USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 32
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The subject of this sketch, B. F. Keith, served throughout the war in the commissary depart- ment. He was captured at Lumberton and marched through the country to Newbern, where he was transported to Point Lookout. There he was kept a prisoner nearly a year after the war had closed. When he returned to his home broken in health and spirits he saw nothing of the beauty and luxuries that he formerly had, his slaves all being free and nothing left but his farm and old debts that had accumulated during slavery for securities, etc. Only having his farm and home left, with his health broken and heavy debts worrying his mind, it was enough to discourage the strongest. When his creditors began to pile in he told them to take what he had, as he would not take advantage of the bankruptcy oath, as many of his friends advised him, but told them if they would wait he would give them all that could be made on his farm except a fru- gal living for his family. About twelve or fifteen years after the close of the war he had paid 100 cents on the dollar on all that he owed. Though having been almost an invalid all this time, he having seen his farm but' a few times after the first few years he was fortunate in having a son, though young, to manage it, and through provi- dence he always raised fine crops.
His name was a synonym for honesty in his community. His measures and weights were never disputed but always commended. Those who knew him best and were capable saw the finer qualities that it takes to make a gentleman. He carried no malice in his heart towards anyone. In his older days he and his old pastor, Rev. Julian Faison, one of the noble of the noblest, were so much attached to each other that they were called sweethearts in their community. They knew and loved each other as men seldom do. When beggars entered his home they were as cordially received as any one that entered and were the first to be served at the table.
Thus lived and died one of the noble characters of our country.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KEITH. The important materials of biography are not mere dates and achievements, but the records of experience, and especially those experiences which bring out and test human character. It is man's reaction to his environment and circumstances that furnish interest to his personality and life.
An individual career that may be read with profit in the light of the preceding statements is that of Benjamin Franklin Keith of Keith, Pen- der County. Even judged by the ordinary stan- dards he is one of the men of prominence in the state. He is a large planter and land owner, is accredited with much of the agricultural and in- dustrial development of the Lower Cape Fear sec- tion, being in particular the originator of the Lyon Swamp Drainage District, under which a large body of rich land has been brought under cultivation. During his residence at Wilmington in former years Mr. Keith was a prominent whole- sale merchant, served as collector of customs, as a city official, and was a determined and resolute leader in many of the important movements in city life.
He was born March 31, 1858. His birthplace was three miles from his present home, near the Black River in the southwest part of what is now Pender County, but formerly New Hanover County. He is a son of Benjamin Franklin and Mary (Pridgen-Marshall) Keith. He is a de- scendant of the Keiths of noble Scotch lineage. Their ancestral home was Donnough Castle near Aberdeen. The Keiths were and are a race of strong and powerful people, and have been valiant fighters in all the wars. Sirs James, William and John Keith and other leaders of the clan were influential in the courts of Spain, Russia, Prussia, and other European monarchies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and helped mold the destinies of modern Europe. The name William was always given to the eldest son of the Keith families.
Soon after the fall of the House of Stuart, with whose fortunes the Keiths were closely affiliated the great-grandfather of Benjamin F. Keith brought his family to America. This ancestor was of the same family that kept the seal of Scotland at Donnough Castle for centuries. He finally landed on American soil at Fernandina, Florida. William Keith, grandfather of Benja- man F., was born only a day or two either prior to or following this landing. A part of the family moved northward to South Carolina, and William Keith's father was a patriot Revolutionary sol- dier under General Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of the Revolution. William Keith himself, a boy of only sixteen, . was miller boy for General Marion 's army, and at a small and crudely built grist mill near Darlington, South Carolina, ground the corn and wheat until the stones were crumbled almost entirely to dust.
About 1800 William Keith came to the Lower Cape Fear District of North Carolina and entered large tracts of land. Among others he entered about two square miles of land in New Hanover County, in what is now the Lyon Swamp Drainage District, about thirty miles above Wilmington. Near here his son Benjamin Franklin and his grandson Benjamin Franklin, Jr., were both born, and that locality has been the home of the Keiths continuously for over a century, since 1800.
