USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 43
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John Pehr Landquist, father of Thomas E., was born in Christianstad, Sweden, in 1836, a child of his father's first marriage. He attended school steadily in his youth, and at the age of seventeen sought fortune and new experience in America. He made his way to the Territory of Minnesota, and three years later was joined by his father. John P. Landquist had all the experi- ences of a frontiersman in the far Northwest until about 1859, when he went South. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in a Louisiana regiment, went with it to the battle fields of Virginia, and in one of the engagements around Richmond in 1863 he was severely wounded. A ball passed through his lungs, and as soon as he was able to travel he was sent to Salem to recuperate. His condition did not permit his resuming active serv- ice and in a short time he engaged in merchandis- ing at Salem. That was his line of work until fail- ing health compelled him to forego all business activity, and he died there in 1879. This old Con- federate soldier married Mary Elizabeth Pfohl, daughter of Samuel Thomas and Anna Elizabeth Pfohl and granddaughter of Rev. Christian Thomas Pfohl, a noted character in this section of North Carolina. Mrs. John P. Landquist was well edu- cated in the Salem Academy and College, and after graduating taught there until her marriage. She is now deceased. Her children were three: Annie M., Thomas E. and Emma L. Emma is the wife of A. H. Stein, of Jacksonville, Florida.
Thomas E. Landquist grew up in Salem, attended the Salem Boys' School, and as soon as his age permitted he determined to make his own living. He found work as a messenger in the Fries Dry Goods Store, and remained with that firm until 1890, when, at the age of seventeen, he became a clerk in the Shaffner drug store. He remained with that firm until 1898, and in the meantime had become practically master of the trade of pharmacy as well as the business principles of the drug trade. In 1898 he entered the University of North Carolina and took a course in pharmacy, being licensed as a registered pharmacist in the following year. He then went back to the Shaffner store, which was located on South Main Street.
In 1901 Mr. Landquist had advanced so far in experience and was able to command sufficient
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capital to justify him in entering business for himself. He established a store on South Main Street at the corner of Shallowford Street, half a block from the business house where he had been employed for so many years. Later he consolidated his store with the Shaffner drug house, and it was incorporated as the Shaffner-Landquist Company, now the Hopkins-Landquist Company. Mr. Land- quist is now vice president, secretary and treasurer of this prominent and well known business house of Winston-Salem.
On December 28, 1904, he married Miss Annie Marie Bost. Mrs. Landquist was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, daughter of Martin Luther and Belle (Crowell) Bost. Mr. and Mrs. Landquist have two children, Rozelind and Rebecca. The family are active members of the Home Moravian Church. Mr. Landquist is affiliated with Salem Lodge No. 56, Knights of Pythias.
EMERY MERDITH MITCHELL is present sheriff of Buncombe County and a man widely known and prominent in the civic and business affairs of Asheville and the surrounding district, where he has lived practically all his life.
Sheriff Mitchell was born on Cane Creek near Fairview in Buncombe County June 26, 1869, a son of John C. and Margaret (Whitaker) Mitchell. His father was a farmer and it was in a rural environment that the son grew to manhood and he has never forgotten the lessons he learned on the farm and still has a fondness for rural pur- suits and owns some land, the productive resources of which are under his supervision so far as his official duties permit. He was educated in the district school and up to the age of twenty-three was a practical farmer. He then bought an interest in a meat market, and twelve months later became proprietor of the business and it was under his successful individual management for eight years. .
Mr. Mitchell came into public life in 1905 as deputy sheriff, and from 1906 to 1910 was deputy and jailer. He served as first deputy under three successive sheriffs, four years. In 1914 he was elected sheriff of the county and the duties of that office have been most capably handled by him ever since.
Mr. Mitchell is prominent in the Fraternal Order of Eagles, has served as vice president four years, president two years, and treasurer three years. He is also affiliated with the Masonic Order, Junior Order of United American Mechan- . ies, Knights of Pythias and the Modern Wood- men of America, having served as vice president in the local camp of that order four years. He is a member of the First Baptist Church. Mr. Mitchell is a man of outdoor interests and tastes, and has always been an enthusiast in the sport of hunting big game. He and fifteen other con- genial associates maintain a Lodge and nearly every year hunt deer. Fox hunting is also a sport in which he indulges when opportunity offers.
