USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 35
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Jesse Franklin Graves spent his boyhood and youth in a home which furnished every incentive to the attainment and realization of his best inbred talents. He completed his education at Emory and Henry College in Virginia, and read law with Judge Richmond M. Pearson, afterwards chief justice of the Supreme Court at Rockford. Admitted to the bar in 1852, he at once began the practice of his profession at Mount Airy, and continued a resident of that town until his death more than forty years later.
He was a student, patient, systematic and un- tiring; he loved his work and determined at the outset to make of himself a proficient lawyer. He delighted in the study of law as a great science, had a contempt for the superficial, and in his research and analysis sought to go to the very bottom and find truth and right in their essence. Not only did he store his mind with strictly legal learning, but enjoyed the companionship of the world's greatest authors and thus acquired a lit- erary style which made his utterances and writ- ings both accurate and pleasing. His conception of the essentials in life and in his profession may be more easily illustrated than expressed: On occasion when a young attorney asked him what were the most important and valuable books for the lawyer's library, he immediately answered, "The Bible, Blackstone's Commentaries on the English Law and Shakespeare's works," and he used them more than any other in his own. Thus upon the broadest foundation he built, with cleanness of thinking, soberness of opinion, ac- curacy of judgment and conscientious conduct of life's affairs, personal and professional.
In the earlier days the older and more experi- enced lawyers would make the round with the judge holding the courts of the district, appear- ing in counsel with the younger brethren in the several counties. Among those with whom Jesse Franklin Graves practiced for many years, and whose companionship he enjoved were, Col. R. M. Armfield, Col. George N. Folk, Judge D. M.
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Furches, Col. E. L. Vaughn, Hon. Marsh Clement, Hon. R. Z. Linney, Col. A. H. Joyce, Col. James Morehead, Hon. John A. Gilmer, Maj. Quincy F. Neal, Capt. J. W. Todd, Hon. Joseph Dobson, Hon. Cyrus B. Watson, Hon. W. B. Glenn and others equally prominent in the profession in this section of the state. Iutimate association during the many weeks they were traveling the circuit, interchange of opinions on all sorts of questions, legal, scientific, political, moral and ethical, and hard fought battles in the court-room, broadened and developed and made yet stronger lawyers and advocates.
His law practice was varied, as was that of all lawyers in this part of the state, and he at- tended courts in Surry, Stokes, Yadkin, Alle- ghany, Wilkes, Davie and Ashe, appearing occa- sionally in Davidson, Forsyth and Guilford counties.
Only once did he yield and accept nomination for a political office. The matter of extending the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railway to his home county and town came up, and at the instance and solicitation of friends who felt he might be of peculiar service, he accepted nomina- tion at the hands of his party and was elected a member of the General Assembly of 1875-6. He aided in securing the construction of the railroad and went back to his practice.
In 1878 he was nominated by the democratic convention of the then Ninth Judicial District, the delegates composing it being largely the lawyers with whom he had been associated for many years, judge of the Superior Court, to which honorable position he was elected for a term of eight years. Upon the completion of this term he was renominated and re-elected, and had served on the bench nearly sixteen years at the date of his death. He presided over the Superior Court in every county in North Carolina at least two terms and thus came to know every lawyer in the state. He had high sense of appreciation of the ethics of the profession, and in main- taining the dignity of the court he never forgot the courtesies due the attorneys and other of- ficers of the court.
He was especially considerate of the young lawyer and smoothed over many a rough place for the new attorney with his first case, relieving his embarrassment and giving him confidence. He had a fine vein of humor and enjoyed sallies of wit, but never did he indulge his sense of the amusing to the discomfiture or humiliation of either lawyer or witness.
Being naturally of a judicial temperament, possessing abundant patience and capacity for work, always painstaking and diligent, enjoying the study of law, having a clear, strong, intellect and nearly absolute self control, he earned the high esteem and approbation of the bar and peo- ple, and won exalted position among the illustrious judges of North Carolina. He justly deserves the tribute paid him by the distinguished Judge David Schenck in his History of North Caro- lina, who in referring to Judge Graves says: "Than whom no better man nor purer judge adorns the bench of our state." Of him, also, George Davis, one of the South's most cultured and beloved sons, attorney-general of the Con- federacy, wrote: "I know of no life presenting a fairer and brighter example of all that human life at its best and noblest ought to be than that of my cherished and honored friend. He was indeed an accomplished lawyer, an able and up-
right judge, and a truly good man. And if knew any higher praise I would utter it of him."
