USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 105
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Ernest Miller Dewey, another son of Charles Dewey, was born at Goldsboro December 25, 1886. Besides the public schools he took the four years' course in the Virginia Military Institute, where he was graduated in 1906. He spent some time with the Westinghouse Electric and Manufactur- ing Company at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then took a position with Dewey Brothers, Incor- porated, at Goldsboro, but since 1910 has been general manager of the Whitesville Lumber Com- pany. He resides at Whitesville, is an alderman of that city, and fraternally is affiliated with the Odd Fellows. On December 28, 1915, he mar- ried Marguerite Louise Croom, of Wihnington. They have one daughter, Marguerite Devane.
GEORGE HOLLISTER ROBERTS, JR., though only a young man in years, has attained an enviable prom- inence in business affairs at Newbern, and has
won promotion on merit and the ability to do things himself and get things done by others.
A native of Newbern, where he was born May 10, 1890, he is a son of George Hollister and Hannah (Jarvis) Roberts. The senior Mr. Roberts has been for many years a well known figure in business and financial circles at Newbern. The Roberts home was one of comfort and excellent ideals, and the son was well educated and had the best of influences around his youth. He at- tended the public schools and private schools, the Trinity School, took a course in the Georgia School of Technology of Atlanta, and in 1910 graduated from the University of North Carolina.
His first position on leaving college was as man- ager of the Oriental Ice and Fuel Company at Newbern. For a time he was a traveling salesman and then in 1915 he went wtih the Newbern Iron Works and Supply Company.
On November 7, 1916, Mr. Roberts married Miss Mary Nixon, of Newbern.
CHISHOLM C. CRANFORD. One of the biggest contributors to Ashboro's distinction as a manu- facturing center in Chisholm C. Cranford, who began his business career as a flour miller, and gradually expanded the scope of his operations until they now include holdings and executive con- nections with a number of business institutions, including furniture factories, banks and cotton mills. Mr. Cranford is also a former mayor of Ashboro.
His family have been residents of Randolph County for several generations. His great-grand- father, Sawney Cranford, was a planter in New Hope Township of that county. He reared four sons and three daughters, named Henry, Tempe, Seth, Thomas, Cynthey, Betsy and Sally. Henry Cranford, grandfather of Chisholm C., was born in New Hope Township of Randolph County, and after his marriage bought a farm there and was a resident a number of years, when he sold his possessions and bought a new place in Concord township, on which he lived about thirty years. He then removed to Guilford County, buying a farm a mile from High Point, and this was his home until his death at the age of sixty-five. He married Demaris Cranford, who was born in New Hope Township, daughter of Samuel and Betsey (Davis) Cranford. Her death occurred when about seventy years old. They had twelve children, Zimri A., Diana, Elizabeth, Tucker, Julius, Sam- uel, Minerva, John, Calier, Jefferson, William and Emma.
Zimri A. Cranford, father of the Ashboro busi- ness man, was born on a plantation in New Hope Township of Randolph County, August 22, 1842. He grew up on that farm, and was nineteen years old when in November, 1861, he enlisted for serv- ice in the Confederate army. He was a member of Company H of the Thirty-eighth Regiment, and was with that regiment in many of its campaigns and battles until the close of the war. He was not far from Appomattox when Lee's army sur- rendered. Hostilities ended, he returned home, and two years later bought a farm in Concord Town- ship, where he was busily engaged with agricul- ture until 1908, when he sold his farm and retired to Ashboro, where he is now living. In 1870 he married Rozina Maria Lassiter. She was born in New Hope Township, daughter of Aaron and Car- oline (Bingham) Lassiter. Zimri Cranford and wife had eight children, Crissie, Chisholm C., Charles, Matilda, Herman, Mabel, Mattie and Erv- ing. Mabel and Erving are now deceased.
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Born on his father's farm in Concord Town- ship, Chisholm C. Cranford had the environment of a rurai district during his youth, and was edu- cated in the common schools. He left the paternal roof at the age of twenty and gained a knowledge of the milling business as an employee in the Ash- boro Roller Mill at Ashboro, with which he was connected for four years. He then bought a finan- cial interest in the mill, and was its manager three years. Selling out, he acquired the property of the Crown Roller Mill, operating that for some years. In the meantime he had become interested in other enterprises, including the Acme Hosiery Company. On selling the Crown Roller Mill in 1909 he bought the plant of the Randolph Chair Company, of which he is now secretary and treas- urer. In 1917 he organized the Ashboro Hosiery Mill Company, of which he is treasurer. In 1914 he helped organize and is a director of the Pied- mont Chair Company, and in 1917 he was one of the organizers of the Bentwood Chair Company, of which he is president. The Southern Chair Company of High Point also numbers him as a director, and he served as a director in the First National Bank of Ashboro and as president of the Ashboro Drug Company, and vice president of the Southern Crown Milling Company of Ashboro.
