USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 16
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His early training and scientific interests in agricultural problems have kept him intensely alert as to every advance in industrial methods in North Carolina farm life, and he is himself the owner of over 800 acres near Method, and spends some of his happiest hours on that farm looking after its management and enjoying country life. He is an ardent fisherman and a lover of all that nature has to offer.
During the thirty years he has spent in Raleigh he has been aligned with every progressive move- ment for the upbuilding of its industrial and civic resources. He is a member of the Seaton Gales Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Capital Club, the Country Club, the Rotary Club and the Milburnie Fishing Club.
In 1891 Mr. Chamberlain married Miss Hope Summerell of Salisbury, North Carolina. Their children are: Miss Mary Mitchell Chamberlain, Jesse Mark, John Summerell and Joseph Redington Chamberlain, Jr.
HENRY M. JOHN. A former member of the North Carolina Legislature, aud long prominent in public affairs in Robeson County, Henry M. John resides at Lumber Bridge, where he has some extensive interests in planting and lumber manufacture. His business and citizenship have been' outstanding facts that have earned him a
generous measure of public esteem and apprecia- tion, and he is one of several members of what has been a truly notable family in North Carolina.
Mr. John was born at Blenheim, Marlboro County, North Carolina, in' 1857, son of James Thomas and Margaret (MacRae) John. . His great- grandfather, Griffith John, was one of three broth- ers who emigrated from Wales and settled in Pennsylvania. Griffith John and another brother prior to the Revolution moved to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. His son, Daniel John, married Mary Spears and they were parents of Captain James Thomas John, who was born in Marlboro County in 1825. He was captain of militia in Marlboro County, but enlisted in the Confederate army as a private. He was in all branches of the service, first in the Heavy Coast Artillery, then in the Light Artillery and finally in the Cavalry and Infantry. He rose to the rank of lieutenant and at different times commanded his company as captain. He was accorded a high place as a brave and efficient soldier and officer. After the war in 1866 he moved to what is now Scotland County, North Carolina, and the com- munity where he located has long been known as John, a station on the Atlantic Coast Line in the southeastern part of Scotland County. His wife's estate embraced a large body of unimproved land in that locality and Captain John did much to clear it up and put it under cultivation. He be- came a successful farmer and a man of wealth and influence. It has been a tradition in the John family for generations to emphasize education, and all the children of Captain John received the best of college and professional training. Captain John died in 1910. He and his wife were married in 1856. His wife was a member of one of the prominent Scotch families of North Carolina.
Henry M. John was nine years old when in 1866 the family moved to what is now Scotland County, North Carolina, and he grew up on the old planta- tion at the Village of John. Besides his educa- tion in the local schools he attended the University of North Carolina one year. After reaching man- hood he started farming for himself at Rowland in Robeson County and was located there until 1905, when he established his present home 11/2 miles south of Lumber Bridge in Lumber Bridge Township. Mr. John's plantation comprises 550 acres, constituting a high class farm and also con- taining much valuable timber land. Mr. John operates a lumber mill and cotton gin in addition to actively supervising the growing and cultiva- tion of large crops.
A number of times his fellow citizens have honored him with public trust and position. He served as a member of the board of county com- missioners of Robeson County from 1898 to 1902, four years. He was elected to represent the county in the Lower House of the State Legislature in 1906. His was a most creditable record in the notable session of 1907 when the state prohibition law was enacted and when the railroad question was a dominant issue. Mr. John is a member of the Lumber Bridge Presbyterian Church.
He has a splendid family. He married Miss Effie Neill, of Robeson County. All their children have been well educated, and are briefly noted with their names: Daniel R., who attended Oak Ridge Institute; Mrs. Kittie Sparger, a graduate of Guilford College; Lacy John, a graduate of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh; Cora, a graduate of the State Normal and Indus-
.
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trial Institute at Greensboro; Miss Margaret, who was also a student at the State Normal; and W. C. John, now attending Trinity College.
RAYMOND CROMWELL DUNN. One of the lead- ing lawyers of Halifax County, located at En- field, Raymond C. Dunn's professional ability is supplemented by the sturdy citizenship which has made him known and popular throughout that section of North Carolina.
