USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
In 1887 Mr. Fries was elected from Forsyth County to the General Assembly. He was placed on the board of trustees of the Agricultural and Mechanical College, a position he held for ten years, and as a preliminary to the establishment of the college, was member of a special committee with Dr. Charles W. Dabney and W. S. Primrose, who visited the industrial schools of other states and made an exhaustive and thorough report which became the basis for the new State Agri- cultural and Mechanical College of North Caro- lina at Raleigh.
Not only did the state at large claim his services but his native city elected him mayor for three consecutive terms. He has been a member for every board of commissioners in Winston-Salem for a number of years.
.
5
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
In 1885 he organized the South Side Manufac- turing Company for the manufacture of cotton products, built a large mill, and was chosen its president.
The work which has constituted his chief claim to distinction among the industrial leaders of North Carolina was in the development of elec- trical power. He came to manhood about the time the first commercial uses were made of electricity for lighting and power purposes. He was more than a passive observer of the rapid adaptation of that science to commerce and industry. With his uncle he often discussed the problem of trans- mitting power from the Yadkin River to Winston- Salem. Out of these discussions grew a practical and constructive program and the organization of the Fries Manufacturing and Power Company, with Mr. H. E. Fries as superintendent and man- ager. By 1897 this company was supplying the factories of Winston-Salem with electricity as motive power. Beyond the results accomplished in the immediate locality the enterprise was of much greater significance, since it was the first electrical transmission plant established in North Carolina. Subsequently all the electrical inter- ests of Winston-Salem, including the street rail- ways, public and private lighting plants, etc., were consolidated, and Mr. Fries was elected presi- dent of the corporation. This was the Fries Manufacturing and Power Company, and its re markable development and prosperity was largely due to Mr. Fries. He remained president of this company till it was sold to the Southern Pacific Utilities Company. He is president of the Forsyth Manufacturing Company, vice presi- dent of the Arista Mills Company, and director in a number of financial and manufacturing cor- porations.
The phrase successful business man does not adequately describe Mr. Fries' varied interests and usefulness. He is a man among men, is sociable and charitable, has a high ideal of the value of example to the younger generation, and seeks out and works for those opportunities and advantages which mean as much to a community as bread and meat.
Politically he has always been a democrat, with the qualifying adjective of sound money. When Mr. Bryan was nominated for the presidency in 1896 he was unable to give his support to the free silver and populist ideas, and instead he at- tended the Indianapolis Convention of the sound money democracy as a delegate. He subsequently became national committeeman from North Car- olina of the national democratic party.
At the present time Mr. Fries is president of the board of trustees of the State Industrial and State Normal School, and of the Wachovia His- torical Society, of Winston-Salem. Since 1909 Mr. Fries has been president of the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway Company. He gave personal attention to the construction of this road, and now devotes his time to the supervision of this prop- erty. This road traverses the counties of For- syth, Davidson, Montgomery, Stanley and Anson, and the great industrial development taking place in these counties, is to Mr. Fries a cause of per- sonal satisfaction and gratification.
1
DE SCHWEINITZ FAMILY. The name de Schwei- nitz occurs so frequently in sketches of North Carolina families that it is deemed appropriate and wise to collect the principal facts concerning the genealogy of the family under one head.
Through the assistance of one of the family de- scendants this is made possible and the record follows :
According to the oldest genealogies the family was originally of Slavonic stock, its seat being in a district of Southeastern Europe known as Merania. When Duchess Hedwig married Henry I, Duke of Silesia and Poland, a number of the noble families of Merania moved with her to Silesia, among them the von Swentze, as the name was then spelled. Definite history begins in 1350.
I. Hancke von Swentze was joint Lord of Swentz, Wiltsch, Donyn and Syffersdorff; was counselor at the Court of Ruprecht, Duke of Leig- nitz. This title to his land was confirmed in 1350. He married Fenne, or Euphemia, of the family that owned the other half of Syffersdorff. They had only one child.