Benjamin Franklin Keith, Sr., was born in the locality mentioned in' 1820. The creek nearby, emptying into Black River, was called Caledonia
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Creek in honor of the ancestral home of the Keiths in Scotland. This locality is within a short distance of the Moore's Creek Battle Ground, where the first decisive battle of the American Revolution was fought in February, 1776. Ben- jamin Franklin Keith, Sr., was a soldier in the Coufederate Army throughout the war and an ยท officer in the commissary department. He was captured at Lumberton, North Carolina, and was held a prisoner at Point Lookout for several months after the war closed. He died January 15, 1895.
Mr. Benjamin Franklin Keith, Jr., was only an infant when his mother died. He was seven years old when the war closed. Thus he was introduced to life at a time when the fortunes of the South were shattered and when many men had neither physical resources nor the courage to restore the land that had been devastated. In those critical times Mr. Keith plowed in the field barefooted until his feet were so sore and his body so full of aches and pains that only the re- sisting power of youthful blood enabled him to sleep and go on at his work from day to day. He grew up at a time when there was no money in the country, no industries to furnish employ- ment, and prices for farm products so low as to debase agriculture to a plane from which it has been redeemed only by the remarkable prosperity of recent years. His father, a typical big-hearted aud generous man, had been practically ruined not only by the fortunes of war but also by going on security and other debts contracted when he had slaves. Benjamin Keith, Jr., was about nine- teen or twenty years old when the last of his father's serious obligations had been met and paid, 100 cents on the dollar most of them with in- terest.
Having contributed his own services to the fam- ily so long, Mr. Keith then determined to take advantage of whatever opportunity there was to secure an adequate education. Up to that time he had had intermittent schooling in local country schools. With about $20 in cash, which he had saved, he went to Warsaw in Duplin County and for what tuition he could not pay down he went in debt and was enrolled as a student of the school conducted by Dr. J. N. Stallings and Fleet- rose Cooper. He remained in that school mostly on "credit" for about two years. While there he prepared for college. But the hard work of his earlier youth and his strenuous diligence as a student brought about a serious breakdown of health and physicians advised him that he could not live if he continued in school. It was his plan to enter Wake Forest College, but this cher- ished purpose had to be abandoned. Returning home, he resumed work on the farm. However, under the advise of his able and conscientious tutors at Warsaw he supplied himself with suita- ble books and literature and continued self-study at home, with the result that in time he became a well educated man, a fluent and forceful writer, and an effective public speaker.
In 1882 Mr. Keith moved to Wilmington, a city where he was destined to become a successful and prominent merchant and a leader in civic affairs, and for a time at least he made himself one of the most admired and most cordially hated citi- zens. The first three months there he was book- keeper in the general offices of the Singer Sewing .Machine Company. He went into business for himself as a commission merchant, and along this line his success was pronounced. His business
grew and gradually expanded throughout a wider field as a wholesale grocery house under the name B. F. Keith Company. Mr. Keith built up a great trade, handling specialities in connection with gro- ceries, throughout the Wilmington commercial ter- ritory, kept several traveling salesmen and brokers on the road, and was recognized as one of the big merchants of North Carolina. His success was due to the employment of modern business meth- ods, and in all his career his name has been a synonym for enterprise and progressiveness. He also branched out into other lines. For a number of years he was prominent in the shiugle industry, developed a large local trade and also went into the export business. For a time he practically controlled the shingle trade of Wilmington. It was his custom to charter vessels and ship shingles to the West Indies, bringing back carloads of fruit for his commission and grocery establish- ment.