Though too busy a man to give much attention to polities, Mr. Cranford has always aimed to do his duty as a good citizen, and has been a member of the Ashboro Town Board and was elected mayor in 1914. He is affiliated with Balfour Lodge No. 188, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he and his wife are both active in the Methodist Episcopal church. He served a number of years as steward.
In November, 1896, Mr. Cranford married Mary Annie Davis, who was born in Randolph County, daughter of Dougan and Lucinda (Hill) Davis. They are the parents of four children: Edward, Vivian, Clarence and Davis. Edward is now a student in the Bailey Military Institute at Green- ville, South Carolina.
HON. WALTER D. SILER. The popular confi- dence and judgment which elevated Walter D. Siler to his present position as solicitor for the Fourth Judicial District is due not only to his splendid record as a lawyer and public-spirited citizen but also to the fact that for generations the Silers have been a family of irreproachable honor and of distinctive usefulness in Chatham County. One of the important towns of that county is Siler City, the home of Mr. Walter D. Siler, where he has practiced law for fifteen years.
His great-grandfather, Josiah D. Siler, was a native of Chatham County and owned and oper- ated a large plantation, which was the scene of his busy and active career. The grandfather of Walter Siler was Josiah Davis Siler, born in the same locality of Chatham County and also a planter and lifelong resident. His descendants now own and occupy the plantation on which he Jived and died. He married Delilah King, a native of Orange County, North Carolina, and both lived to good old age. They reared a family of seven sons and three daughters.
Alson R. Siler, father of Walter D., was born on a plantation in Chatham County and came to manhood with a very good education and train- ing. He was one of the young men who re- sponded to the needs of the Confederacy for soldiers and enlisted on August 15, 1863, in Com- pany E of the Twenty-Sixth North Carolina Troops. He went to the front with his com-
mand and was with it in many battles until the close. His name appears on the official list of those who surrendered and were paroled at Appomattox. Following the war he engaged in merchandising in a country district in Chatham County, and when Siler City was established he moved his store there and kept up business until ill health compelled him to retire. He died in 1913. The maiden name of his wife was Nannie Jones, who was born in Guilford County and is now a resident of Siler City. They reared a fam- ily of six children.
Walter D. Siler was born at Siler City and partly through the family position and as a result of his own energies and ambitions he acquired every qualification for a successful career. He prepared for college at Thompson High and Military School and afterwards pur- sued an academic as well as the law course in the University of North Carolina. Mr. Siler was licensed to practice in 1900, and soon afterwards opened his law offices in Siler City. Public honors soon came to him and in 1903 he was elected to represent Chatham County in the State Legisla- ture. He was promoted to his present dignities and responsibilities as solicitor of the Fourth Judicial District in 1913, and has been re-elected for a second term. As a democrat he has accorded the stanchest support and admiration for the party policies of President Wilson.
JOSEPH FOSTER SANDERS. The career of the late Joseph Foster Sanders, who died March 7, 1918, was significant in more ways than one. He was a member of one of the three regiments raised in the eastern counties of the state for service in the Civil war in the Union army. He began life at a mechanical trade and at its end was propri- etor of one of the most important industries of Elizabeth City, the Elizabeth City Iron Works and Supply Company.
The late Mr. Sanders belonged to one of the oldest families of Pasquatank County, a family which through intermarriage was related with many others of the leading families of that sec- tion. Joseph Foster Sanders, the son of Joseph and Ann (Meads) Sanders, was born December 10, 1845. The first seventeen years of his life he spent with his father farming and attending the local schools.
On September 19, 1862, he enlisted in Com- pany D, First North Carolina Volunteer Infan- try, Union Army. He was with the Federal forces until the close of the war and returned home with the rank of corporal. All the three regiments that North Carolina raised for the Union army acquitted themselves well, particu- larly the First, and the records show that no braver, more gallant or loyal soldiers ever faced danger during those four troubled years. Mr. Sanders was wounded at Indiantown and his in- juries kept him in a hospital for ten months, and caused him suffering throughout the remainder of his life.