II. Hans von Swentze, whose title to the estate was confirmed in 1410, married a Baroness von Hangwitz of the House of Klein. He fought under Duke Louis II against the Hussites; and held various important offices. He had five chil- dren, three sons and two daughters. His son
III. Christoff von Swentze was Lord of Sey- fersdorff, Swentz and Donyn, titles thereto being ratified in 1464. He married Ursula, Baroness von Buseweyn, of the House of Bersdorff in Hay- nan. His only son was
IV. Christoff von Swentze, Lord of Seyfers- dorff, Swentz, Dohna, Petersdorff, Langewalde and Johnsdorff, who died in 1499. He married Hedwig, Baroness von Zedlitz, of the House of Perchwitz. They had four sons and three daugh- ters. A son
V. Georg von Schwentz was Lord of Petersdorff, Libenau, Seltzenberg and Muehlredlitz. He died February 3, 1567. He married Margaretha, Baro- ness von Hangwitz, of the House of Klein-Obisch. Of their four sons one was
VI. Frederick von Schweinitz, Lord Muehlred- litz. He married (1) Helena von Schwenkfehl, and had one daughter; married (2) a Baroness von Kreckwitz. By the latter union was a son
VII. Abraham von Schweinitz, Lord Muehlred- litz. He married (1) Anna Maria, Baroness von Portugal, of the House of Kapscheln, in Prussia. They had three sous and four daughters. He married (2) Demuth von Binau, of the House of Nismenau in Lower Lusatia, and by that marriage had a son and a daughter. He died in 1659. The second of his first marriage was
VIII. Alexander von Schweinitz, Lord of Kutscheborwitz and Heugwitz. His fortunes were ruined by the Thirty Years' war. He married Maria Elisabeth, Baroness von Rottenberg, of the House of Schoeneich. They had four sons and two daughters. One son, George, was the father of Friedrich Wilhelm von Marschall's wife, whose daughter was the second wife of Hans Christian Alexander von Schweinitz mentioned below. An- other son was
IX. Moritz Christian von Schweinitz, who was born at Hangwitz, Silesia, February 14, 1676. He became Lord of Nieder Leube and eleven other estates. He married Eva Anna Helena, Baroness von Schweinitz, of the House of Krain. Her fa- ther, Hans Christoph von Schweinitz, was de- scended from Georg von Schweinitz (see V) through his son Georg, and his son, Hans Christoff. Hans .Christoph, the second, bought the estate of Nieder Leube and built the castle there. His daughter was his sole heiress, two other children
6
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
having died. Moritz von Schweinitz died May 2, 1739, and his wife June 29, 1747. They had seven sons and three daughters. The second sou was
X. Hans Christian vou Schweinitz, Lord of Nieder Leube. He was born March 30, 1707, and married Sophia Johana, Baroness von Seidlitz of the House of Pfaffindorff. They joined the Uni- tas Fratrum or Moravian Church in 1741. He died November 1, 1750, after which his widow lived mostly at Herrnhut. In 1759 she sold the estate of Nieder Leube to the neighboring Catholic Convent of Marienthal. She died October 15, 1761. They had ten children. The second son was
XI. Hans Christian Alexander von Schweinitz, who was born October 17, 1740, at Nieder Leube. In 1770 he married Hedwig Elisabeth von Mar- schall (see under VIII). In the fall of 1770 they went to America, where he for thirty years was administrator of the American estates of the Unitas Fratrum. In 1775 his wife died, leaving two children, a daughter, Johanna Elisabeth, who married Rev. John Frederick Frueauff, and a son, Frederick Christian, who returned to Germany. In 1779 Hans Christian Alexander vou Schweinitz married for his second wife Anna Dorothea Elisa- beth, Baroness von Watteville, who was born April 25, 1754, at Herrnhut and died at Niesky, May 10, 1813. In 1797 he was elected a member of the Unity's Elders' Conference and the following spring returned to Europe, settling at Berthels- dorf as member of that board. August 26, 1801, he was ordained a Senior Civilis of the Unitas Fratrum. He died February 26, 1802, and was buried in the Herrnhut Graveyard. There were seven children by this second marriage, three sons and four daughters. Two died in infancy. Charles Henry did not marry; Christian Renatus left the Moravian Church, had three sons, all of whom entered the Saxon army; Augusta Sophia mar- ried George Maximilian von Heuthausen; Ma- riane Elizabeth married Frederick Emanuel Knothe. The eldest child