December 27, 1897, Mr. Mitchell married Cora Fuget, daughter of William and Lelia Fuget, Tennessee farmers. They have four children : Hobson Parris, clerk in a railway office at Ashe- ville; Robert Willis, Lawrence Hilliard and Mar- garet Lelia, all of whom are still in school.
JOHN MONTREVILLE QUEEN was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1909 and has since been in active practice at Waynesville, where he has Vol. V-11
also attained prominence in public life. He is now mayor of that city, and every year finds him more strongly entrenched in the productive work of his profession.
He was born at Waynesville, North Carolina, September 6, 1881, a son of James L. and Mary (Noland) Queen, his father being a farmer and stockman in this section of the state. The son was educated in public schools, attended old Wea- ver College in Bumcombe County, and took his law work in the University of North Carolina, where he graduated August 30, 1909. The fol- lowing month he was admitted to the bar and at once returned to Waynesville to earn his first fees as a general practitioner. In 1913 he was appointed police justice upon the organization of that court, and in May, 1915, was regularly elected to the office. He was police justice until elected mayor in 1917. Mr. Queen is a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He is past master of Waynesville- Lodge No. 259, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Waynes- ville Lodge No. 171.
September 3, 1911, he married Grace Ethel Shook, of Buncombe County. She is the daugh- ter of Manson Daniel and Sarah (Clinton) Shook, her father a manufacturer and farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Queen have three children: James Shook, John Montreville and Mary Catherine.
SANFORD C. HARPER has been actively engaged in business at Winston-Salem for the past ten years, and his experience includes during his earlier life a number of years as a North Carolina farmer. He is a member of some of the very old and honored families in this section of the state.
His birth occurred on a farm in Lewisville Town- ship of Forsyth County and he is descended from Zephaniah Harper, who was of Scotch ancestry, and from Southern Maryland became a pioneer in North Carolina. John Harper, grandfather of Sanford C., was born in Forsyth County, became a planter and before the war operated his fields with the aid of slave labor. He married a Miss Boyer, and they spent their last days in Lewisville Township, where they died when quite old. Their large fam- ily of children are all now deceased.
Costen Harper, father of Sanford C., was born in Lewisville Township in 1823. He inherited land, and by industry and good judgment increased his holdings and became a prosperous citizen. After the war came on he enlisted in 1862 in Capt. J. A. Clement's Independent Company of Mounted Troops and was commissioned second lieutenant. The company became Company G of the Seventh Confederate Cavalry. In 1864 it was attached to the Seventy-fifth Regiment of North Carolina Cav- alry. Lieutenant Harper in the meantime had been with his organization through numerous battles and skirmishes and hard campaigns, and he helped fight the last battles of the Confederacy. His regi- ment, led by Col. E. J. Holt, made the last charge of the Army of Northern Virginia. He was at Appomattox and Lieutenant Harper's name is on the official list of Confederate officers paroled there. After his return home he resumed farming and continued to occupy the old homestead in the southeast part of Lewisville Township until his death at the age of seventy-five.
Lieutenant Harper married Emma Pfaff. She was born at Pfafftown in Forsyth County, a place named in honor of her family. Her father was Benjamin Pfaff, born in what is now Forsyth
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County September 12, 1812, and her grandfather was Peter Pfaff, who was born in Germany Jan- uary 28, 1773. The records of the family show that Peter Pfaff was brought to America when very young by his parents. He subsequently bought land and settled in Vienna Township of Forsyth County, in a locality that has long been known as Pfafftown. There he built a substantial two-story house of hewed logs, weather boarded on the out- side, and there he and his good wife lived in com- fort. He was married March 23, 1802, to Magda- lena Conrad, who was born in Vienna Township November 20, 1782. These were rugged old set- tlers and in the early days they experienced many hardships and handicaps. It was years before cook stoves were introduced and most of the meals were cooked by the open fire. Peter Pfaff and wife were both active and devoted members of the Bethania Moravian Church and they were laid to rest in the graveyard there. Benjamin Pfaff spent his active career as a farmer and always lived in what is now Forsyth County. Mrs. C. E. Harper, widow of Lieutenant Harper, is still living on the old home farm. She reared four children: Henry B., John W., Sanford C. and Lydia C., wife of John Ketner.
