USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 44
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JOHN C. STOUT is a native of North Carolina and for a number of years has successfully prac- ticed his profession as an architect at Rocky Mount.
His family has lived in North Carolina for several generations, and he is descended from Richard Stout, who in 1640 came from England to New Amsterdam, now New York. Richard Stout married one of the most interesting women named in Colonial history. Some interesting facts connected with the early generations of the Stout family are found in "Benedict's History of the Baptists,'' published at Boston in 1813. From this work the following sentences are quoted :
"The family of the Stouts are so remarkable for their number, origin and character, in both church and state, that their history deserves to
be conspicuously recorded; and no place can be so proper as that of Hopewell, where the bulk of the family reside. We have already seen that Jonathan Stout and family were the seed of the Hopewell church, and the beginning of Hope- well settlement; and that of the fifteen which constituted the church, nine were Stouts. The church was constituted at the house of a Stout, and the meetings were chiefly at the dwellings of the Stouts for forty-one years, viz .: From the beginning of the settlement to the building of the meeting house, before described. Mr. Hart was of opinion (in 1790) 'that from first to last, half the members have been and were of that name; for, in looking over the church book (saith he), I find that near two hundred of the name have been added; besides about as many more of the blood of the Stouts, who had lost the name by marriages. The present (1790) two deacons and four elders are Stouts; the late Zebulon and David Stout were two of its main pillars; the last lived to see his offspring multiplied into an hundred and seventeen souls.' The origin of this Baptist family is no less remarkable; for they all sprang from one woman, and she as good as dead; her history is in the mouths of most of her posterity, and is told as follows: 'She was born at Amsterdam, about the year 1602; her father's name was Vanprincis; she and her first husband (whose name is not known) sailed for New York (then New Amsterdam) about the year 1620; the vessel was stranded at Sandy Hook; the crew got ashore, and marched toward the said New York; but Penelope's (for that was her name) husband being hurt in the wreck, could not march with them; therefore, he and his wife tarried in the woods; they had not been long in the place before the Indians killed them both (as they thought) and stripped them to the skin; however, Penelope came to, though her skull was fractured and her left shoulder so hacked that she could never use that arm like the other; she was also cut across the abdomen, so that her bowels appeared; these she kept in with her hand; she continued in this situation for seven days, taking shelter in a hollow tree, and eating the excrescence of it; the seventh day she saw a deer passing by with arrows sticking in it, and soon after two Indians appeared, whom she was glad to see, in hope they would put her out of her misery; accord- ingly, one made towards her to knock her on the head; but the other, who was an elderly man, prevented him; and throwing his matchcoat about her, carried her to his wigwam, and cured her of her wounds and bruises; after that he took her to New York, and made a present of her to her countrymen, viz., an Indian present, expecting ten times the value in return. It was in New York that one Richard Stout married her; he was a native of England and of a good family; she was now in her twenty-second year and he in his fortieth. She bore him seven sons and three daughters, viz .: Jonathan (founder of Hope- well). John, Richard, James, Peter, David, Benja- min, Mary, Sarah and Alice; the daughters married into the families of the Bounds' Pikes, Throckmor- tons and Skeltons, and so lost the name of Stout; the sons married into the families of Bullen, Craw- ford, Ashton, Truax, etc., and had many children. The mother lived to the age of one hundred ten years, and saw her offspring multiplied into five hundred and two in about eighty-eight years.'"
John Christie Stout was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, December 19, 1860. His
John 6 Start.
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parents were Peter and Mary (Wrightsman) Stout, good, solid people, old settlers and among the sub- stantial class.
John C. Stout obtained his education in the public schools and as he early displayed inclina- tion and talent in the direction of architecture, he entered upon the serious study of this art and re- mained for three and one-half years under the preceptorship of the well known architect, Thomas A. Klutz. Mr. Stout then embarked in a building and contracting business for himself, combining architectural designing, and continuing until 1906, since which time he has devoted his talents ex- clusively to architectural work, making a specialty of residences, churches, courthouses, bank build- ings and other dignified structures. Mr. Stout has proved a thorough master of his craft and has made an enviable reputation for himself as an architect, exemplified in many buildings which he has designed at Rocky Mount.