XII. Lewis David von Schweinitz was born at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, February 13, 1780. He was educated at Nazareth Hall, Pennsylvania, and then in the Theological Seminary at Niesky, Ger- many. He held various positions in the German Moravian Church, and in 1812 was appointed ad- ministrator of the Unity's estates in North Car- olina. May 24, 1812, he married Louisa Amelia LeDoux, a descendant of Huguenots who had fled from persecution in France and settled in Stettin, Pomerania, where she was born May 18, 1791. After a long and dangerous voyage they reached Salem, North Carolina, November 14th in the year of their marriage. During a visit to Ger- many in 1817-18 Lewis David was ordained Pres- byter. After three more years in North Carolina he was called to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1821. In 1825, during the General Synod, he was or- dained a Senior Civilis, the last to hold that office. Returning to Bethlehem he died February 8, 1834. In addition to his church activities he was a distinguished botanist, and belonged to a num- ber of scientific societies in America and Europe. His herbarium was left by his will to the Acad- emy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. His widow died in Bethlehem, October 28, 1858. They had five sons. The eldest, Edward William, born at Salem, February 21, 1814, died there the fol- lowing year. Robert William, born at Salem, Sep- tember 20, 1819, was married during a visit to Herrnhut in 1846 to Marie Louise von Tschirschke; was ordained a deacon of the Moravian Church
iu 1847, presbyter in 1856, and held various posi- tions in the American Moravian Church, was prin- cipal of Salem Female Academy from 1853 to 1866. His wife died February 11, 1881, and he on October 29, 1901. They had six children, three sons and three daughters. Edmund Alexander, fourth of the five sons, was born March 20, 1825, was ordained a deacon of the Moravian Church March 3, 1850, a presbyter on October 12, 1856, and a bishop on August 28, 1870, was pastor of various congregations, president of the General Synod of 1879, and held numerous other important church offices. He was also a noted author, especially of church history. He married (1) Lydia Johanna von Tschirschke, who died September 12, 1866, leaving two sons and two daughters. On October 1, 1868, he married (2) Isabel Allison Boggs, who had one daughter. Bernard Eugene, the youngest of the five sons, was born August 16, 1828, at Bethlehem, married in 1852 Ottelia Goepp, and died in Salem July 20, 1854, leaving one son. The secoud son of Lewis David von Schweinitz was
XIII. Emil Adolphus de Schweinitz, who was the ancestor of the descendants of the name in Western North Carolina. He was born at Salem, October 26, 1816, and was educated both in Penn- sylvania and in Germany. After filling several positions in Pennsylvania he was called to Salem in 1849 as president of the Salem Female Acad- emy, an office he filled about four years. He then became administrator for the Unity's estates in North Carolina. June 28, 1842, he married Sophia Amelia Hermann, who was born February 14, 1822, and died March 21, 1883. She was the oldest daughter of Bishop John Gottlieb Hermann (born November 18, 1789, died July 20, 1854), and his wife, Anna Paulina Shober (born De- cember 6, 1791, and died January 30, 1869). Emil A. de Schweinitz was ordained a deacon of the Moravian Church July 24, 1842, a presbyter on July 11, 1869, and a bishop on October 11, 1874. He attended the General Synods of 1857, 1869 and 1879. The death of this much loved and revered member of the Moravian Church in North Carolina occurred November 3, 1879. Of his children, the oldest, a boy, died in infancy. A brief record of the other children is as follows: Adelaide, born May 24, 1847, and died August 3, 1871, married Dr. Henry T. Bahnson. Agnes Sophia, born August 12, 1849, died February 2, 1915, married John W. Fries. Eleanor Elisabeth, born December 23, 1853, married Dr. Nathaniel Shober Siewers. Emily Louisa, born September 2, 1856, married William A. Lemly. Anna Pau- lina, born October 28, 1860, married Francis H. Fries. Emil Alexander, born January 19, 1864, died February 15, 1904.
HON. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LONG. If the State of North Carolina should wish to express through one citizen its best ideals of vitalized and efficient citizenship it is doubtful if any choice could be so adequate as that of Judge Benjamin Franklin Long of Statesville, and since 1902 judge of the Superior Court for the Tenth Judicial District. Judge Long is now at the meridian of his mental attainments and powers, with normal expectation of continued work and influence, yet it is possible even now to appreciate and understand his life and character, the elements that have entered into it from ancestry and training, and the big role that destiny has called upon him to enact. For- tunately the material for such an appreciation is
7
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
at hand, collected by one familiar with his work souri in 1907. Another brother, Joseph Gibbs for many years and as a result of careful study . Long, was orderly sergeant of Company E, 13th and investigation.