Sanford C. Harper was educated in the district schools, and he learned farming by practical ex- perience during his youth and continued for many seasons in the fields as a cultivator and general agriculturist. In 1901 he left the farm and re- moving to Greensboro became representative of the Coca Cola Company and soon established a flourishing business. In 1906 he removed to Win- ston-Salem and has continued in the same line of enterprise and with splendid success.
Mr. Harper was married in 1902 to Miss Mamie Mullican. She was born in Lewisville Township, daughter of Lewis C. and Nancy (Vest) Mullican. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Harper are Ruth, Robert, Sanford, Alta and Roger. Mr. Harper is affiliated with Salem Lodge No. 269 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Winston Chapter No. 24, Royal Arch Masons; Piedmont Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar; and Oasis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charlotte.
RICHARD RHODES BARNES. The life of Richard Rhodes Barnes came to an honorable close at his home in Barnesville June 4, 1918. But around that life, as expressed through action and in- fluence, was developed one of the interesting com- munities of Robeson County, the nucleus of which he established through his mercantile and agri- cultural activities beginning about forty-five years ago, and which has continued to grow through the addition of varied other interests.
To be called the father of such a community is no small distinction, and it will be heightened by understanding the career of Mr. Barnes. It is given to few men so completely to utilize oppor- tunities, and leave so much behind them of en- during good and benefit.
He was born in Robeson County in 1844, near the present Town of Proctorville. His parents were Meredith and Eliza (Ward) Barnes. His grandfather, Jethro Barnes, came to Robeson County before the close of the eighteenth century from Nash County, where his ancestors, coming originally from England, had lived for several generations. They have always been a sturdy, sub- stantial race of people. Meredith Barnes was born and reared and spent his life on the old Barnes place near the present Town of Proctor- ville, about ten miles south of Lumberton.
It was in that vicinity that Richard R. Barnes spent his boyhood days. In March, 1862, he en- listed in the Confederate Army in Captain Atkin- son's company of volunteers, which became Com- pany B of the Fiftieth North Carolina Regiment of Infantry. In spite of his youth he served with the valor of a seasoned veteran in a number of campaigns of Virginia and the Carolinas. He was at Savannah when that city was evacuated by Gen- eral Hardee's army just before General Sherman's occupation, and going northward reached Fayette- ville, North Carolina, where he was captured. The latter weeks of the war he spent as a prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland, and was released and returned home in July, 1865.
Soon after the war he located a few miles south of the old Barnes home place in Sterling Town- ship, in the extreme southern part of the county. In 1866 he married, and with that added responsi- bility, being a man of enterprising qualities but with exceedingly limited capital, he turned to the turpentine industry. At that time all the country was exceedingly poor, with little money in circu- lation, no industries, and agriculture at a low ebb. With many discouragements he stuck to his work, and industry and determination brought him to the enviable position he later enjoyed both financially and as a citizen. In 1873 he started a mercantile business in a small way. His fortune was built up as a result of gradual accumulations through legitimate trade and agricultural enterprise. The community which grew up around his store and farm was named Barnesville in his honor, and this village is a station on the Raleigh and Charleston Railroad. While several years ago he passed the age of three score, he continued active, energetic and progressive, a real leader in his section of the county until the close of his life. Always inter- ested in those things which expressed community service and ideals, he took special pride in the excellent Barnesville graded school, of which he was appropriately called "the father." He was the more generous of his financial assistance to the cause of education because of the circumstances which prevented him in early life from securing the advantages which are the right and privilege of every American youth.
Having known humble circumstances himself, he was generous of his financial means in backing many a struggling farmer during the progress of clearing up and developing the land around Barnes- ville. This section, it may be stated, is known as the Indian Swamp District, and is famous for pro- ducing the best tobacco in Robeson County. Mr. R. R. Barnes himself for many years was a large producer of cotton and tobacco on his farms.
