USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 15
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In 1870 Mr. Sparger married Ann Matilda Smith, who was born in Henry County, Virginia, September 17, 1844. Her grandfather, Drury Smith, was one of the wealthy old-time planters and owned upwards of 12,000 acres situated in four different counties. He not only looked after the management of this vast estate with the aid of his slaves but also engaged in the manufacture of tobacco and was a merchant, having stores in four or five different localities. When he was eighty-two years of age, still active in business, he made a journey to Danbury to transact some affairs. He rode horseback, and on the way had to ford the Dan River. On returning he found the stream very much swollen, but pushed his horse in and while in the current was swept from the horse and drowned. Drury Smith was twice mar- ried. His first wife, the grandmother of Mrs. Sparger, was Frances Pitcher. After her death he married the Widow Walker. Of the first union there were six children. Mrs. Sparger's father was George W. Smith, who was born in Rocking- ham County, North Carolina, and subsequently bought 1,100 acres of land in Mount Airy Town- ship. There he was a general farmer and tobacco manufacturer and had a large household of slaves. After the death of his wife he made his home with Mrs. Sparger and died in his ninety-second year. George W. Smith married Mary V. Smith, oldest daughter of Ned Smith and granddaughter of Drury Smith. She died at the age of sixty- seven, having reared children named Green, Tyler, Matilda, Eliza, Drury F. and Belle. The son Green died while a soldier in the Confederate Army.
Six children constitute the Sparger family cir- cle. Their names are John G., George M., Walter Munsey, Lilla, Emma V. and William Franklin. Emma, who married William Samuel Allred, died leaving seven children, named Albert, Samuel, John, Mary, Inez, Joseph and Edward. George M. married Dixie Ella Jackson, and their four children are Jack J., Mary Matilda, Edward and Glenn. Lilla is the wife of Tom Brown, and their children are named Annie, Isabel, Herbert, Murlin, Frank, Robert, Emma, Elbert and Jack. Walter Munsey married Annie Ashby and has three chil- dren, John W., Virginia and Janie.
Mrs. Sparger died May 25, 1917. She was an active member of the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Sparger is an active member of the same church and also keeps up with old time army comrades as a member of Mount Airy Camp of the United Confederate Veterans.
GEORGE J. MOORE. Among the shrines of history and patriotism of North Carolina few have been more zealously preserved and are richer in the lessons of patriotism and loyalty than the old scene of the Moore's Creek Bridge at which was
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fought on February 27, 1776, the first decisive American victory in the State of North Carolina, in the War of the Revolution. Moore's Creek was named for the Moore family, and the battle at the bridge was planned and its execution directed by Gen. James Moore, although he was not actually present at the battle. The patriot troops there were commanded by General Lillington and General Caswell. Moore's Creek battleground lies in what is now Pender County, originally a part of New Hanover County, on Moore's Creek less than half a mile from the Village of Currie. It is on the old Wilmington and Fayetteville State Road. It was while taking this route from Cross Creek to Wil- mington to join Lord Cornwallis and Clinton at Wilmington, that the British and Tory forces under General McDonald met the American patriots at Moore's Creek Bridge and were utterly routed. Eight hundred and fifty prisoners were captured, entailing the loss of only thirty American soldiers and General McLeod. Thus this became the first decisive American victory of the war in this state.
In order to provide a permanent memorial of this historic event and the place of its occurrence, there was organized in 1895, and chartered by the state the Moore's Creek Battle Ground Association. The land embracing the battle ground was acquired by the association and the work of its improvement and adornment was begun at once. An appropria- tion of $500 per year is received from the state for the use of the park, aud a lump appropriation of $5,000 was attained from the National Govern- ment. The battleground, consisting of thirty-five acres, has been made into a beautiful park, adorned with several appropriate monuments and with a pavilion where, among other gatherings, the annual celebration of the battleground and their friends is held. The land has been ditched and drained so that it is kept in perfect condition. The curbs and culverts are of corrugated steel, the roads through the park are the best that can be made, there is an ample supply of seats for visitors, and the gardening and landscaping are cared for per- manently throughout the year. The park is a beautiful and delightful place to all visitors, and is a rallying ground for loyal revolutionary descend- ants.