Mr. Stout was married at Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 31, 1886, to Miss Hattie Cornelia Jordan, who is a daughter of Thomas J. and Annie (Massie) Jordan, a well known old family of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Stout are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Stout is prominent in the Masonic fraternity, being mas- ter of St. John's Lodge No. 1, Wilmington, is a Knight Templar and has reached the Thirty-second degree and belongs also to the Mystic Shrine.
JOHN W. BYERLY has been well kuown in the business community of Winston-Salem for many years. He was formerly a merchant and tobacco manufacturer, but is now living practically re- tired.
Mr. Byerly is a descendant of North Carolina pioneers. The Byerly family was established in America by three brothers named Frank, George and John Byerly, all natives of Heidelberg, Ger- many. On coming to America they settled in North Carolina and from that state their descendants have become widely spread. John Byerly, grand- father of John W., was born in Davidson County, and in the early days came to what is now Forsyth County, purchasing land about two miles from Winston-Salem. He had slaves, used them to de- velop and cultivate his land, and spent his life use- fully and honorably in the pursuit of agriculture until his death when upwards of eighty years of age. He married a Miss Foltz. They reared five sons, named Alexander, James, Harrison, Sanford and Addison. Their only daughter died when young.
Sanford Byerly was born in what is now Forsyth County and near Winston-Salem in 1825. He grew up to be a man of energy, perseverance, and was markedly successful in his varied affairs. In early life with his brother Harrison be established a tan- nery near Winston. This was operated for some years, and the former subsequently bought out his brother's interest and continued the business. Later he was a merchant in the locality then known as Liberty, now North Salem. From merchan- dising he turned his attention to the manufacture of tobacco, and was still actively engaged in that when he died in 1888.
Sanford Byerly married Eliza Masten. Her an- cestors were also important factors in the early life of Western North Carolina. Her grandfather, John Masten, was a planter, and for a number of years owned and occupied a plantation southeast of Winston-Salem. In that locality he spent his last years. John Masten married Elizabeth Stan-
ley, a native of Eugland. She came to America with her parents, and both she and her husband . lived to advanced years. They reared six children, named Mathias, Mary, Rhoda, William, Joseph and Matilda. John Masten and wife were Quakers, were active members of the Muddy Creek Church, and they are buried in that churchyard.
William Masten, maternal grandfather of John W. Byerly, was born on a plantation about 31/2 miles south of Winston-Salem in 1796. He grew up on the old farm, succeeded to ownership of the homestead, and supervised its operation with the aid of his slaves until his death on November 2, 1860. He married Lucy Richards, a native of Davidson County. Her parents were Walter and Joyce (Pate) Richards. Joyce Pate's parents came to America when she was thirteen years of age and settled in Tennessee. Walter Richards was probably a native of Switzerland and while travel- ing in Tennessee met and married Miss Pate, and they soon afterwards moved to Davidson County, North Carolina, where they lived a contented and prosperous life. Mrs. Lucy (Richards) Masten died about 1846. She left nine children, and her husband married for his second wife Parthenia Teague, who survived him about twenty-four years. His children, all by the first marriage, were named John, Joseph, Catherine, Linda, Eliza, Mary, Wil- liam, Sarah and Robert. Robert became a teacher. Joseph was a well known attorney. John took a prominent part in public affairs and wa's at one time a member of the State Legislature. Sarah lives at Winston-Salem and is the widow of Wesley I. Idol. William was lieutenant of Company D in the Twenty-first Regiment of North Carolina Troops in the war between the states. Walter Richards was a Moravian, his wife a Lutheran, while William Masten was reared a Quaker and his wife being a Lutheran by training they com- promised by becoming primitive Baptists.
Mr. John W. Byerly was one of two children. His sister Laura, now deceased, married Frank C. Brown. John W. Byerly after completing his course in the city schools became associated with his father in the store. After his father's death he continued the tobacco business and built that up to prosperous proportions. He finally closed it out and has since given his time largely to his private affairs. Mr. Byerly is vice president of the Frank C. Brown & Sons Company at Winston- Salem. He is a member of the Twin City Club, of Salem Lodge No. 36, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of Fairview Council No. 9, Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
ELDER SYLVESTER HASSELL, for many years edi- tor and publisher of the Gospel Messenger at Williamston, North Carolina, has for over half a century had a useful career as an educator, edi- tor and minister of the Primitive Baptist Church.