He owned several fine farms at and adjoining Barnesville on the north, his ownership extending to about two thousand acres of this rich and val- uable soil in the Indian Swamp section. It is with complete justice that the assertion is made that Richard Rhodes Barnes was the pioneer in stimu- lating tobacco planting in this part of Robeson County. He it was who put in the first seed bed, and he often told how he had to go to a tobacco growing community in order to learn how to con- struct and take care of a seed bed. No one item of agricultural enterprise has done more for the people of this community than tobacco raising.
Besides his business interests at Barnesville he lent a helping hand in the commercial and indus- trial development of the county at large. He in- vested substantially in some of the leading insti- tutions of Lumberton, in several of which he was
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a director. These include the National Bank of Lumberton, the Planters Bank & Trust Company, of which he was vice president, the Lumberton, the Dresdeu and the Jennings Cotton Mills.
Mr. Barnes was a democrat and for four years was county commissioner. For years he was a leading factor in the Barnesville Baptist Church, of which he served as church clerk and deacon. He was one of the prominent Baptist laymen in this part of the state and member of the executive committee of the Robeson Baptist Association. He was generous in his gifts to the benevolent enter- prises of the church and especially to the cause of Christian education. The life and work of such a man in any community has an incalculable value not only to the present but for all the future.
The Barnes store at Barnesville is just across the main road from the handsome and commodious residence where he spent the last forty-three years of his life. The approach to this home is through rows of beautiful elm and oak trees, forming an avenue that is a delight to the eye. The bride who joined her fortunes with him in 1866 was Miss Isabella Floyd, daughter of Samuel L. Floyd, of Robeson County. Mrs. Barnes, his life-long help- mate of over fifty years, has unfortunately been an invalid for several years.
The only living child of Richard Rhodes Barnes is Kelly M. Barnes, referred to below.
KELLY M. BARNES is the acting mauaging of- ficer of the Planters Bank & Trust Company of Lumberton, one of the highly prosperous and sub- stautial institutions of Robeson County. Mr. Barnes has had a useful and dignified part in the affairs of Robeson County for many years, and is one of a family whose name is significant not only of the older citizenship of the county, but also of that new and progressive element which has wrought such marvelous changes in the social and industrial community within the last half century.
He was born in Robeson County in 1867, son of the late Richard Rhodes Barnes. He grew up at Barnesville, attended the local schools and finish- ing his education during 1884-88 in the noted mili- tary school at LaGrange, North Carolina, con- ducted by Colonel Davis, one of the ablest school men of his day. He also took a full business course in the Commercial College of the University of Kentucky. With this substantial groundwork and preparation for life, he associated himself with his father at Barnesville, and remained there until 1912. Coming to Lumberton, which has since been his home, he entered actively into banking and is now treasurer and managing officer of the Planters Bank & Trust Company, which is an enlargement of and successor to the former Farm- ers & Merchants Bank.
The Planters Bank & Trust Company was or- ganized in 1916, with a capital stock of $75,000, surplus and undivided profits of about $15,000, and does a general commercial banking business and is highly prosperous in its managing personnel and its financial condition. Dr. N. A. Thompson is president and Mr. G. E. Rancke, Jr., assistant secretary and treasurer. Mr. Kelly Barnes is also president of the Farmers Tobacco Warehouse Company. Like his father, he has shown a ready public spirit in the community where he has lived, is stanchly aligned with the democratic party and a member of the Methodist Church.
Ilis first wife was Miss Nettie Pittman, of the Fairmont community, daughter of Henry F. and
Rose A. Pittman. The three children of their marriage are named Pittman Barnes and Miss Ganelle and Miss Myrtle Barnes. For his present wife Mr. Barnes , married Mary Agnes Brown, daughter of John A. Brown, of Red Springs, North Carolina. They have five children, Horace, Wilton, Knox, John Rhodes and Edna.
SIMMS ELI MEMORY. Business success with honor, established position and influence in a community are the achievements most closely associated with the name of Memory in the city of Whiteville and Columbus County.