The first president of Moore's Creek Battle Ground Association was the late Hon. James Fulton Moore, who served in that capacity for fourteen years. To commemorate his memory and his services a monument has been erected on the grounds. James Fulton Moore was a son of James Pettigrew Moore and a grandson of Gen. James Moore above mentioned. He lived all his life at Currie. He was born February 14, 1852, and died July 11, 1912.
His successor in the office of president of the Battle Ground Association is Mr. George J. Moore of Atkinson, Pender County. He was born No- vember 24, 1860, on the Moore plantation on Black River, three miles west of the present Town of Atkinson in what was then New Hanover County, now Pender County. He is a son of Joel L. and Anne Eliza (Hawes) Moore, and is a great-grandson of the Gen. James Moore already referred to. His grandfather was Capt. James Moore, who served with that rank in an infantry regiment in the War of 1812. His sword now adorns the wall of the State Historical Museum at Raleigh. Capt. James Moore was only twelve years old when the Battle of Moore's Bridge was fought. Joel L. Moore was born at Currie, North Carolina, a mile from the battleground, in 1819.
Gen. James Moore was a native of the Lower Cape Fear country and within a few miles of where George Moore was born and reared and still lives the Moores have had their homes continuously since long before the Revolution. Their ancestry is Scotch-Irish and English, and the family has given some of the greatest men to North Carolina. On other pages of this publication will be found references and other interesting details concerning the family and its individual characters.
George J. Moore was elected president of the Battle Ground Association in 1912, and has since labored faithfully in that capacity to keep up the splendid appearance of the grounds, inaugurate and maintain permanent improvements, and do all that is possible to make this a scene of beauty and adornment and one that teaches and impresses the deepest lessons of patriotism and love of country. Mr. Moore is himself a man who has always had the greatest reverence for those great and noble ancestors through whose bravery and self sacrifice the American colonies obtained their liberty.
Mr. Moore was educated under the best of private tutors at the Moore plantation. His own chief oc- cupation has been planting and farming. In Sep- tember, 1916, he removed from his plantation to the Town of Atkinson, and in 1918 built there a beautiful modern home that is an almost exact replica of the old Moore plantation house. In fact much of the material entering into its construction was brought from the old house, including all the fine old doors and doorways, windows, lintels, and mantels. The frame work such as the corner posts, etc., hewn out of the longleaf heart pine years and years ago for the old house are utilized in the new, and are in just as good condition as they were when first put in the old structure. The corner posts are wonderful specimens of the sturdy char- acter of the old time construction. They are "rabbetted " out by hand and mortised and pegged entirely. No nails were used in the original structure. This splendid building affords a most fitting home for Mr. Moore and his interesting family, who afford him his greatest pleasure in life. Mrs. Moore before her marriage was Miss Mary Rebecca Murphy, daughter of the late James Archibald Murphy and member of one of the old families of the Lower Cape Fear country. Judge J. D. Murphy of Asheville, a brilliant lawyer and one of the towering intellects of the state, is her cousin. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have five children: Murphy Alexander Moore, Miss Mildred G. Moore, George J. Jr., Estelle Oberry Moore and Charles P. Moore.
In keeping with his ancestry and his own attain- ments Mr. Moore has borne an active part in public affairs. This interest has been especially manifested in those things that concern his com- munity and .county. He has advocated all wise and progressive measures in public improvement that are for the present and future benefit of the people. He has been an uncompromising friend of the state stock law. Above all he is convinced of the tremendous importance of education and especially of that education which makes men and women in- telligent. For many years he has served as county commissioner, being first elected to the office in 1903 and serving eight years. He was again elected in 1916, so that he is the present incumbent of the office. Mr. Moore has been called upon and to the extent of his ability has responded in services of a patriotic nature in connection with the needs of the present war period.
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ROBERT WALKER SMITH, M. D. In a calling in which advancement depends upon individual merit and skill, Dr. Robert Walker Smith, of Hertford, has won a very enviable position and in his practice shows a thorough and comprehensive understand- ing of the principles of medical and surgical sci- ence and adaptability for the needs of suffering humanity. His work has received the endorsement not only of a large and representative practice, but also that of the general public and of the civil and national government, and at various times he has been called to fill positions of official im- portance and responsibility, of honor and of trust. .