Judge Long was born near Graham, Alamance County, North Carolina, March 19, 1855, a son of Jacob and Jane Stuart (Stockard) Long. In racial strain he is a composite American-German and Scotch blood predominating. His great- grandfather was named Conrad Lange, a name subsequently anglicized to Long. He came from one of the Rhenish provinces of Germany and set- tled in Pennsylvania before the Revolution. By his first wife he had two children, Casper and Mary. After the death of his first wife he mar- ried Catharine McRin. About 1760, with his second wife and the two children of his first mar- riage, he came to North Carolina settling on a farm on Haw River, where the remainder of his life was spent. In this state three sons were born, Jacob, Henry and Conrad, and a daughter Elizabeth.
The oldest of these sons, Jacob, grandfather of Judge Long, married Catherine Shepherd. Their family consisted of four sons and two daughters, the youngest son being Jacob, father of Judge Long.
Jacob Long married January 3, 1833, Jane Stuart Stockard. Her father Col. John Stock- ard was a son of James Stockard, a Continental soldier during the Revolution. James Stockard married Ellen Trousdale, sister of William and James Trousdale. Her nephew William Trousdale, son of James, become one of the most eminent men of his day, rising to the rank of general in the United States army, serving two terms as governor of Tennessee and later was minister to Brazil. Col. John Stockard was twice married. His first wife was Jane Stuart of Scotch descent. After her death he married Catherine Albright, daughter of Henry Albright. The Albrights were of German descent, and their name was auglicized from the original Albrecht. They came from Ger- many to Pennsylvania, one branch moving to North Carolina before the Revolution. Henry Al- bright's wife, Mary Gibbs, was a sister of the dis- tinguished soldier, Gen. Nicholas Gibbs, who was killed at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama during the Creek Indian war of 1812-13.
Jacob and Jane Stuart (Stockard) Long had a remarkable family of children, and much of their strong character was derived from their parents, both of whom were notable both by descent and by personal character. Owing to the conditions that existed during his youth, the country being new and raw, Jacob Long, though a man of ex- ceptionally strong mind, was deprived of the ad- vantages of a liberal education. This made him all the more determined to give his sons every- thing he could, and the lives of these sons have justified in abundant measure the affectionate judgment of the father. Judge Long would be the first to acknowledge the debt which he owes to his parents for the measure of success he has won in life. His father, long active in affairs, lived to the age of eighty-eight. His mother, a woman of strong intellect, wide reading and vast information, so impressed her children that each and every one of them became imbued thoroughly with the desire to win worthily and to be of some use in the world. She died in her ninety-second year.
Judge Long had six brothers and one sister. The oldest brother, John H. Long, died in Mis-
North Carolina Regiment, Confederate army, in the war between the states and was killed at Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863. The sister mar- ried Capt. J. N. H. Clendenin of Alamance County, North Carolina, who was an officer in the Confederate army, and since then a farmer and business man. One brother, the Rev. William S. Long, D. D., LL. D., minister and educator, foun- der of Elon College in this state and former presi- dent of it, has been prominently identified with higher education in North Carolina for over forty years. He lives at Chapel Hill. Another brother, the Rev. Daniel A. Long, D. D., LL. D., formerly president of the Graham, North Carolina, High School, was for fifteen years president of Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio, and later was president of Union Christian College, a notable old institution on the banks of the Wabash River at Merom, Indiana. Another brother, Col. Jacob A. Long, is a prominent lawyer of Graham, at one time was acting district attorney of his judi- cial district, and in 1893 was chairman of the Finance Committee of the General Assembly in North Carolina. Still another brother was the late Dr. George W. Long, eminent as a physician, who lived in Graham. He served as president of the State Medical Association and was for years a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners. No physician in the state outranked him in the esteem of the profession and the large number of patients who profited by his care. The State Medical Society had his portrait painted and hung in the Hall of History at the State Capital in October, 1916.
Two brothers of Judge Long were in educa- tional work while he was a schoolboy. Rev. Dr. William S. Long, then head of the Graham High School, prepared the younger brother so that he was able to enter Trinity College in 1872 at the age of seventeen. He graduated in 1874 A. B., and later the college conferred upon him the degree A. M. He took up the study of law in Judge Pearson's Law School, and in 1877 entered the Law School of the University of Virginia, where he was graduated in 1878 LL. B. His school career was a distinguished one. A good scholar always, at Trinity he was valedictorian of his class, which numbered among its members such men as Reverend Doctor Staley, Senator Over- man and Judge Boykin.