After the war Mr. Sanders went west to Ne- braska and Missouri for a time but returned to Pasquotank County and in 1870 opened a coun- try blacksmith shop, principally entering a line. of business that in that section was a necessary adjunct of the neighborhood's industrial life. In 1874 he enlarged the scope of his business by com- ing to Elizabeth City and erecting a three-story building, in which he installed facilities and ap- paratus for the manufacture of carriages and wagons. A careful worker, a good business man,
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he steadily prospered during all the subsequent years. In 1897 he sold out his original shop in order to establish the Elizabeth City Iron Works and Supply Company. That is a big industry, fur- nishing employment to fifty skilled workmen. Mr. Sanders was president and active head of the company until his death and his three oldest sons were also associated with him.
Mr. Sanders married Miss Millicent Lowry, a native of Pasquotank County, North Carolina. She died September 7, 1898, December 31, 1903. Mr. Sanders married Miss Agnes M. Hodge, a native of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. By his first wife he was the father of seven children: Henry W., secretary of the Elizabeth City Iron Works & Supply Company; Brad, vice president and gen- eral manager of the company; Andrew, who is treasurer of the company but is now serving as a lieutenant in the United States Navy; Margaret; and three deceased, Robert, John and Ella. By his second marriage Mr. Sanders had two sons, Archibald G. and Ernest J.
Joseph F. Sanders was one of the oldest mem- bers of Elizabeth City Lodge of Odd Fellows.
WILLIAM B. HICKS is best known over a wide region of North Carolina as a lumberman. He has been a practical man in the lumber industry in North Carolina for a quarter of a century, and prior to that was a successful railroad builder and contractor. Mr. Hicks' home is at Biscoe, Montgomery County.
The Hicks family is of English origin and his paternal grandfather was a Virginian. Mr. Hicks was born at Raleigh in 1864, son of William J. and Julia (Harrison) Hicks. The family lived at Raleigh for a number of years, and from 1861 to 1865 the father had active charge of the powder mill at the State Capital, manufacturing powder for the Confederate army.
During his boyhood at Raleigh William B. Hicks attended the private school of the noted educator Jefferson Lovejoy. When a young man he took up contracting, and was identified with the con- struction of several important links in the North Carolina railroad system. He built the old Louis- burg road, the Oxford and Henderson roads, the Carthage road in Moore County, and several others.
Beginning about 1888 Mr. Hicks became a lum- ber manufacturer, and that has been his main business activity ever since. His first lumber mill was on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad between Aberdeen and Keyser. Since then he has oper- ated mills at various points through this section of the state, and for several years has been one of the larger manufacturers. He established his home at Biscoe in Montgomery County in 1893 and has a beautiful residence surrounded with ample and attractive grounds. For several years he con- ducted a mill at Biscoe, but it is not now in operation. His chief manufacturing interest at present is a large planing mill at Pedee in Rich- mond County.
He has always stood as a man of influence in his community, and for several years has been a member of the board of trustees of the State High School at Biscoe, and served several terms as mayor of the town. Mr. Hicks married Miss Bertha Baldwin, member of a prominent family of Rich- mond and Montgomery counties. They have six children: Frank, Frances, Bertha, Harrison, Min- nie and Julia.
ARCHIBALD SHERROD. Some of the important industrial history of High Point may properly be
written as the experience and achievement of Arch- ibald Sherrod, who for many years has been one of the leading figures in the furniture industry of the city.
Mr. Sherrod represents an old and noted pioneer family of Martin County. He was born near Oak City of Martin County, and the same town- ship was also the birthplace of his father, Robert W. Sherrod. His grandfather, William R. W. Sherrod, owned and operated a plantation there, was a slave owner, and probably spent all his life there. Robert W. Sherrod attended Horner's Mil- itary Institute, and during early manhood taught one or two terms of . school. Having inherited slaves and a part of the old homestead, he engaged in the business of planter, but left his home and duties at the outbreak of the war and put on the Confederate uniform. He was a cavalryman, but during his service was taken ill and died soon after his return home. He married Jane F. Parker. She was a native of Orange County and her father, Jesse Parker, moved from that county to Martin County, where he had a plantation. Jesse Parker married Mary Armstrong, also a native of Orange County. Mrs. Robert W. Sherrod was a cousin of Prof. James Horner, founder of the Horner's Mil- itary Institute. She was largely educated under the direction of that famous educator. She died two or three years after her husband, leaving two children, Archibald and Mollie, who married C. H. Baker.
Mr. Archibald Sherrod was a small child when his parents died. He grew up in the home of his uncle, Joseph J. Parker, where he attended local schools, and later was a student in the Vine Hill Academy at Scotland Neck, in Halifax County, and in 1881 took a business course in Eastman 's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York.