Doctor Smith was born at Hertford, March 27, 1868, and with the exception of the period of his college career his entire life has been passed here. His parents were Dr. Josiah Townsend and Mary Ann (Shannonhouse) Smith, and much of his med- ical inclination and ability were doubtless in- herited from his father, who was for years one of the leading physicians of this section. After at- tending the public schools Robert W. Smith en- tered the University of North Carolina, where he took a two-year academic course. After gradua- tion he was offered the place of house physician to the Bay View Hospital at Baltimore, which, how- ever, he declined to accept. His medical studies were further pursued at the University of Mary- land, where in 1892 he graduated from the med- ical department with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and at once he opened an office at Hert- ford, where he has since remained in the enjoy- ment of a constantly increasing practice and of a growing and substantial reputation. His offices are located on the top floor of his two-story brick building, 30 by 70 feet, on the main floor is his complete and up-to-date drug store, in addition to which he owns other business buildings and city realty. He has various interests of a business character and is vice president of the Farmers Bank and Trust Company. In addition to his private practice Doctor Smith is local surgeon at Hertford for the Norfolk & Southern Railroad; is chairman of the local board of examining sur- geons, of which R. H. Welch is clerk; is an ex- superintendent of public health and an ex-coroner, and is a member of the local United States exam- iners for conscription into the new National army. Doctor Smith belongs to the North Carolina Med- ical Society and the Tri-County Medical Society, and belongs also to the Masons and to the Delta Kappa Epsilon of the University of North Caro- lina. With a nature that could never content itself with mediocrity, he has advanced to a foremost position in the ranks of his profession, having the confidence and admiration of the public and his professional associates, and his life record shows the force of his character and the strength of a laudable ambition.
Doctor Smith was married October 23, 1894, to Miss Anna Belle Whaley, of Maryland, and they have one daughter, Anna Whaley, attending school. Doctor and Mrs. Smith belong to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, in which he is junior warden, and both are active in religious work, the doctor being a member of the executivo board of mis- sions for the district of Eastern North Carolina.
THEODORE ADOLPHUS HINNANT. Since 1907, a period of ten years, Mr. Hinnant has been city clerk of Wilson. Beforo entering that office he had proved his ability at a technical trade and in business affairs, and has proved a leader in
those progressive forces which are making Wil- son one of the modern municipalities of North Carolina. A brief reference to the major im- provements made since he has been in city office is in order. About $330,000 have been expended in making the streets modern city thoroughfares. A gas plant was erected at a cost of $75,000, $145,000 were expended in waterworks improve- ments, while $80,000 were invested in a light plant. With all these improvements he has had to do in some official capacity.
He was born in Wilson County, North Caro- lina, March 11, 1873, a son of John Thomas and Bathana (Fulgham) Hinnant. His father was a merchant and also operated a large farm. Mr. Hinnant grew up partly on his father's farm and partly around the store, attended the public schools at Smithfield, and also the Rockridge Academy. As a youth he learned the trade of machinist, and subsequently for four years sold machinery throughout the South. He retired from the road upon his election as city clerk in 1907 and has since given a rigid and strict attention to the duties of that office.
Mr. Hinnant is a York Rite Mason and a mem- ber of Sudan Temple of the Mystic Shine. He also belongs to the Junior Order of United Amer- ican Mechanics, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is a director of the Rotary Club, and is a deacon and member of the finance commit- tee of the First Christian Church.
On July 24, 1895, he married Miss Elizabeth Jeannette Barnes, of Wilson. Five sons have been borne to their union: Carl Settle, Glaucus Graham, Edwin L., Paul Anderson and Theodore Adolphus, Jr.
ARISTIDES S. HARRISON, M. D. Halifax Coun- ty has known and appreciated the work of Doctor Harrison for over thirty-five years, not only as a capable physician and surgeon but also as the educator who was largely responsible for giving the county a system of graded schools.