He was born at Scotland Neck, North Caro- lina, November 16, 1882, son of James Leonidas and Dorothy Marian ( Arington) Dunn. Mr. Dunn acquired his education in the Vine Hill Academy and the Scotland Neck Military School, and from there entered Wake Forest College, where he graduated from the law department in 1903, be- fore he was twenty-one years of age. As soon as he was qualified by admission to the bar he began practice at Enfield, and has enjoyed many influential associations with the business and pro- fessional affairs of that community. He is at- torney for the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line Railways, is a director of the Bank of Enfield and the Commercial and Farmers Bank, and is a member in good standing of the North Carolina Bar Association. Mr. Dunn is a trustee of the Baptist Church and is now serving as chairman of the Enfield School Board. He is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine.
October 18, 1905, he married Miss Stella Pip- pen. They have one child, Dorothy Marion.
OSCAR E. SNOW. A popular and prosperous attorney of Pilot Mountain and a highly respected and influential citizen, Oscar E. Snow is a native born son of Surry County, his birth having oc- curred February 18, 1874, on a farm in Dobson Township. His father, Jordan H. Snow, was born in Patrick County, Virginia, in 1829.
Brought up on a farm, Jordan H. Snow was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits in his early man- hood, but subsequently changed his occupation, be- coming a manufacturer of tobacco. Soon after the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted in the Confederate army, and continued in service until a short time before the close of the conflict. Being then captured by the enemy, he was confined as a prisoner of war until given his parole, when he returned to his home. Migrating to North Carolina in 1868, he located in Dobson Township, purchasing the plantation on which he has since resided, and on which he has made many im- provements of value. He married Laura Wil- liams, who was born in Rockford Township, Surry County, a daughter of Thomas Jackson and Win- nie (Somers) Williams. She died at the age of forty-four years, leaving nine children, as follows: J., Lula, Oscar E., Walter, Lela, Elbert, Conder, Hettie and Ulmer.
Gaining his first knowledge of books in the dis- trict school of his native township, Oscar E. Snow subsequently continued his studies at Fairview College, and at the academies in Boonville and Siloam. Desirous of entering the legal profession, he then began the study of law with Judge A. C. Avery, and after his admission to the bar, in 1896, opened an office at Pilot Mountain. Soon after the declaration of the Spanish-American war, on April 30, 1898, Mr. Snow's patriotic ardor being awakened, he enlisted in Company K, First North Carolina Volunteer Infantry, which had the dis- tinction of being the first regiment to enter the
City of Havana. Being honorably discharged from the service on April 30, 1899, he returned to his home. Soon after, wishing to review his studies and further advance his legal knowledge, Mr. Snow entered the law department of Wake Forest College. Completing the course of study in that institution, he resumed his practice at Pilot Moun- tain, and in the time that has since elapsed has built up a large and highly satisfactory practice.
Mr. Snow married January 1, 1905, Miss Laura M. Fulp, who was born on a farm in Long Hill Township, a daughter of J. G. and Zilpha Fulp. Mr. and Mrs. Snow are the parents of six daugh- ters, namely: Wilma, Ethel, Gertrude, Eva, Leoda and Christine. Mrs. Snow is a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church. Fraternally Mr. Snow belongs to Pilot Mountain Council No. 194, Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He takes great interest in public affairs, and has served as mayor of Pilot Mountain and as chairman and secretary of the local school board. At the pres- ent time, in 1917, he is an active member of the Surry County Board of Education.
HON. CHARLES P. MATHESON, president of the Bank of Alexander at Taylorsville, a member of the State Senate in 1917, has been the personal medium through which the wholesome characteris- tics of an old and well known family of this section of North Carolina have expressed themselves in the present generation and to the good and welfare of the county and state.
Senator Matheson was born at Taylorsville in Alexander County in 1875. The Mathesons are one of the oldest families of prominence in the county. His great-great-grandfather named Donald Matheson was born in Scotland and with two brothers came from their native city of Edin- burgh to America. Later, some years before the Revolutionary war, he removed to North Carolina, and located near the present Town of Taylorsville. His location was then in Iredell County, a portion of which was subsequently taken to constitute a part of Alexander County. The Mathesons have lived in this community continuously since that time. Most of them have had their homes within a mile and a half or two miles of Taylorsville and some of them in the Town of Taylorsville since it was established. Mr. Matheson's great-grand- father was also named Donald Matheson. His grandfather, William Matheson, also spent his life in Alexander County.