On retiring from commercial life Mr. Keith in 1904 was appointed collector of customs for the Port of Wilmington by President Roosevelt. He was reappointed by President Taft and served in that position 1212 years, until 1913. His serv- ices as customs collector were marked by the same activity and energy that had characterized his individual business. He made a number of trips to New York and other northern seaport cities and was instrumental in diverting ocean going traffic to the port at Wilmington which had pre- viously gone to other ports. Thus he was an im- portant factor in developing the great volume of commerce that now goes in and out of Wilming- ton. It was in recognition of this rapidly in- creasing importance of Wilmington as a port that Mr. Keith secured, after the expenditure of much time and effort, an appropriation of $600,000 from Congress to build the present new custom house at Wilmington, a stately and magnificent public building, one of the finest government structures in the country, and a source of par- ticular pride to the people of Wilmington. Dur- ing the twelve years he was collector of the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, the office was never better managed, so the public said and the receipts increased 425 per cent during this period. The following is what our principal historian, Dr. James Sprunt, in his book, "The Cape Fear Chronicles," in speaking of the new custom house, says: "After serving for over twelve years as collector of customs, Mr. Keith with persistent, dogged determination and constant effort, suc- ceeded in getting $600,000 in all for the new custom house. In his retirement to private life with cleau hands Mr. Keith is entitled to the commendation 'well done' by an appreciative public. "
For a while Mr. Keith was a member of the board of aldermen of Wilmington. As head of some of its committees he worked steadily for public improvement and especially those improve- ments that raised Wilmington from the country town class to a city of metropolitan proportions. Much credit is due him for the establishment of Wilmington 's first paid fire department, its equip- ment with fire apparatus, and its operation by professional firemen. His constructive leadership also deserves credit for starting the covering of many of the old shell paved streets with modern pavings. He was the original advocate at Wil- mington of municipally owned waterworks and other public utilities. He battled for these and other reforms and improvements in the face of
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what was often violent opposition on the part of selfish and unprogressive citizens. But detraction and opposition have never served to turn Mr. Keith from a course which he believed to be right and for the best advantage of all concerned. In order to give expression to his progressive ideals he established a weekly paper known as The New Era, which he owned and edited for sev- eral years.
After retiring from the wholesale grocery and commission business Mr. Keith made extensive experiments with ground phosphate of lime as a fertilizer. These experiments were conducted with a view to proving its desirability over the burnt lime which for years had been employed as a fertilizer ingredient throughout the South. His results proved that the ground phosphate was ideal in many respects and had none of the ob- jections alleged to burnt lime. His characteris- tic energy then caused him to establish a mill for grinding lime, and he thus became as far as known, the originator of the present industry in the United States. He successfully and exten- sively manufactured this product until the break- ing out of the World war put a stop to such in- dustries. His plant was at Neil's Eddy on the Cape Fear River in Columbus County, not far from the Town of Acme on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. This business was conducted un- der the name B. F. Keith Company and supplied a large demand in commercial fertilizers. The phosphate of lime for the grinding was obtained from extensive deposits of the material on Mr. Keith's own lands in the vicinity of the plant. This useful industry, which furnished a large total of much needed fertilizer to the farmers of the South, was begun in 1900 and continued for fourteen years, until 1914. Mr. Keith's lands in that vicinity contain extensive deposits of blue marl, another source of valuable fertilizer ingre- dient.
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Reference has already been made to the Lyon Swamp Drainage District, in the formation of which Mr. Keith was the originator and leader. The movement reclaimed and made tillable a large body of the richest agricultural lands in the state. Preparatory to launching the movement, Mr. Keith made trips to Ohio, Indiana and Illi- nois, and investigated some of the famous drain- age districts of those states. What he saw and learned convinced him that such projects were feasible and in fact indispensible to the con- tinued future development of North Carolina, es- pecially in the eastern counties. The organization of the Lyon Swamp Drainage District was begun in 1907 and in about three years the project was completed. The Lyon Swamp lies between the Black and Cape Fear rivers in Pender and Bladen counties. The main canal extends for seventeen iniles through the swamp, is from twenty to twenty-four feet wide and from nine to eleven feet deep. The main swamp embraces 10,500 acres of land, but a large additional acreage is subject to drainage by means of the watershed. As this enterprise has served to "make a blade of grass grow where none grew before," its value and importance can correspondingly be appreci- ated. For many years Mr. Keith had studied and realized the possibilities of such development and it was obviously a source of great gratification when the plans were carried out.