He was born at Williamston, North Carolina, July 28, 1842, and his lineage conncets him with early colonial history in the Carolinas. His par- ents were Cushing Biggs and Mary (Davis) Has- sell. The Hassells were of Huguenot stock and came from England to Tyrrell and Washington counties, North Carolina, during the eighteenth century. Cushing B. Hassell was a son of Joshua N. Hassell, who died in 1824. Joshua Hassell married Martha Biggs, whose ancestors came from England to Virginia during the eighteenth cen- tury.
Cushing Biggs Hassell was the head of a num- ber of large business enterprises and also a prim-
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itive Baptist minister. He served as moderator of the Kehukee Primitive Baptist Association for many years, until his death, was clerk and mas- ter in equity, trustec of the University of North Carolina for eighteen years. In 1875 he was a member of the State Constitutional Conven- tion, where he took a most prominent part, fre- quently eugaging Judge Tourgee, the leading car- pet-bagger in debate aud opposing the removal of the disabilities of Governor W. W. Holden on the grounds, chiefly, that the people had not elected the members with view of action on that ques- tion. He was at one time president of the Roa- noke Navigation Company, served as county treas- urer of Martin County, was pastor of Skewarkey and Spring Green churches. He was joint author of his son Sylvester of a "History of the Church of God from the Creation to A. D. 1885." His first wife, mother of Sylvester Hassell, was Mary Davis. She was a daughter of Col. Durham Da- vis, who in turn was a son of William Davis and the latter a son of Durham Davis. The Davis ancestors came from England prior to the Revo- lution.
Elder Sylvester Hassell was educated in the Williamson Academy and the University of North Carolina, entering in 1858, and having been grad- uated with the highest honors. In June, 1867, he was granted the degree Master of Arts by the university. He was a member and was presi- dent in 1861 of the Philanthropic Literary Society at Chapel Hill. At the university he also be- came identified with the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
His early work was as a teacher at Williamston in this state, at Wilmington and New Castle, Del- aware, and at Wilson, North Carolina. When the war came on he was examined successively by six Confederate surgeons, but each time was ex- empted from active field duty on account of phys- ical disability. However, in the fall of 1861 he became clerk to Col. S. W. Watts in the Mar- tin County Militia Regiment at Fort Hill in Beau- fort County.
Elder Hassell was principal of Williamston Academy from 1865 to 1868, and again from 1886 to 1890, he was professor of languages in the Delaware State Normal University at Wil- mington, from 1869 to 1870, and was principal of the William Penn graded schools at New Cas- tle, Delaware, 1870-71. From 1872 to 1886 he was principal of the Wilson Collegiate Institute at Wilson, North Carolina, and during a portion of that time, 1882-84, was principal of the State Normal School at Wilson. In 1886, he aban- doned his chosen profession of teaching on ac- count of his low state of health and returned to Williamston, his old home. In 1892-93 he served as county examiner of teachers of Martin County. Since 1892 Elder Hassell has devoted his time to his duties as editor and publisher of the Gospel Messenger, a monthly magazine of the Primitive Baptist Faith and Order, which was established at Wilson in 1878. Since 1896 he has been pro- prietor of this religious periodical. During the years from 1880 to 1886 he was half owner of the Wilson Collegiate Institute. Politically Elder Hassell has always been a democrat and has reg- ularly voted in State and Federal elections.
Practically his lifetime has been devoted to the service of his church. He was baptized by his father in the Roanoke River at Williamston on January 11, 1864. Since that time he has been member the Skewarkey Primtive Baptist
Church near Williamston. He served as pastor of the church from 1880, and has also been pastor of Conetoe, Great Swamp, Jamesville and Hamiltou churches. Since 1880 he has been moderator of the Kehukee Association.