His practical business experience covers a pe- riod of over thirty-five years. After leaving school he clerked in a general store at Hamilton a year. He then formed a partnership with his brother- in-law, Mr. Baker, and bought the stock and good will of his employer, and both of them gave their united enterprise to the handling of the store for twelve years. Mr. Sherrod then sold out to Mr. Baker, and coming' to High Point bought the fac- tory of the Best Chair Company. A year later Mr. Baker having sold his business at Hamilton, also joined him at High Point, and they formed a partnership, each with a half interest in the fac- tory. They also established a store, Mr. Baker having the management of the latter while Mr. Sherrod was the executive head of the factory. One year later they sold their interests at High Point and returned to Hamilton, where as joint part- ners they established a factory for the manufac- ture of trousers, and a store continuing the same plan of management of each branch of their enter- prise. In 1904 Mr. Sherrod again sold his inter- ests at Hamilton and returned to High Point, where he bought stock in the Union Furniture Company. Since that date he has been secretary and treasurer of this important corporation, and is also interested in other local enterprises and is quite an extensive owner of city property.
At the age of twenty-three Mr. Sherrod married Mollie Sherrod, who was born in Martin county, daughter of Henry L. and Susan (Bass) Sherrod. She died leaving four children: Lillie, Debbie, Archibald, Jr., and Henry. Lillie is the wife of Judge Walter L. Watson. Debbie married W. R. Morrow and has two children, named Arch Sher- rod and Robert. Archibald, Jr., married Clara Stanton and has a son named David Stanton.
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Henry is a lieutenant in the American Army and is now in France.
For his present wife Mr. Sherrod married a sister of his first wife, Lizzie Sherrod. They have three children, Mary, Lucile and Frank. Mary is now a student in the Goucher College at Baltimore. Mr. and Mrs. Sherrod are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he has been a member of the Board of Stewards of that church for the past twenty-five years. Fraternally he is affiliated with Numa F. Reid Lodge No. 344, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and High Point Lodge No. 108, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
FRANK C. BOYLES, cashier of the American Bank of Greensboro, has earned a name and an estab- lished reputation in commercial affairs in that city, reflecting honor and credit upon his talents and early training and environment.
Mr. Boyles was born on a farm in Lincoln County, North Carolina, son of Rev. Marcus W. Boyles, a native. of the same locality and grand- son of Joseph Boyles, who was a planter and slave owner and a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lincoln County, where he spent all his days. He married a Miss Yount. Rev. Marcus W. Boyles completed his education at Rutherford College, was converted in early life, and after preparing for the ministry entered the North Carolina Conference and held various pastor- ates over the state. His last years were spent in Lexington, where he died at the age of fifty five. He married Susan Wood, a native of Lincoln County, where the father, John H. Wood, was a planter. She survived her husband and died at Greensboro, the mother of six children, named Augustus C., Frank C., J. Henry, Blanche, Marvin and Pitman ..
Frank C. Boyles having determined upon a business rather than a professional career left Trinity College before graduating and acquired his first practical knowledge of mercantile affairs at Mount Gilead, where he spent two years, and from there came to Greensboro and for four years clerked with the Odell Hardware Company. With this general knowledge of business he entered the Greensboro National Bank as collector, and was with that institution until 1911, when he resigned to become cashier of the American National Bank.
Mr. Boyles married Myrtie Ham, who was born at Mount Olive, North Carolina, daughter of Henry T. and Lucy Ham. They have one son, Richard. Mr. and Mrs. Boyles are members of the West Market Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and for fifteen years he has been a mem- ber of its Board of Stewards. Fraternally he is affiliated with Greensboro lodge No. 76, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Buena Vista Lodge No. 21 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Greensboro Lodge No. 80 of the Knights of Pythias.
PAUL CAMERON WHITLOCK is a lawyer by pro- fession, is trust officer and attorney for the Amer- ican Trust Company, and president of the cham- ber of Commerce at Charlotte. More than that, Mr. Whitlock is a citizen of very alert and pro- gressive type and is one of the most constuctive men in the modern evolution of Charlotte, as a citizen basing its greatness upon the wholesome welfare of the citizens as well as its material achievement.
Mr. Whitlock was born at Rockingham in
Richmond County, North Carolina, in 1878, a son of E. D. and Caroline (Cameron) Whitlock. His father was a native of Montgomery County, North Carolina, and went with his father and family to Richmond County in 1867, locating in Wolf Pitt Township. E. D. Whitlock afterwards moved to Rockingham, where for a number of years he has since successfully engaged in busi- ness.