His was a well-ordered life, free from selfish- ness, self-promotion, self-laudation, self-interest, abounding in kindness, gentleness, charity and good-will to men; his character was pure and un- sullied, his love of home and family was beauti- ful, his Christian faith was sublime.
On January 26, 1858, Jesse Franklin Graves married Mary Elizabeth Porter, daughter of Stephen aud Margaret (McNutt) Porter of Wythe County, Virginia. Her grandfather, An- drew Porter, married Mary Gleaves.
Judge Graves and wife had seven children : Mary Blanche, Margaret Virginia, Bernard Frank- lin, Lillian McNutt, Stephen Porter, Susan Isabel and Malvina; Margaret Virginia and Lillian Mc- Nutt died in infancy. Mary Blanche graduated with distinction from Greensboro Female College and married Arch Hines of Surry County; their three children are: Mary Graves, who married Luther Montrose Carlton of Roxboro; Margaret who married John Worth McAlister of Ashboro; and Jesse Franklin, now in the United States army. Mrs. Hines was especially gifted in music and for many years after the death of her hus- band conducted a music school in Mount Airy. Bernard Franklin was a student at the University of North Carolina, but was compelled to give up his college career on account of ill health. He engaged in farming as a means of recupera- tion, and while so engaged wrote many valuable articles for agricultural journals. Regaining his health, he became associated with his uncle, Col. B. Y. Graves, in the warehouse business and con- tinued in that work to the time of his death, October 2, 1894. He was twice elected mayor of the Town of Mount Airy. Stephen Porter was educated at Bingham School and the University of North Carolina. After completing his law course at the same institution, he located in his home town for the practice of his profession. His career is the subject of another sketen in this publication. Susan Isabel was graduatel at St. Mary's in Raleigh as valedictorian of her class, wou two medals offered by the Teachers' Assembly of the state for best examination on history of North Carolina and history of the United States, contests being open to every teacher iu the state. She is a teacher in the graded schools of Mount Airy and is regarded as a veritable encyclopedia of information on almost all subjects. She is a member of Raleigh Chapter of Daughters of the Revolution. Malvina received her education at St. Mary's in Raleigh, also, and became quite an accomplished pianist. She married Barzillai Shuford Graves, of Caswell County, and they have one child, Mary Elizabeth Graves, now study- ing music in New York. Mrs. Graves has for many years been president of the Daughters of the Confederacy of Caswell County.
HON. STEPHEN PORTER GRAVES. To be well born is one of the greatest blessings that can come to man or woman. The possession of a worthy ancestry is a rich heritage which carries with it a dignified responsibility, and it becomes an honor and distinction when its possessor him- self has lived not without credit and distinction. Successful in the law, and with a brilliant record of capable services in public affairs, Stephen Por- ter Graves has proven himself a worthy descend- ant of a distinguished family in North Carolina. He is a son of the late Judge Jesse Franklin
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Graves, whose career has been sketched elsewhere, and is also a lineal descendant of the early governor and United States senator, Jesse Frank- lin of North Carolina.
Porter Graves, by which name he is best known, was born in Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina, attended the public schools there and was for two years under the tutelage of Mr. W. F. Carter, a most efficient teacher, who was at the time reading law under Judge Graves and is now a prominent lawyer of Surry County. He was further prepared for college at the long established Bingham School, Mebane, now located at Asheville, North Carolina. His first year he won the declaimer's medal offered by the Polemic Literary Society, and the next year was the representative of his society in the commence- ment exercises, winning the medal for the best original oration. His last year at Bingham's he was a lieutenant in Company B.
