USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 14
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Abner Hicks, son of William, married Elizabeth Harris, whose mother was closely related to Isaac Watts, the great hymn writer. Benjamin, her youngest son, married Isabella, daughter of James and Sarah Earl Crews. William and Benjamin lived to be more than seventy, Abner, Isabella and Elizabeth more than eighty; and James Crews more than ninety years of age.
Abner Hicks was a Methodist and gave the land for one of the first Methodist churches in Granville. Later he adopted the then popular
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idea that a church could exist without a bishop if a state could exist without a king. He was one of the organization members of the Methodist Protestant church. His son Benjamin, father of T. T. Hicks, was born in 1828, the same year his father became identified with the Methodist Protestaut church, aud he too was loyal to it all his days, as have been his seven children.
Thurstou Titus Hicks, secoud child and oldest son of Benjamin and Isabella, was born October 14, 1857. No where is there a happier description of what southern families at home during and after the war experienced than is found in his reminescences :
"I remember seeing my mother weep when my father started to the war, and both seeing and hearing him and her shout for joy when he returned from Point Lookout Military Prison in June, 1865, long after we supposed him dead. I remember the patrolers who rode at night and whipped negroes during the war; and that the slaves all quit work the day Sherman's army passed; and how they marched afterwards to the music of fife and drum on their way to the Union League meetings; and how afraid they were later of the Ku-Klux-Klan when the marvelous stories of its deeds were told. There never was any dis- order or racial trouble on our farm; some of the slaves remaining with us and in our family many years after the war.
"I know well how we toiled for necessaries, sometimes having biscuits on Sunday mornings only, wearing home-spun clothes and shoes made by our parents. During the war we wore wooden- bottomed shoes; had potato coffee, picked the seeds from the cotton with our fingers, spun and wove cotton and wool into cloth, dyed it with walnut root and boiled the dirt of the smokehouse floor for salt.
"There was no kind of farm work in those days that my father's sons did not do. I mention besides the ordinary labors the year round, the breaking of flax, beating out oats with a flail, making splint baskets and hickory mauls, prizing tobacco in hogsheads for the Richmond market, carrying fodder and pea hulls half a mile in the snow to the sheep, soaking wheat in blue-stone water on frosty mornings and getting cockle burrs out of the horses' manes and tails. A younger brother had a long sickness when two years old, and pneumonia when he was nineteen. These sick- nesses and a slight illness of a sister were literally the only occasions of a physician visiting my fa- ther's home from his marriage until the youngest of his children was twenty-one. With the excep- tion of some 'Baltimore meat' one summer, I never knew anything purchased for our home that could be raised on the farm.
"The changes that have occurred in the time I have lived have interested me. My earliest re- ligious recollections were assertions of the plenary inspiration, and literary inerrancy of the Bible. Miracles, vicarious atonement and the virgin birth were not questioned. But there were lively dis- putes about church government, water baptism and predestination. Railroads and steam vessels were only fifty years ahead of me; telegraph thirteen years. I was born within four miles of a court house that had stood a hundred years and within seven miles of a railroad. But I was ten years old or more before I saw a cook stove or a kerosene lamp or a sewing machine. Improved breeds of hogs and cattle, commercial fertilizers, crimson clover, flue-cured tobacco and cigarettes have come
since then. There were no electric lights, or tele- phones or wireless telegraphy or bicycles, or motor cycles or automobiles when I was born; nor were there in this part of the country any adding ma- chines or cash registers or typewriters or steno- graphers. Life and property and their preserva- tion and protection were the darlings of the law. Motor cars destroy more property every year now than there was in the United States in 1860, and more lives than did many of the big wars."
Most of the contemporaries of Mr. Hicks confess to having received a limited common school education in their youth. One sometimes won- ders what it consisted of. Mr. Hicks has furnished us a definite picture so far as his individual experience was concerned. "I attended private and public schools in winter from my fifth I to my sixteenth year. had a fiue memory, and could learn easily; but in those years I was more interested in other things than lessons, and the most that I learned was by hearing others studying or reciting. I recall how my older sister labored over Parley's History, Watts on the Mind, Wells Science of Common Things and Stoddard's Mental Arithmetic. What of these I received was by hearing her or at a glance. I had no time or patience for study. My father and mother educated seven children on one slate, two or three slate pencils, one lead pencil, and fewer books than my boy Benjamin has had in his seventh and eighth grades. We borrowed some old books and 'got along' somehow. Father had little money. He would not go in debt. When seventeen I attended an academy one five months' term.