Caroline Cameron, mother of Paul C. Whitlock, and now deceased, was a daughter of the late Col. John W. Cameron, distinguished as a law- yer, statesman and citizen. For a number of years he was a law partner of the late Major Shaw of Rockingham. Major Shaw, himself a lawyer of brilliant parts and attainments, paid Colonel Cameron the compliment that he was the best lawyer he ever knew. A year or two after the war Colonel Cameron was a member of the State Legislature and while there was instrumen- tal in having passed a homestead law giving land owners exemption from execution on their home lands up to $1,000 worth. The wisdom and ben- eficence of this act are the better understood when it is remembered that the period was that follow- ing the devastation of war when all farmers in North Carolina were invariably poor. During the '50s Colonel Cameron was editor of the old Fay- etteville Argus. He made a brilliant record as a Confederate officer during the Civil war.
Paul Cameron Whitlock graduated from the University of North Carolina with the class of 1898, and also studied law there. On admission to the bar he practiced at Rockingham for about six years in partnership with Cameron Morrison. The firm then moved to Charlotte, and the two partners were associated for about four years, after which Mr. Whitlock engaged in an inde- pendent practice. He was city attorney of Char- lotte during Dr. C. A. Bland's first administra- tion as mayor, but after several months resigned to take up his present work as trust officer and attorney for the American Trust Company.
On September 6, 1917, Mr. Whitlock was elected president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and immediately entered into the responsibilities of directing a work in which the Chamber of Com- merce proposed to co-operate with all the inter- ests fundamental and vital to the welfare and progress of the City of Charlotte and Mecklen- burg County, and in the laying of which program Mr. Whitlock had previously had a most influential part. Mr. Whitlock is credited with much of the en- thusiasm that changed the character of the Cham- ber of Commerce from a social body into a de- pendable working organization for the welfare of the community. He took an active part in re- organizing the chamber and served as a director of its highways bureau before his election as president. Mr. Whitlock did some splendid serv- ice with his associates in securing Charlotte the location of the National Army Cantonment of Camp Greene.
Upon his inauguration as president of the Chamber of Commerce Mr. Whitlock delivered an address that called for and allows general en- thusiasm in one of the broadest constructive pro- grams ever embraced by a North Carolina city.
While his address cannot be quoted at length, the following excerpt deserves permanent record: "If the Chamber of Commerce existed solely for the promotion of the commercial interests of the city, which it does not, the surest way of attain- ing its object would be to concern itself with the deeper and broader factors of the city's life. A
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wholesome growth can be brought about only by uniform development. The way to make Char- lotte a big city, if bigness were our sole object, would be to make it a good place in which to live. The city that makes itself a good place in which to live will draw people to it and these people will bring their industries with them. The modern manufacturer, when he goes to select a location for his plant, looks farther than to the purely natural advantages. In this great coun- try there are plenty of places that offer good natural advantages to almost any line of busi- ness or industry. Other things being equal, the city that is the best place in which to live has the advantage. Therefore the Chamber of Commerce, if it would serve the truly commercial interests of the city, would better concern itself with such questions as schools, parks, playgrounds, amuse- ments, health, good water and all those things that touch the lives of its people." Another quo- tation should be made from an editorial that ap- peared in the Charlotte Observer: "The Cham- ber of Commerce in its former days was great at wearing spike tailed coats and white vests two or three times a year, making speeches and build- ing air castles. But the organization has happily moved from the old ideas and has come into a correct realization of its substance. For some time past it has been officered by men of progres- sive ideals and there has been progressive promo- tion in the selection of its new leader in the per- son of Mr. Paul Whitlock. The new president has given proof that he holds the proper concep- tion of the duties of the Chamber of Commerce. The Observer believes that the man, the hour and the organization have come into conjunction and that the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce has been at last launched upon a career of unbounded use- fulness not alone to the city, but to the county, for it has wisely enlarged its scope so as to look after the development of community interests in their various ramifications. The general pur- poses of the Chamber of Commerce are pretty well understood by the public, but there is not quite so good an appreciation of the constantly ex- panding opportunities of the organization. Mr. Whitlock appears to have grasped these in the fullest meaning, and particularly in connection with co-operation in rural endeavor. He takes the proper view that the Chamber of Commerce could find no better way in the promotion of the good of Charlotte than in lending its influence to the development of the agricultural resources in Mecklenburg County."
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