Doctor Harrison was born in Brunswick Coun- ty, Virginia, December 1, 1864, a son of George and Ellen Alice (Smith) Harrison. His father was an educator and a minister of the Episcopal Church. Doctor Harrison was educated in the McCabe University School at Petersburg, Vir- ginia, and at the age of sixteen came to North Carolina. For three years he taught in the com- mon schools and for twelve years was county superintendent of public instruction in Halifax County. During his early teaching experience in this county there was not a single graded school aud most of the education was supplied by means of privato schools. He kept up an active cam- paign until he saw the graded school movement well started, and since entering his profession has continued his interest in the local schools and for sixteen years has been secretary of the Enfield graded schools, since they were first or- ganized. At the present time Halifax County has good graded schools at Enfield, Scotland Neck, Weldon and Roanoke Rapids. There are modern schoolhouses in each of these localities, and the schoolbuilding at Enfield cost $23,000.
Doctor Harrison was graduated in medicine from the University of Maryland in 1888, and has also taken post-graduate work in the Uni- versity of North Carolina. He has been a prom-
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1
inent and successful physician of the county for nearly thirty years. For teu years he was sec- retary of the towu board of commissioners at Enfield. He is a member and president of the Halifax County Medical Society, aud also be- longs to the North Carolina State Medical Socie- ty and the American Medical Association.
Doctor Harrison is vice president of the Bank of Enfield and president of the Harrison Drug Company. He is senior wardeu and lay reader in the Episcopal Church, and is both a Scottish and York Rite Masou, being past master of the lodge, past high priest of the Royal Arch Chap- ter, past emiuent commander of the Knights Templar, and has attained the thirty-second de. gree in the Scottish Rite and is a member of the Mystic Shrine.
November 14, 1896, Doctor Harrison married Miss Katie Wilson Curtis, of Enfield. They have two children, Dorothy Curtis and William Bur. well.
WILLIAM S. TAYLOR, M. D. In point of con- tinuous service Dr. Taylor is one of the oldest physicians of North Carolina. His work has been done in one community, Mount Airy in Surry County, and some of the children he attended there at the beginning of his practice now have chil- dren of their own and in some cases grandchil- dren. Dr. Taylor has proved a valuable citizen as well as a conscientious and able physician.
Dr. Taylor is a native of North Carolina, and his people all came from Virginia. He was born at Dobson in Stokes County in 1850. His grand- father, William Taylor, was a prominent citizen of Henry County, Virginia, where he had large bodies of land and operated them with his slaves. It is believed that he was a native of Bottetourt County, Virginia. William Taylor was a man of unusual talents, was well educated, and his per- sonal integrity was such, combined with his good judgment, that he was frequently called upon to administer estates and serve as guardian for minors. He married Catherine Hill, and both lived to a good old age. They were members of the Methodist Church and were very loyal to that faith and reared their children in the same. Their children were Samuel H., Spottswood, Jack, Wil- liam, Lucy and Kittie.
Samuel Hill Taylor, father of Dr. Taylor, was born near Trailersville in Henry County, Virginia, and as a young man moved to Stokes County, North Carolina, locating at Germanton when it was the county seat. For ten years he served as clerk of the courts. During the war he was cap- tain of a Home Guards organization, and after the close of hostilities he removed to Mount Airy and was elected sheriff of Surry County. For many years he was engaged in the mercantile busi- ness. At that time High Point was the nearest railroad station and all produce was hauled from that depot to surrounding rural centers. Samuel H. Taylor lived at Mount Airy until his death in 1892, at the age of seventy-three. He married Eliza J. Davis, who died in her eightieth year. She was born on a plantation on the Dan River in Stokes County, near Danbury. Her father, James Davis, was also a native of Stokes County, was a planter and slave owner, and probably spent all his life in Stokes County, where he died in 1865. James Davis married Emily McAnally. Samuel H. Taylor and wife reared four sons: James, William Samuel, John S., Charles Walter,
and three daughters, Lucy, Bettie and Jennie. The son James was a Confederate soldier and is now living at Clarksville, Tennessee. John S. died in Texas. Charles Walter is living at Yaukee Hill in California.
Dr. Taylor grew up in Stokes Couuty and his early education was in private schools. He also attended high school at Mount Airy. In 1864, when only fourteen years of age, he ran away from home and went to Virginia for the purpose of joining Morgan's command. His father fol- lowed him and brought him home, thus quenching his early ardor to become a soldier.