Sylvester Hassell was married September 4, 1869, at the home of the bride five miles south of Williamston, to Mary Isabelle Yarrell, daughter of Julius Slade and Emeline Yarrell. She was born January 5, 1849, and died August 26, 1871, leaving one child, Paul, who died March 7, 1886. On May 3, 1876, at the residence of Calvin Wood- ard, her father, six miles southeast of Wilson, Elder Hassell married Frances Louisa Woodard. Her parents were Calvin and Winifred Woodard. She was born October 13, 1859, and died January 6, 1889. Of her five children Frances Winniefred was born December 9, 1888, and died May 3, 1889, in early infancy. Elder Hassell's surviving children are: Francis Sylvester Hassell, the Wil- son attorney mentioned above; Charles Hassell, who married Miss Helen E. Hulse, of Washing- ton, D. C .; Mary Hassell, wife of John L. Has- sell; aud Calvin Woodard Hassell, who married Miss Annie Laurie Clark, of Raleigh.
FRANCIS SYLVESTER HASSELL, a son of Elder Sylvester Hassell, long prominent as an educator, minister and editor, whose record will be found on other pages of this publication, chose the law as his individual calling and for a number of years has successfully practiced at Wilson.
He was born at Wilson August 27, 1881, was educated in the old Williamson Academy, the Whitaker Academy and Tarboro Male Academy, and in 1903 graduated A. B. from the Univer- sity of North Carolina. He continued his studies for the profession in the University Law School, and received his license in February, 1906.
After practicing 11/2 years in Williamston Mr. Hassell removed to Wilson and has found in that city ample opportunities for a successful career. During his practice he served as county attorney and city attorney. There early came to him rec- ognition as a resourceful young leader in the democratic party. He has served as secretary of the Democratic Executive Committee and as a member of the Congressional Executive Commit- tee and is now chairman of the Democratic Execu- tive Committee of Wilson County. Mr. Has- sell was formerly a member of the Commonwealth Club, and now belongs to the Chamber of Com- merce, the Rotary Club, and to the Kappa Alpha fraternity (southern).
He was married at Abbeville, South Carolina, June 4, 1913, to Blanche Gary, daughter of Chief Justice Eugene B. Gary. They have two chil- dren, Blanche Gary Hassell and Francis Sylves- ter Hassell, Jr.
JOSEPH HATCH HINTON. To the casual observer it often appears that men who attain success do so by and through the force of accidental chance, and because success has not perched on their ban- ner they attribute it to the adverse force of Fate.
Such a criticism is generally unjust, in-so-far that men are truly the architects of their own for- tunes and their ability to plan and persevere de- spite apparently insurmountable obstacles is the tribute they owe to a forceful ancestry.
This is true in the life and career of Joseph Hatch Hinton, who first saw the light of day in Wilmington, North Carolina, on March 24, 1870.
His parents were of the more intelligent and
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progressive citizenship of Wilmington, but the commercial conditions in the South were so nega- tive that the opportunity for amassing wealth was impossible. However, the parents of our subject, Joseph H. and Elizabeth Grant Hinton, imparted to their offspring, by precept and exam- ple, the highest principles of life and conduct.
The elder Hinton was an educator-highly esteemed by all who knew him and at the time of his death was principal of the Wilmington High School for Young Men, and his name and mem- ory are still held in loving remembrance by all who knew him and especially by those who sat at his feet receiving their guidance through his teachings.
The subject of this sketch felt an early call to a business career and thus leaving school at the age of sixteen he entered the hotel business with the avowed purpose of mastering it in all its details.
Thus starting at the bottom he rapidly mastered its various branches and at the early age of eight- een we find him installed as proprietor of the Purcell Hotel in his native city- one of the lead- ing hotels there and he being probably at that time the youngest hotel proprietor in the United States. His success here was such that later he was requested by the owners to lease the Orton House, the largest hotel in the city. This he did, and with his characteristic zeal and energy soon made that hostelry famous for its splendid care of the traveling public. In fact his dining room service especially was considered by all as unsurpassed anywhere in the state.
His fitness in his chosen field was so well rec- ognized that when the opportunity came for him to purchase the Orton Hotel he did so, nor was Wilmington disappointed in the new owner, since he at once increased its usefulness in both size and service, so that today Mr. Joseph Hinton is numbered among the most progressive and wealthiest citizens of the City by the Sea.