In connection he also put into practice some ideas about forestry, a subject in which he has been deeply interested for a long time. It was
largely the recommendation of Doctor Pratt, head of the State Department of Forestry and necla- marion, along with many other foresters, that brought about the necessary legislation from the General Assembly. The financing of the Lyon Swamp project was successfully carried out un- aer Mr. Keith's management, and while its gen- eral value and purpose is now everywhere recog- mized the actual construction aroused vigorous opposition because of selfishness and ignorance, the same toes Mr. Keith has had to fight on other occasions. Mr. Keith is chairman of the board of commissioners of the drainage district. The land that had been reclaimed and cleared pro- duced from forty to seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre and from a bale to a bale and a half of cotton per acre. Farmers have been known to pay for their land by one year's crop.
While it is of minor importance, as measured by his other activities, one of the interesting in- dustries of the Keith- farm is the Colly Mill. This produces a fine grade of water ground meal from select corn, a corn meal that has been highly praised and recommended by health authorities in recent years. The mill also has equipment for sawing lumber, but the only use for that purpose is to make lumber used by Mr. Keith himself and neighbors. The meal, however, is sold and widely distributed. The mill is on Colly Creek, a branch of the Black River, and about a mile above the Keith home. Much of the interest that surrounds it is due to its history. It was a mill even during the Revolutionary war. Englishmen built it in the first place, and when the Revolu- tion was in progress its wheels and machinery sawed lumber as well as ground corn. It was at this mill that Mr. Keith's great-grandfather on his father's mother's side, Capt. John Larkins, a Patriot American officer, was captured by the tories and kept in a "bull pen" for some time. A number of years ago Mr. Keith bought this mill property and spent a part of three years in rebuilding and re-equiping it. The dam is 1/4 of a mile long and into the frame work of its construction entered about 200,000 feet of lumber, chiefly cypress.
Mr. Keith personally owns large tracts of land, both timbered and cleared, in the vicinity of which his home is the center. Much of it is with- in the Lyon Swamp Drainage District. His main farm for general agricultural purposes is the Lyon Swamp Farm, three miles above his resi- dence, containing about 1,500 acres, some 500 acres being cleared and in cultivation. On his different farms he produced abundant crops of cotton, corn, hay and other crops. The place on which his home, Caledonia, is situated com- prises about 400 acres. He owns large tracts on the Cape Fear River in Brunswick, Columbus and Pender counties, and taken altogether is one of the large land owners and planters in this part of the state. The tract where the Colly Mill is situated consists of about 1,200 acres, covered with a fine second growth of cypress trees that has attained about the size of telephone poles.
Mr. Keith has made his home on the Keith Farm since 1913. His beautiful home, Caledonia, is on the banks of the Black River, situated in the southwest part of Pender County, four miles west of Currie on the Atlantic Coast Line, and about twenty miles northwest of Wilmington. The residence is a handsome and commodious structure, of pleasing and even impressive architecture, and
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is three stories in height. It is equipped with modern conveniences, electric lights, water system, sewerage and is an ideal country home. The house was built under his direct supervision. The tim- ber was selected by him from his own forests, and none but the best and most lasting materials went into its construction. . There is a boat land- ing on the Black River right at his lawn, and a beautiful park a short distance from his resi- dence, occupying the most prominent viewpoint of the river, is another prominent feature. He has a gasoline launch for the pleasures of the river and the estate comprises a natural game preserve for wild turkeys, squirrels, quail and other game. His gardens and orchards produce abundance of fruits and vegetables in season, which are canned and preserved for other months of the year.
