of the late Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes who shortly after the Civil war came to North Carolina. He bought the old High Shoals Iron Works, which has been established here many years before but had long been neglected. Admiral Wilkes operated the plant for a number of years.
The High Shoals Company, in addition to the mill enterprise, owns large tracts of land and ear- ries on extensive farming operations. Mr. Kale from time to time has invested in land, both farming and timber, although he does not give this work his personal attention. He takes con- siderable pride in his thoroughbred horses and cattle, and his herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle is said to be the finest in the state and is headed by two registered bulls.
Mr. Kale was married to Miss Kate Burgin, who was born in Lincoln County, North Carolina. Her parents were Samuel and Callie (Quickel) Bur- gin, and her maternal grandfather was a man of note in Lincoln County, Cephas Quickel. Mr. and Mrs. Kale have two sons, Henderson Burgin and Abel Augustus Kale, and an adopted daughter, Ruby Kale, who is a student in the Western North Carolina State Normal School at Ashe- ville.
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