As he is approaching the half century line he has laid aside his more active business lines to the plans of a director in the interests with which he is identified and in all of these he takes rank as one of the most aggressively constructive and progressive directors. He owns the Orton Hotel, is president of the Wrightsville Beach Hotel, which owns the Seashore Hotel; he is president of the Co-operative Building & Loan Association of Wilmington; president of the City Laundry Company . president of the Kure Land & Develop- ment Company and a director of the Fidelity Trust & Development Company.
Mr. Hinton has been too busy doing things to spend much time in club life. He is one of the most companionable of men-genial and social to an unusual degree, generous and sympathetic to- ward others. His life is absolutely devoid of cant and pretense and whatever he essays he does with enthusiasm.
He is a valued member of the Cape Fear Coun- try Club and an active member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, being also a vestryman.
However, his greatest joy and pride and the center of nearly all of his spare moments is found in the companionship of his charming home circle, which is practically ideal.
Tn 1898, on December 10th, Mr. Hinton was happily united in marriage to Miss Camille Pen- nington, of Wilmington, North Carolina, and this union has been blessed by two lovely children, Lewis P. and Josephine. Their home is one of the most spacious and elegant in Eastern North
Carolina, and it is here where Mr. Hinton finds his greatest enjoyment, surrounded by his ideal home circle and friends; for in fact Mrs. Hinton herself is one of the most beautiful and accom- plished women of her native city and her largest traits of character are her many missions in all line of charities and her eagerness to be a true companion to her noble husband and in their inutual desire to be of useful service to others.
JACKSON GREER. For the past sixteen years Jackson Greer has combined successful practice as a lawyer at Whiteville with the honorable dis- tinctions that come from active participation in public affairs. He is known as a hard working, faithful and capable lawyer, a student of current events, and an able administrator of public office.
Mr. Greer was born on a farm in Onslow County, North Carolina, October 23, 1870, a son of Benjamin and Mary (Bryan) Greer. Though his early life was spent in the country he secured better than the usual schooling afforded to country boys, and attended both the common and high schools of his section. He studied law in the law department of the University of North Carolina, and in February, 1900, was admitted to the bar, soon afterward locating in Whiteville, where he has been steadily building up a large general practice.
For three terms Mr. Greer was entrusted with the administration of the office of county attorney of Columbus County, being the present incumbent of that office and has handled every detail of his official work with exacting care. For four years he was a member of the Board of Aldermen of Whiteville, and resigned that office when elected to the State Senate in 1906. He was in the State Senate one term.
Mr. Greer is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, of the Masonic Order, the Fra- ternal Order of Eagles and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He and his family are members of the Baptist Church.
On November 8, 1896, he married Miss Etha Pridgen, of Pender County, North Carolina. They are the parents of six children: Gladys Jewett, Charles Latimer, Jackson, Jr., William Walton, Mary Catherine and Francis Benjamin.
THOMAS BROWN WOMACK. On the morning of February 18, 1910, the immortal soul of Thomas Brown Womack passed away in the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, his chosen home, and thus the legal profession in the State of North Carolina lost another of its brightest members.
Born on the 12th day of February, 1855, at Pitts- boro, North Carolina, with distinguished ancestry on both sides of his family, he began life under the adversities suffered by his father during the Civil war. His school education was scanty, ending at the Pittsboro Academy when he was but fifteen years of age. He began life as a clerk in a store and later as a sewing machine agent. At the age of nineteen he took up the study of law under the direction of Hon. Jolin Manning, whose careful tutorage, aided by a quick, grasping mind, per- mitted Judge Womack to enter his profession in 1876, at. the age of twenty-one. Overcoming the disadvantages from the lack of a collegiate educa- tion, he arose to statewide prominence in his pro- fession on account of his accurate mental power, indefatigable work and quick attention to even tho smallest details of his practice.
The confidence which he inspired in all with
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whom he came in contact is shown by the many positions which his fellowmen bestowed upon him and the large clientele which he enjoyed. In 1878 he was elected solicitor of the Inferior Court and in 1882 and 1884 was twice elected to the General Assembly. In 1889 he was principal clerk of the House of Representatives in the Legislature of North Carolina, and also a member of the Board of Directors of the Institution for the Blind. Upon the resignation of Judge Gilmer as judge of the Superior Court in the Fifth District, Governor Fowle appointed him to fill the vacancy. In all of these positions he was noted for his kindly man- ner, his courteous bearing and marked ability.
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