"From eighteen to twenty-one I attended a high school three full ten months' terms, making valu- able use of my time. Then I taught a year, reading effectually at the same time Blackstone, Hume's History of England, Chitty's Pleadings, Adams' Equity and Battle's Revisal. On January 5, 1881, I obtained license to practice law. I have been studying law ever since. Though my literary and scholastic attainments were good, I am satisfied that I was no better taught as a lawyer than many others, (see the list 84 N. C.) who were, with me, very happy on receipt of parchments signed by Judges William N. H. Smith, John H. Dillard and Thomas S. Ashe. That was a great day to me.
"My first year at the bar, 1881,, 'the dry year, ' was spent at Oxford in 'Watchful Waiting.' Vance County was formed May 24, 1881. I re- moved to Henderson January 9, 1882. Here I have since resided-in the same house since April 26, 1886.''
Probably only a man who had achieved those things which the world has come to regard as the constituents of success could evaluate with such nice discrimination that period of rapid fluctua- tion between fortune and discouragement which is more or less a part of every young man's experi- ence. "There were no bounds to my ambition until about six months before my admission to the bar. I thought I had the same right and the same opportunity as anybody else to be president or any- thing else. From then until I had been five years at the bar, my estimate of myself kept shrinking all the time. I had no money, few friends, and fewer elements of popularity. During that period it required twenty-two months to partly convince Miss Mary Horner to risk starvation by becoming my life partner. She assumed her part of the hazard on December 6, 1883, and we finally won out against that peril some years later. I was always
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possessed of determination, self confidence and enthusiasm for whatever I undertook. I borrowed the money to pay my expenses the last two years at school. The reader might doubt me if I should state how little I used. I earned it and repaid it and provided for my family and bought some law books and learned some law, and had some practice in these first five years. "
Mrs. Hicks' father was Thomas Jefferson Horner, teacher and preacher. He was born November 21, 1823, while his great protonym was yet living. He died July 11, 1900. Mrs. Hick's mother was Isabella, daughter of Joseph Norwood, of Person County. T. J. Horner's parents were William Horner and Sally Parker, a first cousin of Willie P. Mangum. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are Belle, named for her two grandmothers, wife of Dr. S. P. Purins, and Edison Thurston and Benjamin Horner Hicks.
Many of the points that mark the progress of Mr. Hicks' career as a lawyer may be found in the North Carolina Reports. Two long law suits which he fought and won are Timble vs. Hunter, 104-129 N. C., and Heggie vs. B. & L. Association, 107 N. C. 581. A case of much im- portance which he brought and won was Burgwyn vs. Hall, 108 N. C. 489, in which it was held that defendant under arrest in a civil action might take the insolvent debtor's oath before judgment and be released. That nearly disposed of what was left by the constitution of 1868 of imprisonment for debt, even in cases of fraud. A second im- portant case was 126 N. C. 689, in which it was held that all fines imposed by mayors or other police courts should be paid to the school fund and not to the town treasuries. This has already put many hundreds of thousands of dollars into the school funds. Mr. Hicks has always regarded the case of Gattis vs. Kilgo as the longest and best fight he ever made. He had choice of sides and chose defendant. It was a "seven years war"' of acute publie interest all the time; was four times in Supreme Court and five times fiereely fought be- fore Judges Bryan, Hoke, Shaw, W. R. Allen and Fred Moore. As an individual victory in court he has probably derived the greatest satisfaction from a second degree verdiet for a negro for killing a white woman, when nearly every man in the county except the jury and the attorney thought the murderer should be hanged. Among other notable cases were the Rowland and Barbee murder cases. Mr. Hicks has enjoyed very pleasant professional associations with his brother Archibald in Gran- ville, Tasker Polk in Warren, and W. M. Person in Franklin. Mr. Hicks has wisely chosen numerous diversions and avocations, vacations and travel in summer, but none of them has he allowed to inter- fere with his professional duties. His motto is: "This one thing I do."