Charles P. Matheson is the youngest son of Robert Partee and Martha Clarissa (Carson) Matheson, the former now deceased and the latter still living. His father, the late Hon. Robert P. Matheson, was a man of prominence and distinc- tion in his day. During the war he was clerk of the court of Alexander County and discharged a number of other government duties during that period. After the war he filled other public of- fices in both county and state, and for several terms represented the county in the State Legis- lature. His death occurred at Taylorsville in 1909. One of his brothers, the late Pink Matheson of Watauga County, was for many years a leading figure in the affairs of that county and filled many public positions of trust and importance. He is remembered by all who knew him for his distinctive and attractive characteristics, his education and wide reading, his powers as an interesting con- versationalist and master of anecdote and reminis- cence, a typical gentleman of that period, always very punctual and precise in his habits of life and elegant in his attire. There were several other
RS Wells
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
brothers and sisters of the late Robert P. Matheson, and they and their children were and are people of prominence and achievement.
Senator Matheson's mother is a member of the Carson family of Iredell County, early settlers and pioneers of the Piedmont section of North Caro- lina. It is well authenticated that the famous scout, Kit Carson, a member of this family, was born in Iredell County about eight miles north of Statesville.
Charles P. Matheson received his early education in the local schools of Taylorsville and spent three and a half years in Davidson College. It was perhaps a matter of ancestral inheritance that when only a youth he became interested in politics and has had quite a career in that field. He con- tinued to be one of the most popular men in this section of the state, wielding a strong influence in politics and business, a leader of his community, and with a host of warm admirers and followers. For four years he was sheriff of Alexander County and after that was clerk of the court for six years, although his party was in the minority. In 1916 he was elected state senator for the Senatorial District embracing Alexander, McDowell, Burke and Caldwell counties. During the session of 1917 Mr. Matheson was member of the Finance Committee and member of the Appropriations and other important committees. He is serving his third appointment as one of the directors of the State Hispitals for the Insane and feels that he is doing more real work for humanity in this way than in any other work he has been engaged in. He likes the work and feels that he is giving time, interest and energy to a great work.
In business affairs his most prominent connection is with the Bank of Alexander at Taylorsville, of which he has been president since 1912. His management of this bank has been so popular and successful that notwithstanding Taylorsville is a good sized town, county seat of a good county, and does the banking business for a large extent of territory, including the important industries of Taylorsville, no one has seemed to find it a good opening to establish a rival bank. The presence of half a dozen competing financial institutions could not improve the fine courtesy and the accommoda- tion to the public with which Mr. Matheson con- ducts the bank. The Bank of Alexander was founded by one of Mr. Matheson's uncles, the late W. B. Matheson, who was its president for a number of years.
Prior to entering the banking field, Mr. Matheson was in the roller mill and cotton mill business at Taylorsville, being president of the Watts Manu- facturing Company operating the mill now owned by the Liledoun Manufacturing Company.
Various other interests occupy his time. He is engaged in farming and believes in full blooded stock. He is chief owner and president of the Davis Springs Hotel at Hiddenite, Alexander County, six miles from Taylorsville. This is a noted health resort and watering place and every summer is crowded with tourists. Mr. Matheson and his mother make this their summer home.
REDMOND STANLEY WELLS has for forty-five years been identified with business affairs at Elm City, and has taken the lead in many movements that have created a larger prosperity and possi- bilities of progress for that community. Mr. Wells was born in Nash County, North Carolina, July 18, 1848, son of Redmond Daniel and Emma (Tay- lor) Wells. His father was a planter and the son
grew up on the home farm until he was twenty- one, in the meantime having the advantages of both public and private schools. On leaving his father's farm he worked as clerk in a general store for a year and then became associated with W. S. Parker, under the firm name of Parker & Wells, then conducting a general store at Joynes.