He then entered the University of North Caro- lina, taking the regular literary course, and aft- erwards read law under Hon. John Manning, head of the law department of the institution. He was elected one of the editors of the University Magazine and was the recipient of other college honors. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
He was granted license to practice law at the February term, 1887, of the Supreme Court, the first session of the court after attaining his ma- jority, and at once began the practice of his profession at Mount Airy. He early established himself in the esteem and confidence of the peo- ple of his county, and by application to his chosen work earned high position with the bar and peo- ple as a lawyer of exceptional ability and an advocate of unusual power.
In 1902 he was nominated by the democratic party for the office of solicitor of the Eleventh Judicial District, a district normally republican at that time, but to which position he was elected by a good majority. Such has been his conduct of public affairs, the character of his dealings with the bar and the people, that he has four times since been nominated for the position without opposition and by acclamation.
It is rather an unusual happening that his father, the late Hon. Jesse Franklin Graves, was clected judge of practically the same district in 1878 for a term of eight years, and was re-elected judge of the same district in 1886 for a term of eight years, and that exactly eight years after the completion of his sixteen years' service on the bench, ending with his death, Porter Graves was elected solicitor of the same district, and that by terms of four years each he will have served exactly sixteen years in December, 1918.
And, too, it is rather remarkable that three generations of lawyers, Solomon Graves, Jesse Franklin Graves and Porter Graves, grandfather, father and son, all should have lived in and practiced the profession in the same county, and that each in turn should have rendered so long and efficient service in public life. In this con- nection it should be added that William Graves, eldest son of Porter Graves, obtained license to practice law at the February term, 1917, of the Supreme Court, was admitted to the bar in Surry County at the April term, 1917, and after arguing and winning his first case, volunteered for service in the army the next day and is now "Somewhere in France, " having arrived "Over- seas" in May, 1918.
The Eleventh Judicial District is the largest in the state and no bar in North Carolina ranks higher in ability; there is demand, therefore, for a thoroughly competent solicitor to care for the interests of the state. By reason of natural fit- ness, diligence, a wonderful knowledge of human nature, ability to discover truth, familiarity with the rules of evidence, power to array facts in argument, pleasing manner of speech, wide experi- ence in the court-room and high sense of fairness in the conduct of trials, he is recognized as the ablest prosecuting attorney in North Carolina. While he possesses oratorical power, and while people say he sometimes wins cases by the last speech, he says that in his opinion 90 per cent of all cases are either won or lost before the argument begins, the development of the evidence being the determining factor. As a trial lawyer, in the examination and cross-examination of wit- nesses, in alertness to grasp the salient features of a case and to rivet the attention of juries to them, in keeping his head in times of stress and storm, he excels. During his service as solicitor he has prosecuted thousands of cases, and there never has been a case on appeal to the Supreme Court reversed or remanded because of improper argument on his part.
Mr. Graves was married February 11, 1891, to Miss Kate Hollingsworth, of Mount Airy, North Carolina, daughter of Dr. William R. and Susan Eleanor Hollingsworth. Her father, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, was a man of fine intellect, noble impulses and love of his profession, possessing those tender and gentle qualities so essential to those who minister to the sick and afflicted. Miss Kate Hollingsworth was educated at Greensboro Female College, Greensboro, North Carolina. There have been born unto their marriage five children: William, Mary Franklin, Jesse Franklin, Kate and Stephen Porter, Jr. All are living except Kate, who died in infancy. William received his education in the Mount Airy graded school, Guilford College and the University of North Carolina, receiving the A. B. degree with the class of 1912. He read law at the university, also, completing his course in February, 1917. He left Camp Sevier, South Carolina, with the first detachment of the Thir- tieth Division the first of May, 1918, for France. Mary Franklin, after receiving her diploma from the Mount Airy High School, pursued her course of training at St. Mary's in Raleigh, North Caro- lina, for two years and completed her college work at Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina. Jesse Franklin attended the graded school in Mount Airy, continued his studies at. Horner Military School, Charlotte, North Carolina, and more recently took a business course at Sad- ler's Bryant & Stratton College, Baltimore, Mary- land. Returning from school he volunteered and is now in the navy of the United States. S. Porter, Jr., a boy of eleven years, is now in the city schools.