There would be a distinct loss in attempting to describe his experiences in politics and personal religion in anything but his own words.
"Between October 14th and election day 1878 I heard General A. M. Scales and A. W. Tourgee speak in a contest for a seat in Congress. My mind was wide open. I had never heard any political speeches except by Vance and Settle, just two years before. Tourgee convinced me I ought to vote for him. My father said no. I voted for Scales. In 1899 and 1890 I was elected mayor of Hender- son. In 1892 I was persuaded to be a candidate for the Legislature against a populist and a negro. I beat the populist and the negro beat mne. That fall I promised my populist friends (nearly all the
country people were populists then) that if the democrats attained power and did not 'give relief' I would quit them. In August, 1894, Mr. Cleveland published that 'the deadly blight of treason had blasted the counsels of the brave in their hour of might.' And yet-'I do remember my faults this day'-in 1896 I followed the 'cross of gold and erown of thorns' to an open grave on which, when filled, I never planted a flower. In 1900 the demo- cratic party of North Carolina jumped the fences of constitution and the law and put itself at large. I refer to its legislative electoral and amnesty acts of 1899, 1900 and 1901, and the election re- turns of August, 1900, as compared with the census returns of that year, as proximate and just causes of my final severing relations with that party. Since that time I have been a republican in politics. I like its principles and policies and am sure the change had made me a better man. Many a time since then I have thought of the incongruousness of North Carolina democrats ealling themselves by that name. Often in business, in my opinions of men, in the law and in other matters, have I en- joyed greatly the discovery that I have been mistaken, and the privilege of moving to stations of better vision. Courage is required to make these changes of mental base, but the results are worth the efforts. I believe living under the false pretense of believing something one does not be- lieve, damages the mind and character.
"In May, 1909, the President stated that he would nominate me to the Senate for Judge of the United States for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The Constitution, for the love of which I had left the democratic party, required the ad- vice and consent of the Senate. That advice and consent the then North Carolina locum tenens de- clined to give; for had he not led the party where the Constitution forbade me to follow? The result did not at all reduce my stock of happiness and prosperity. In 1910 the republicans tried to make me Chief Justice of the state, 91,000 of them; and all without a word from me."
Thus while his record of public office holding is not a long one, it is only due to say that Mr. Hicks has probably executed as many private trusts and many of them as long continued as any man of affairs of his time. Aside from his two terms as mayor of Henderson he was treasurer of a large bond issue and road fund; but publie offices are not the things that make his career interesting and of value now and to later gener- ations.
In attaining to a philosophy of living and an estimate of those things which constitute the "durable satisfactions of life" he says: "Read- ing has been to me a eoutinual pleasure. Poetry was the delight of my youth, fiction and humor of my young manhood, biography and the philoso- phy of religion, of my later years. The thought of Doctor Holmes when viewing the chambered nautilus 'comes to me o'er and o'er.' I am 'a part of all that I have met'; 'heir of all the ages.' Very happy though I have been and am in the en- joyment of these possessions, I have often grieved that I claimed and obtained so small a part of my inheritance. I acknowledge with gratitude the benefits received from my teacher, S. Simpson; and several admiring clients of my youth, now long dead, whose confidence gave me a start in life; above all to my father, who among many other helps, said over to me times without number: 'What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with thy
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God?' Long since he died I was pleased to read of this by T. H. Huxley in his Genesis vs. Nature: 'This conception of religion appears to me as wonderful an inspiration of genius as the art of Phidias or the science of Aristotle. If any so- called religion takes away from this great saying of Micah, I think it wantonly mutilates. If it adds there, is obscures the perfect idea of religion * *
* And surely the prophet's staff would have made swift acquaintance with the head of the scholar who had asked him whether the Lord further required of him an implicit belief in the accuracy of the cosmogony of Genesis.'