After six years Mr. Wells moved to Elm City in 1872 and since 1876 has been in business for himself, proprietor of a large general store that has always carried a stock of goods fully com- mensurate with the needs and demands of the growing community around the town. Mr. Wells was also one of the organizers of the Toisnot Bank- ing Company of Elm City and has been its presi- dent since 1901. He is a director of the Under- writers' Fire Insurance Company of Rocky Mount, and with all the heavy responsibilities he has car- ried as a business man has never neglected the well being of the community in which he lives. He has served in the office of alderman and for years was a member of the graded school board. He is an active member and steward of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South.
April 6, 1881, Mr. Wells married Bettie Mercer, of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. They have one son, William Mercer Wells, who has already attained an enviable position in business affairs. He was born May 18, 1884, was graduated from Trinity College at Durham in 1907, and then re- turned to Elm City and for two years was assistant cashier in the Toisnot Banking Company and is still a director of that company. His main busi- ness is farming, and with his father he owns and cultivates 1,800 acres of land. He is president of the Carolina Land Company and has served as a member of the City Commission of Elm City. He is a York Rite Mason and Shriner and belongs to the Greek Letter fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha.
JAMES LEWIS EVANS, who has achieved some of the success which his attainments and natural abilities justified in the profession of law, is a native son of Pitt County and is located in prac- tice at Greenville.
He was born in Greenville, Pitt County, August 22, 1889, a son of William Franklin and Anne M. (Sermons) Evans. His father died when he was two years old and he was brought up on the farm by his uncle, James (Tobe) Evans. James L. Evans was educated in the grammar and high schools of Greenville, attended the Uni- versity of North Carolina one year, and took his law course in Wake Forest College. He left that school in August, 1912, and has since been busy in building up a general practice as a law- yer at Greenville. Mr. Evans is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Im- proved Order of Red Men, and the Woodmen of the World.
On April 26, 1911, he married Miss Novella Tucker, of Pitt County. Mrs. Evans died Deceni- her 4, 1913, leaving a daughter, Margaret Gold Evans.
On May 4, 1918, Mr. Evans enlisted as yeoman in the Navy and is now in the service of his country.
HAROLD A. ROUZER. Possessing a remarkable aptitude for business, being keen and alert to take advantage of opportunities, and broad and bright enough to handle the affairs of the various organi- zations of which he is at the head, Harold A. Rouzer is numbered among the representative citi-
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
zens of Salisbury and is one of the most active and prominent business men of the city, being treasurer and manager of the Rowan Hardware and Machine Company and president not only of the Rouzer Garage Company and the Salisbury Chamber of Commerce, but of the Young Men's Christian Association of Salisbury. A son of Charles A. Rouzer, he was born at Pen Mar, Frank- lin County, Pennsylvania, of French ancestry.
His paternal great-grandfather, a native of France, came with a brother to America, and hav- ing located in Taneytown, Maryland, established a tannery and operated it the remainder of his life. The brother who accompanied him to this country was a lawyer by profession, and after settling in Baltimore, Maryland, met with great success in his legal career, becoming a Federal judge.
Simon Peter Rouzer, Mr. Rouzer's grandfather, was born, bred and educated in Taneytown, Mary- land. He was a man of versatile talent, indus- trious and enterprising, and a few years after his marriage moved with his family to Pennsylvania. Buying a tract of land in Franklin County, he established the town of Rouzerville, and subse- quently engaged in various lines of industry. He opened a general store, putting in a large stock of merchandise, and was also engaged in agricul- tural pursuits, having cleared and improved a farm in that vicinity. Never letting an opportu- nity for advancing his interests slip, he made a business of buying standing timber, and by the use of portable saw mills converted the huge giants of the forest into lumber, which he sold at a good profit, and likewise owned and operated a cannery, giving his personal attention to each of these in- dustries. He was a man of strong physical as well as mental power, and lived to a ripe old age, dying at his home in Rouzerville in 1916, aged eighty-two years. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Hawk, died in 1906. Of the seven chil- dren born of their union, two died when about eighteen years of age and five are living, as fol- lows: Charles A., Emma, Kate, Carrie and Clara.