This record so far has indicated some of the points emphasized at the beginning as evidence of how Mr. Keith has made his clear sighted ideals predominate over material and personal circum- stances. That part of his character stands out particularly prominent in his record in politics and public affairs. He has always had advanced and progressive ideals. In political faith his fam- ily for generations have been democrats. But it is characteristic of Mr. Keith that he would not be held nor bound down by traditional precedence. Following the leading of his own ideas and judg- ment he left the democratic party in the late '90s and turned republican. In a city and state like Wilmington and North Carolina, where tra- ditional party ties are held so strongly, such a conversion in politics is certain to arouse hos- tility, suspicion, and often bring about alienation from long standing friendships. These results were accentuated in the case of Mr. Keith because of his active leadership in civic and municipal af- fairs at Wilmington. Old time partisans did not hesitate to go outside political lines to fight him, but even made it a personal matter and finally there came an acute stage where his wholesale mercantile business, then at the height of its prosperity, was subjected to so many reports and defamations proceeding from enemy sources as to amount practically to boycott and blackmail. The climax was reached in the race riots of 1898, when not only was Mr. Keith's business threatened with destruction but his life as well. Although these sensational events compelled Mr. Keith to abandon his mercantile work at Wilmington, they did not in the least baffle him personally, and he remained at his post night and day, unafraid and ready at every moment to meet all comers. Cour- age is one of the ancestral traits of the Keiths and its quality has never been lacking in any situ- ation in which Mr. Keith has been placed. Even in the face of the destruction of his business and life work he never made the slightest com- promise of his principles during that tragic peri- od. He has remained an adherent of the pro- gressive wing of the republican party, and during the year 1918 was prominently mentioned as that party's candidate for Congress. Mr. Keith was largely instrumental in having President Taft visit Wilmington one full day during his term of presi- dency.
Personally Mr. Keith is a man of most rest- Jess energv, always busy, and always having some- thing useful to accomplish. For all that and for the long record of achievements briefly noted above he has borne up under frail health since boyhood. During several periods of enforced con- finements in hospitals he has gratified his natural taste for literary composition by writing poems.
Some of his close friends have cherished and ad- mired these verses, a few of which have been printed, and one of which "Caledonia"' follows this sketch.
Mr. Keith married at Wilmington Miss Lillian Rulfs, a native of that city. They have eight children: B. F. Keith, Jr .; Lila, wife of Mr. Julius Smith; Miss Adeline; Julian; Marion; Frederick; James and Theodore Keith.
"CALEDONIA"
Oh, sweet old Caledonia, the sacred home, Where the passing river kisses the sacred shore, The land where sacred memories dwell,
With its forest tinged with beauty throwing kisses to the skies.
No, we can never forget the beautiful Caledonia, Never while life ebbs and flows on earth, For such sacred places have their finals in Heaven, Then why not rejoice when its beauty is so sublime ?
Oh, sweet Caledonia, where the sun and moon First peep from the East out in their radiant light,
Will ever hold the place next to eternal life,
May its beauty and sacredness ever hold the key of right.
Sweet Caledonia, the home nearest to the skies, Where the beautiful old river goes gleaming by, Noted for its traffic as with fish and game, Where the anglers and hunters can find no complaint.
The flowing Spring at old Caledonia, always so pure and sweet,
Brings us back to the sweet, innocent days of our youth,
Where pain and sorrow had no light in our life, Where the sun, moon and stars were the light so beautiful and bright.
Old Caledonia was the sweet home on Scotland 's heights,
Where the first Earl Marichal saw first the light, For centuries there the Seal of Scotland was kept right,
Until the love of liberty gave the chatties new life and light.
Thence to America some did flee for liberty and rights,
While others to Spain, Russia and Prussia,
There to give counsel to the kings and rulers of their day,
Holding the highest positions in all their day.
Those to America have always been true to their adopted home,
The young lads, with their dads, shoulder their guns,
When the Revolution was over, we had won, Battled, with bare feet, lads along with their dads.
Caledonia, for centuries the home of our noble sires,
Until no more in old Scotland, beautiful land,
Now transplanted on Caledonia Creek in Carolina,
Where for century its sacredness held by noble descendants of William Catti.
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