"I am glad I have lived to see slavery and the sale of alcholic liquors abolished by law in North Carolina. I long to see the same freedom of thought and action in this state as exists in any other part of the American Union. And life has been such a joy to me that I want to live on for- ever. ''
LEMUEL SHOWELL BLADES, M. D. In consider- ing the men who have contributed most materially to the upbuilding of Elizabeth City as it is today, with flourishing industries, prosperous business con- cerns, modern civic facilities, educational institu- tions, religious opportunities and a refined, intel- lectual, cultured social life, a correct history will give great credit to Dr. Lemuel Showell Blades. For a quarter of a century Dr. Blades has been prominently identified with leading interests here, and at present is vice president of the First Na- tional Bank of Elizabeth City.
Lemuel Showell Blades was born at Bishopville, Maryland, September 9, 1866. His parents were Peter C. and Nancy E. Blades. His father was a sea captain, merchant and farmer, and the family was one of substance and importance.
From careful home and educational training the youth entered St. John's College, Annapolis, Mary- land, and from that historic institution was grad- uated in June, 1889, with the degree of B. S. He then pursued his medical studies in the University of Maryland, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D., in June, 1891. After practic- ing medicine at Berlin, Maryland, for 11/2 years, he entered upon a post-graduate course at his alma mater, in preparation for service as naval surgeon, his military training while in St. John's, perhaps, having awakened an ambition in this direction, and choice of sea service possibly being an in- herited echo from a sea-going father. While busy with his post-graduate studies, Doctor Blades ac- quired an interest in lumber in North Carolina which subsequently developed into large connec- tions. In March, 1893, he located at Elizabeth City, where he has ever since maintained his home, and from then until 1909 was mainly engaged in the lumber business.
In the above year Dr. Blades sold his lumber interests and accepted the presidency of the Nor- folk & Carolina Telephone & Telegraph Company of North Carolina, which is but one of the im- portant business enterprises of which he is either the official head or one of the alert and foresighted directors. He is president of the Norfolk & Caro- lina Telephone & Telegraph Company of Virginia; vice president of the First National Bank of Eliza- beth City; and is on the directing board of the Dixie Fire Insurance Company of Goldsboro; of the Savings Bank & Trust Company of Elizabeth City, and of the Seaboard National Bank of Nor- folk, Virginia.
Doctor Blades was married at Elizabeth City, North Carolina, September 18, 1895, to Miss Grace Melick, a daughter of the late Rev. P. W. Melick, and a sister of C. W. Melick, who is one of the leading merchants of Elizabeth City. Doctor and Mrs. Blades have four children: Charles Camden, James Evans, Melick West and Lemuel Showell Blades, Jr. Mrs. Blades is an accomplished mu- sician and is a leader in the city's pleasant social life. The Blades' handsome residence is one of the finest and best equipped in Elizabeth City and the hospitality that prevails in this beautiful home is well known. Mrs. Blades is an earnest worker not only in the Presbyterian Church, to which the family belongs, but takes an active part in temperance and charitable movements.
In his political views Doctor Blades has always been in accord with the democratic party, but in local affairs, when civic reforms are needed or movements of a progressive character for the gen- eral welfare are under way, he is liberal minded and public spirited to any extent and he heartily co-operates with other men of wealth and influence, with no political bias. He has served as president of the Elizabeth City Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the school board, and also is chairman of the local board of the State Normal School, Colored.
Doctor Blades served as surgeon of the North Carolina Naval Militia, 1906-7. He belongs to the Elks at Elizabeth City and is a member of the exclusive Virginia Club of Norfolk, Virginia, and also has membership with the order of the Woodmen of the World. Prior to the outbreak of the World war Doctor Blades and family en- . joyed an extended visit in Europe.
EDWIN FRANKLIN KILLETTE, who for many years has been engaged in the general contract- ing and building business, is the present mayor of Wilson, and in that office has shown the real possibilities of progressive leadership in getting substantial work accomplished.