Charles A. Rouzer was born, in 1861, at Taney- town, Maryland. At the age of sixteen years he entered the service of the Western Maryland Rail- road Company as telegraph operator, later being made train dispatcher. Resigning the position after a few years, he embarked in horticultural pursuits, first in Pennsylvania and later at Spring Hill, near Mobile, Alabama, raising different kinds of fruit. He is now living at Thomasville, Georgia, where he is carrying on an extensive business in the growing of pecans. He married Anna Hess, who was born in Quincy, Franklin County, Penn- sylvania, a daughter of John and Lovina Hess, and they are the parents of three children, namely : Harold Allen, of whom we write; Ira W., who is connected with the Schloss Iron and Steel Company of Birmingham, Alabama; and Mary E.
Educated in Pennsylvania, Harold A. Rouzer attended first the Rouzerville schools, later the Spartanburg school, the Sheppensburg Normal, and completed his studies at the Pennsylvania College. Entering then the service of Mr. Frick, of the Frick Company, he continued as his private secretary until 1907. Coming to Salisbury, North Carolina, in that year, Mr. Rouzer purchased the stock and good will of the Rowan Hardware Com- pany, now the Rowan Hardware and Machine Company, and has since served ably and accept- ably as its treasurer and general manager. He is also officially identified, as mentioned above,
with various other organizations of the city, hold- ing a place of prominence and influence in its business and social life.
Mr. Rouzer married, in 1908, Mary Edna Mc- Cubbins, who was born in Salisbury, a daughter of J. S. and Leonora (Neeley) McCubbins. 'Three children have blessed their union, Harold Allen, Jr., Margaret and Mary. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Rouzer are faithful members of the Presby- terian Church, and contribute liberally towards its support. Mr. Rouzer is one of the directors of the Morris Plan Bank of Salisbury, a substan- tial financial institution of the city.
ABSALOM TURNER GRANT. One of the oldest and most highly esteemed citizens of Mocksville, Davie County, Absalom Turner Grant, clerk of the Supe- rior Court, is well and favorably known in the legal circles of Western North Carolina as a most courteous, painstaking and faithful public official. A native of Yadkin County, he was born May 15, 1837, a son of Robinson Grant.
Absalom Grant, his grandfather, was born and reared in England. Immigrating to America in early manhood, he located in Norfolk, Virginia, where he followed his trade of a ship carpenter during the remainder of his life. The maiden name of his wife was Keziah Wilson. She sur- vived him, and subsequently came with one of her sons to North Carolina. After living in this state for awhile she accompanied her son to Georgia, where her death occurred a few years later. She reared three children, Nathan, Robinson, and Re- becca.
Robinson Grant was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and there served an apprenticeship at the cabinet- maker's trade. Coming to North Carolina in 1820, he settled in that section of Surry County that is now included within the limits of Yadkin County, and there followed his trade for eighteen years. In 1838, accompanied by his family, he migrated to Georgia, making the removal with teams, that. being in those days the only mode of transporta- tion. Locating in Talbot County, which was then sparsely populated, he contracted a fever, and died soon after. He married Sarah Davie Turner, who was born in what is now Yadkin County, this state, a daughter of Elias and Sarah Turner. Her father, a life-long resident of Surry, now Yadkin County, succeeded to the ownership of the parental homestead, to the area of which he added by the purchase of other tracts of land, and in addition to carrying on general farming was an extensive dealer in furs. When left a widow in a strange land, she immediately notified her father, who sent teams to Georgia to bring her and her family back to her old home. A woman of energy and capability, she kept her family of four children, Virginia, Sarah D., Absalom Turner, and Elizabeth, together until all were grown. Having married for her second husband John A. McGill, she lived for a time in Davie County, this state, and then re- moved to Marshall County, Iowa, where she spent the closing years of her life.
Gleaning his first knowledge of books in the rural schools, Absalom T. Grant subsequently at- tended Old Trinity College, fitting himself for a professional career. In 1858 he accepted a position as teacher in the Baxter School, about three miles from Mocksville, and succeeded so well that he continued teaching for four years. In July, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Fifty-seventh Regiment, North Carolina Troops, and under command of Stonewall Jackson joined Lee's army in Virginia.
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