During his student life for two years he taught Latin and History in the Graham High School, but even with this help found himself at the beginning of his career as a lawyer somewhat in debt financially for his education. His success was such, however, that it did not take him long to pay this debt. At the University of Virginia he pressed a two years course into one year and in addition won the orator's medal in the Wash- ington Society, awarded by a committee of the faculty after hearing competitive debates.
After his return home, then but twenty-three years of age, he was tendered the nomination for state senator. With that promptness of decision which has characterized him through life, he turned aside the flattering offer and moved to Statesville, as he had previously decided to do, and that city has been the scene of his active labors. In October, 1878, he formed a law part- nership with Hon. William M. Robbins, one of the most prominent lawyers of the state and at
8
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
that time a member of Congress. December 23, 1879, he married Mary Alice Robbins, daughter of his law partner.
Possessed of a robust physique, a strong intel- lect, liberal education, industrious habits, he threw himself into his profession with zeal, energy and sound judgment. A liberal practice came to him almost at the beginning. In 1879 he edited the Law Lectures of Chief Justice Pearson, one of his preceptors. These lectures of a distinguished lawyer and teacher were thus made available for students and are still used as a text book. For three terms Judge Long was solicitor of the In- ferior Court of Iredell County, served as attorney for the City of Statesville and while in that office carried on a general practice extending over eight counties. In 1880 he was appointed re- ceiver for the Western Division of the Western North Carolina Railroad and for five years per- formed his duties with credit to himself and advantage to the railroad, at the same time car- rying on his active private practice. For one term he was mayor of Statesville, resigning to accept the office of solicitor of the Eighth Judi- cial District, and was twice elected, serving a period of eight years. As prosecuting officer he was faithful, fearless and impartial, and won such a large measure of respect from the people that in 1894 he was nominated by the democratic party as candidate for judge of the Superior Court. He was included in the general democratic defeat of that year, resulting from an alliance between the republicans and populists. In the next judicial election in 1902 he was nominated for the same position, was elected by a large majority and served the full term of eight years, and was re- elected in 1910 for another similar term, which he is now serving.
With all his notable services and attainments it is his career on the bench that gives Judge Long the dignity and influence of one of North Caro- lina's foremost public citizens. The work he has done, from his own standpoint, was merely the carrying out of his sworn duties. But the country is full of examples of men who in like positions did not face their duties with the same courage. There is more than one way of doing one's duty. Judge Long took the highest and the best way, compromising nothing. Some of the largest cases involving property rights ever tried in the state were before his court, and as a rule in important cases where appeal has been taken he has been sustained.
The case which gave him a reputation far be- yond the borders of his own state forcibly illus- trates the public service which can be rendered by any just and resolute judge. Lynching has not been an uncommon American crime. But punish- ment of lynchers were almost unknown up to August, 1906, when several negroes were in jail at Salisbury to be tried for a barbarous murder, with but little doubt as to their guilt. The case was within one day of trial when a crowd of white men came into town at night, and notwithstanding the careful precautions that had been taken by the county officials broke into the jail, took out the prisoners, and put three of them to death. On the next day the court met for the trial of the prisoners who had been lynched. When Judge Long opened court the town and the surrounding country were convulsed with excitement. He sent for the Grand Jury and in delivering his charge made this announcement: "God Almighty reigns
and the law is still supreme. This court will not adjourn until this matter has been investigated." The most strenuous efforts were made to shield the participators in the lynching. Proof was diffi- cult to obtain, but Judge Long held to his posi- tion. He had the support of a courageous prose- cuting officer, Hon. W. C. Hammer, the solicitor of the district. Determined to sustain the majesty of the law, unmoved by criticism, he persisted until the crime was fastened upon one Hall, a leader of the mob, and an ex-convict. A few days after the crime was committed Hall was put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to the peni- tentiary for fifteen years. From one end of the land to the other his action was praised and ap- plauded by the best citizens and as an example of the sentiment in other states may be quoted the following editorial from the Star of Indian- apolis, Indiana:
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.