Mr. Killette was elected mayor of Wilson in 1915 and after a two year term was re-elected in 1917. Since he became mayor Wilson has taken a great step in advance in the way of per- manent improvements. He has had the satis- faction of seeing ten miles of street paving laid, $32,000 expended on sidewalk construction, and street improvement of all classes aggregating an expenditure of $587,000. During his term also the municipal gas plant was built at a cost of $75,000, improvements to the amount of $145,000 were made on the waterworks plant and $80,000 on the light plant. Mayor Killette was for ten successive years a member of the city council and has been one of the active members of the fire department for thirty-one years and since 1913 has been fire chief.
He was born in Sampson County, North Caro- lina, August 27, 1866, a son of Lorin Delonzo and Eugenia (Wilkins) Killette. His father was a farmer and Mr. Killette grew up on a farm, attended the public schools, and in early life learned the trade of carpenter. From a journeyman workman he developed a business of his own as a general contractor and builder, and since 1899 his services have been employed in the construc- tion of many of the better homes, office buildings and other structures in this part of the state. Mr. Killette is president of the Wilson County
L. S. Blades.
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Poultry Association. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of American Mechanics, is a member of the Country Club and his church home is the Methodist Episcopal.
In June, 1892, he married Miss Eliabeth Pear- son, of Wayne County, North Carolina. They have three children : Wiley Pearson, Edwin Frank- lin, Jr., and Dorothy. Dorothy is now a student in Lewisburg College.
JOHN HENRY SPARGER is one of the few remain- ing veterans of the war between the states. Since the close of that great struggle his time and activi- ties have been chiefly devoted to the management of a large and splendid farm in Surry County, and he is still living there in advanced years among his children and grandchildren.
He was born in what is now Mount Airy Town- ship of Surry County, October 4, 1841. His great- grandfather was a planter and a life-long resident of Surry County, the family having been estab- lished here about the time of the Revolution. The grandfather, John Sparger, a native of Surry County, subsequently removed to Stokes County and bought a farm near Chestnut Ridge. On that place he had his home and his activities until his death in 1834. He married Sally Lyon. Her father, William Lyon, was a Surry County planter.
Murlin Sparger, father of John H., was born in Surry County May 15, 1817, and as a youth learned the trade of millwright and carpenter. After lo- cating at his home about four miles north of Mount Airy he continued following his trade and also did farming. Among his contemporaries there was hardly a better business man in Surry County. His success took the special direction of land holding, and he kept adding to his possessions until at one time he was owner of upwards of two thousand acres. About half of this large estate was across the line in the state of Virginia. His home was just half a mile south of the Virginia line and in Mount Airy Township. He died on November 16, 1877. Murlin Sparger married Bethania Cook, who was born near Westfield in Surry County January 4, 1817. Her father, John Cook, was born on a farm near Westfield and spent his entire life there. Mrs. Bethania Sparger died April 27, 1884. Her ten children were named Elizabeth, John Henry, William A., Margaret, Edith, James H., Frank, Priscilla, Mary E. and George W.
When not in school as a boy John Henry Sparger was working on his father's farm and early familiarized himself with the management of land on a large scale. At the first call for troops in 1861, when he was twenty years of age, he enlisted in Company I of the Twenty-first Regi- ment, North Carolina Troops. His regiment was part of Early's division and Ewell's corps. Mr. Sparger was present and took part in the first great battle of the war, Manassas, the results of which are known to every American schoolboy. After that with his regiment he participated in many of the more notable conflicts on the soil of Virginia, and at the battle of Seven Pines he was wounded. He remained with his regiment on duty until he was retired in the spring of 1865, and he arrived home just fifteen days before the final sur- render.
A courageous soldier, he proved a courageous citizen and did not hesitate to undertake the diffi- cult performance of the duties which confronted the returned Southern soldier. He began farm-
ing and in 1868 bought a place in Mount Airy township. That was his first home after his mar- riage, and he lived there until 1884, when he re- turned to the old homestead and eventually suc- ceeded to its ownership. Many years have been spent in the profitable task of general farming and stock raising. His farm contains 400 acres, both upland and valley, and while in the midst of picturesque surroundings it is also highly valuable and productive. His home occu- pies a position commanding an extended view of the Johnson Creek Valley and surrounding coun- try. The Virginia state line borders the farm on the north.
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