When the time came to decide upon a definite career, he determined upon medicine and began its study under Drs. J. and William Hollingsworth. From their offices he entered the Jefferson Medi- cal College at Philadelphia, where he completed the course and graduated M. D. in 1873. In the same year he returned to Mount . Airy and began the practice which has now continued for forty- four years. In 1876 Dr. Taylor established the first drug store of Mount Airy, and continued its operations under his management thirty-four years. His services to the profession and com- munity have been such as to entitle him to the high esteem in which he is held. For several years he acted as health officer for Mount Airy, and has been local surgeon for the Southern Railway since its line was completed to Mount Airy. Dr. Tay- lor is a member of the Surry County, North Caro- lina State and Tri-State Medical societies and the American Medical Association. He and his wife are members of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and during his young manhood he became affiliated with the Masonic order, the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
Dr. Taylor was married in 1879 to Virginia Banner, who was born at Mount Airy, daughter of William M. and Catherine (Whitlock) Banner. Dr. Taylor and wife have reared five children: Charles W., Catherine, Lucy, Carrie and Willie, the last two being deceased. Charles W. married Lizzie Jones and has three children, named Carrie, Mary and William. Catherine is the wife of W. O. Howard, a well kuown attorney at Tarboro, and their two children are named Catherine and Page. Lucy is the wife of W. W. Burke, and they have two daughters, named Virginia and Willie, and two sons, Marion and Edwin.
An interesting experience befell Dr. Taylor some years ago. A few days after the assassina- tion of Governor Gobel at Frankfort, Kentucky, Dr. Taylor and his cousin, S. G. Pace, visited Lex- ington, Kentucky, on business. They registered at the Phoenix Hotel. Kentucky's incumbent gov- ernor was then a fugitive from justice. It will be recalled that his name was also W. S. Taylor. A report soon circulated through Frankfort that Governor Taylor was registered at the Phoenix. A crowd gathered for the purpose of apprehend- ing the fugitive. The hotel clerk did not choose to divulge the truth, and it was only when Dr. Taylor appeared that the clerk called the leader of the crowd and pointed out Dr. Taylor as the man whose name was on the hotel register. The crowd quickly dispersed.
JOSEPH REDINGTON CHAMBERLAIN. To the up- building of some of North Carolina's most im- portant industries Joseph Redington Chamberlain has given the best years of his active life. He has lived in this state upwards of thirty years, and
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
came to North Carolina originally as an educator. For several years after the opening of the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, he was at the head of its department of agriculture live stock and dairying. He entered that service in 1889, and the previous year was agriculturist of the North Carolina Experiment Station.
He was born at Kanona, New York, September 22, 1861, and acquired a liberal and technical edu- cation, receiving his scientific degree from Cornell University. It was immediately after his gradua- tion from Cornell that he came to North Carolina. Though he gave up his chair in the Agricultural and Mechanical College after a few years, Mr. Chamberlain has always found a practical use for his scientific knowledge in the special lines of business to which he has devoted himself.
He was one of the first among North Carolina's progressive citizens to engage in the manufacture of fertilizers. He is now president of the Cra- leigh Phosphate and Fertilizer Works. This is the only concern in North Carolina manufacturing its own potash at its Utah plant, and has one of the most complete fertilizer plants of its kind in the country. The company also turns out all grades of fertilizers, manufacturing in its various sub- sidies between fifty and sixty thousand tons every year. Mr. Chamberlain showed his resourcefulness when the supply of potash was cut off during the war in Europe, and he soon found the raw material to make as good potash as the world produces to fill the place of the formerly imported product, so that the output of the company has increased during the past three years.
Mr. Chamberlain is president of the Farmers' Cotton Oil Company of Wilson, North Carolina, of the Kanona Company, Incorporated, the Farmers Guano Company of Norfolk, Virginia, is president and a large stockholder in the Cara- leigh Cotton Mills of Raleigh, and vice president of the Raleigh Cotton Mills, and vice president and one of the founders of the Capudine Chemical Company. He is also a director in the Raleigh Banking and Trust Company.
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