Mr. Graves had hardly turned his majority when he was called into active service of the demo- cratic party and made a canvass of the county in the campaign of 1888 as county elector, since which time he has ever been ready to contribute of his time and talent for the success of his party, not only in his own county and district but elsewhere in the state.
While he served efficiently as chairman of the executive committee of Surry County for many years, he never sought nomination for office from
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J. J. Anderson.
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the people other than for the position he now so ably fills, which is more judicial than political. The truth is that politics as a business, as a science or as a game does not appeal to him, and, however old-fashioned the notion may be in these days of self-promotion, he yet believes the office should seek the man and not the man the office.
His attractive home, the ancestral homestead, is presided over by one of the noblest and best of women, where is dispensed the most delightful hospitality. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and are identified with every welfare movement. Mr.
Graves is a member of Blue Ridge Council No. 73, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, Granite Lodge No. 322, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, Mount Airy chapter No. 68, Royal Arch Masons, Piedmont Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar, and Oasis Temple, Mystic Shrine.
JOHN GOFTON ANDERSON has had a wide ex- perience as a lawyer, has practiced successfully in several localities of the state for the past twelve years, and is now one of the recognized leaders of the bar at Snow Hill.
Mr. Anderson was born at Tarboro, North Caro- lina, August 31, 1883, a son of John and Martha (Pittman) Anderson, his parents being farmers. He grew up in the atmosphere of country life, attended district schools in Halifax County, and his higher education was acquired in the Oak Ridge Institute, and from 1904 to 1906 he was a student in Wake Forest College law department. He was graduated LL. B., and had been ad- mitted to the bar in August, 1905. For one year Mr. Anderson practiced at Halifax, then for two years was located at Elm City in Wilson County and in March, 1909, removed to Snow Hill.
Mr. Anderson is affiliated with Lodge No. 132 of the Masonic order and the Modern Woodmen of America. On September 16, 1911, he married Pearl Herring of Greene County.
LEVIN CARL BLADES, one of the leaders in the lumber industry of the state, with business head- quarters at Elizabeth City, belongs to a family of lumber manufacturers and the name and activi- ties associated with it have long been prominent in this state.
Levin C. Blades was born in Worcester County, Maryland, January 24, 1881, He is a son of J. B. Blades, of New Bern, North Carolina. He was educated in private schools at Elizabeth City, and finished his education in Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. As a youth he spent much of his time around lumber mills and in the lumber offices of his father at Elizabeth City, and now for a number of years has been an active factor in the lumber industry located there, being treas- urer of the Foreman-Blades Lumber Company, which company operates saw and planing mills with a capacity of 125,000 feet per day. He is also president of the Elizabeth City Brick Com- pany, vice president of the J. B. Blades Lumber Company of New Bern, and secretary of the Ply- mouth Brick Company of Plymouth, North Car- olina. He is a director of the First National Bank of Elizabeth City and a member of the Lum- bermen's organization of Hoo Hoos. He also be- longs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a trustee of the First Methodist Epis- copal Church.
Mr. Blades married October 6, 1909. Miss Es- telle D. Farrior, of Wilson, North Carolina. Their
two children are Margaret Ann and Carl Far- rior.
BURWELL HENRY WOODELL. No man in the Southland has sacrificed more for the cause. of Odd Fellowship than has Burwell Henry Woodell, for nine years editor of the North Carolina Odd Fellow and for thirty-two years grand secretary of the Grand Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of North Carolina. From the date of his election to the office of grand secretary, in 1885, to the present time, the biography of Mr. Woodell and the history of Odd Fellowship in North Caro- lina have been so closely intertwined that it would be impossible to write the one without the other.