The late Thomas Stephens Memory was a native of Bladen County, North Carolina, and in ยท1847 established himself in a general merchan- dise business at Whiteville in Columbus County. He continued a merchant throughout his life. Soon after he began business at Whiteville he failed. He had secured his stock of merchandise on credit through money borrowed from friends iu New York. Returning to New York, he was able to effect a settlement with his creditors on a basis of fifty cents on the dollar. He had the courage to enter business again. In a few years he again went to New York, and though he held receipts in full for all his previous debts, he insisted that the old accounts be settled on a par basis, and not only that, but paid the interest on the unpaid fifty per ceut. It was this act more than anything else which was significant of his entire career of honesty and integrity, and his whole life was characterized by the same scrupu- lous honor. He filled a high position iu the com- munity and for eight years was county treasurer of Columbus County. The death of this honored citizen occurred December 18, 1895. He married Rachel Baldwin, who is also deceased.
Their son Simms Eli Memory has continued the business established by his father seventy years ago, and has likewise enjoyed the confidence of an entire community. He was boru in White- ville May 25, 1856. On January 29, 1878, he married Emmie Cameron Simms, of Atlauta, Georgia. She is a daughter of Col. Thomas G. and Jane (Cameron) Simms. To their marriage have been born three children. Thomas Simms is associated with his father in the Memory Company, general merchants, at Whiteville, and by his marriage to Estelle Meredith of Wilming- ton, has four children named Simms Edward, Ruth, Louise and Emily Ross. Irene Foster, the second child, is the wife of Capt. James I. Davis, who is in the United States Coast Defense at South- port, North Carolina, aud they have two children, Jane Cameron and Catherine. Anuie Cameron is still at home with her parents.
Mr. Memory has served as alderman of White- ville, is a deacon and trustee of the Baptist church, and he, as was his father before him, has been very prominent in church affairs. His father is credited with the work and influence which brought about the establishment of the present Baptist Church at Whiteville.
MAURICE VICTOR BARNHILL. One of the bril- liant members of the Nash County bar and prose- cuting attorney is Maurice Victor Barnhill, who, along with the qualities indispensable to the law- yer, a keen, rapid, logical mind, eloquence of language and a strong personality, possesses the capacity for hard work.
Maurice Victor Barnhill was born December 5, 1887, at Enfield, Halifax County, North Caro-
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lina. His parents are Martin Van Buren and Mary (Dawes) Barnhill, his mother being a sis- ter of ex-Senator John Dawes, of Ehn City, North Carolina. His father has led an agricul. tural life.
Maurice V. Barnhill attended the Enfield graded schools and then entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to returning to the university to pursue a law course, he was con- nected for a time with the Toisnot Banking Company at Elm City, North Carolina, in the capacity of assistant cashier. He then entered the law department of the University of North Carolina, from which he was graduated in 1909 and in February of that year was licensed to practice by the Supreme Court of the state. He immediately located at Raleigh and entered into a law partnership with Walter H. Grimes and continued there until March, 1910, when he came to Rocky Mount. Here Mr. Barnhill has won deserved recognition through his thorough legal knowledge, his fine ability and a dignified but pleasing personality. He has been identified with a large amount of very important litigation and that the impression he has made on his fellow citizens in relation to his ability and integrity, is evidenced by his election to the important office of prosecuting attorney.
Mr. Barnhill was married June 5, 1912, to Miss Nannie Rebecca Cooper, who was born at Rocky Mount and is a daughter of George B. and Alice (Arrington) Cooper. Mr. and Mrs. Barnhill have one son, who was born December 5, 1914, and bears his father's entire name. They are active and valued members of the First Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, and Mr. Barnhill is a mem- ber of the board of stewards.
While his profession claims a large part of his time and his official duties never suffer neglect, Mr. Barnhill has additional important interests in this section, He is president of the City Guar- antee & Title Company, and he is also president of the Sharpsburg Banking Company and a director of the Toisnot Banking Company, and evidently had he confined his attention to the banking field he would have been more than measurably successful along that line.
Mr. Barnhill is a member of the Nash County Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar As- sociation, and is prominent in Masonry, having received the York rite and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is identified also with the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias and with various social organizations. Mr. Barnhill is very benevolent in his instincts and generously con- tributes to all worthy charitable enterprises.
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