Burwell Henry Woodell, son of Mark and Jennie (Cox) Woodell, was born August 15, 1839, on his father's farm in Chatham County, North Carolina, and there grew to manhood, receiving his education in the public schools of his native locality. At the age of eighteen years he left the home place and accepted a position as clerk in a grocery store in the City of Raleigh, where he was working at the outbreak of the war between the states. In the spring of 1863 he enlisted in Company B, Tenth Battalion, Heavy Artillery, and served the cause of the Confederacy faithfully until peace was declared. At that time he was home on a furlough on account of sickness, and surrendered to General Morgan, of Kentucky, at Avent's Ferry, Chatham County, April 19, 1865, not having received a single wound during his two years of service. Because of his particular knowledge in this direc- tion, he was generally left in charge of the com- missary and quartermaster's stores while his battalion was engaged in active service, and at- tained the rank of corporal, but declined higher honors, preferring service in the private ranks.
On November 22, 1866, Mr. Woodell was married to Miss Emily Buchanan, a native of the same section of Chatham County, and to this union six children were born, three sons and three daughters.
For two years after the close of the war between the South and the North B. H. Woodell labored on his father's farm, helping the elder man to re- claim it for cultivation. In 1868, however, he. returned to Raleigh where he again became identified with the mercantile business, and by the year 1873 had accumulated sufficient capital so that he was able to engage in business on his own account. It was while he was thus engaged that he received his introduction to Odd Fellowship, for in March of the year mentioned he was initiated in Seaton Gales Lodge, No. 64, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has held con- tinuous membership for more than forty-five years and in the work of which he has been exceedingly active. As soon as he had received the fifth degree Mr. Woodell was appointed conductor, and was then elected vice grand and noble grand in succes- sion. On May 10, 1876, he became a member of the Grand Lodge of the State, and was appointed district deputy grand master by Grand Master Richard J. Jones. Later in that same year he was appointed assistant grand secretary, and filled that position for three consecutive sessions. In 1878 he visited the Sovereign Grand Lodge in session at Baltimore, Maryland, and there was honored by appointment to grand guardian.
At the session of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina held at Wilmington in May, 1882, Mr. Woodell was elected grand master from the floor of the grand lodge, without having filled the sub- ordinate offices, as is customary, and at the close
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of his term in office as grand master in 1883, was elected grand representative to the ; Sovereign Grand Lodge for two years, a capacity in which he attended the session of 1883 at Providence, Rhode Island, and that of 1884 at Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the latter session Mr. Woodell nominated Hon. Charles M. Busbee, of Raleigh, North Carolina, for deputy grand sire, and this proved the beginning of what finally resulted in the election of the only member of the order from North Carolina who has ever held the office of grand site. Mr. Busbee was elected deputy grand sire in 1888, and two years later was sent to the chair of grand sire, serving two years in each position.
Mr. Woodell attended the session of the Sovereign Grand Lodge at Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1901, at which time he memorized "The Unwritten Work" of Odd Fellowship, being the first in North Carolina to memorize the revised work. He was also very active at this same session in providing means whereby the members of the order could become more familiar with the secret work.
At the Grand Lodge session of 1885 at Wilson, North Carolina, Mr. Woodell was elected grand secretary, to succeed Mr. J. J. Litchford, who had served in that capacity for fourteen years and who had declined reelection because of failing health. Since that time Mr. Woodell has been absolutely devoted to his secretarial duties. He has sacrificed time, money and almost everything else for the welfare of this great order which he loves so sincerely, and has been a great contributing factor in its forwarding of the cause of friendship, love and truth. He has burned the midnight oil; and has sacrificed the pleasures of home life to a large degree; he has refused to accept good business propositions whereby he might have accumulated wealth-and many other things, too numerous to mention-and all this for the sake of his fellow man.
Mr. Woodell has personally organized a large per cent of the Odd Fellow lodges in North Carolina, and his voice has been heard in almost every lodge room in the state. In 1885, when he was elected . grand secretary, there were forty-two lodges in North Carolina, with 1,208 members. In June, 1916, there were 240 lodges, with more than 15,000 members, and a large part of this gain in member- ship may be directly attributed to his faithful and untiring efforts. He has traveled thousands of miles in teaching the members the secret work of the order as well as instructing them in the tenets and jurisprudence of the fraternity. He has com- piled two state digests of Odd Fellows laws, and has framed a large portion of the laws and regula- tions under which the Grand Lodge of North Caro- lina and its subordinates are now working. He was the originator of what is known as the "Club Plan " of admitting members into the order.
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