USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 45
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In 1898 he moved from Pittsboro to New York City as an associate counsel for the American Tobacco Company, soon thereafter removing to the State of North Carolina where he again took up the practice of his profession in the City of Raleigh.
The profession of North Carolina is greatly in- debted to him as the author of "Womack's Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court," and the "Law of Private Corporations of the State of North Carolina," both books of great value to the legal profession and both showing the carefulness with which he accomplished everything. In 1903 he was elected by the General Assembly as chairman of the commission which compiled the statutory laws of the state, now composing the Revisal of North Carolina in 1905. In 1904 Wake Forest College honored itself and him by conferring upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
A man of courteous and gentle bearing towards all, but of a quiet dignity which commanded re- spect, his advice was freely sought not only by the laymen but by the lawyers throughout the state. An able advocate and an excellent trial lawyer, he was, however, at his best in an advisory capacity. He abhorred unnecessary litigation. Dealing always fairly and uprightly with all men, it was his aim and endeavor to smooth over differences be- tween his fellow men and to keep them out of litigation.
Of him one who knew him intimately and who had practiced law at the same bar with him truth- fully said:
"I never heard him speak evil of any man, or any man speak evil of him. He had no envy or jealousy in him. If he lost in a matter he was one of those rare men who offer, in sincerity, con- gratulations to the winner. He was glad of the success of any man."
A courteous gentleman, an upright Christian, a lover of his fellow men, an ever willing server for the good of his state, a well grounded and careful lawyer; in fact, a great man has gone .-- (Con- tributed by courtesy of W. H. Pace.)
WILLIAM HECK PACE is senior member of the law firm of Pace & Boushall of Raleigh, his asso- ciate being Mr. John H. Boushall. The Raleigh bar has known this partnership name at two dif- ferent periods in the past half century. It is interesting to note that both the young men now in partnership as Pace & Boushall are sons of two . prominent lawyers who were likewise associated on a partnership basis thirty years ago.
The father of William Heck Pace was William Hartwell Pace, who was born in Wake County, North Carolina, gave his entire life to his profes- sion as a lawyer and died in 1893. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Louise Heck.
William Heck Pace was born at Raleigh Decem-
ber 7, 1883, and he had every encouragement and advantage while preparing for his- chosen profes- sion. He attended the Raleigh Male Academy, Wake Forest College, from which he was graduated A. B. in 1903, and studied law both at the Uni- versity of North Carolina and at Wake Forest College. He was admitted to the bar in February, 1905.
Mr. Pace began his practice at Raleigh and from 1906 was associated with the late Judge Thomas B. Womack until the latter's death in 1910. Mr. Pace practiced alone until September, 1913, when he formed his partnership with Mr. John H. Boushall.
While their practice is general, they do a large amount of work for corporations, and are attorneys for the Raleigh Savings Bank and Trust Company, for the Western Union Company and for the estate of Mrs. F. P. Tucker.
Mr. Pace is a member of the Wake County, North Carolina and American Bar associations. He is a lawyer of the highest standing, has a splendid equipment and the qualifications of mental ability and integrity, and his successful career may be said to have only begun. He is a member of the Raleigh Country Club, and of the First Baptist Church.
On June 18, 1912, he married Miss Elizabeth Skinner of Raleigh. They have one son, William Heck, Jr., born February 12, 1914.
D. RUSSELL FOSTER, who has become well known in Wilmington in real estate circles and in con- nection with a number of business concerns, was born at Wilmington March 30, 1882, a son of Flavel W. and Gertrude S. (Hall) Foster. He was educated in the public schools, the Horner Military School and the Agricultural and Mechanical Col- lege at Raleigh.
His father was for many years a successful manufacturer of lumber at Wilmington. He died December 5, 1902, when Russell Foster was twenty years of age and still in school. Called home by the death, Russell Foster at once resumed the responsibilities of managing his father's affairs, and the lumber business engaged his time and energies for about three years.
In 1905 Mr. Foster established his first real estate business, and since carried out some ex- tensive plans for the platting and sale of important subdivisions in and around Wilmington, and among others has laid out Carolina Court. He also organized the People's Building and Loan Association, of which he is secretary and treasurer, organized the Manhattan Company and is a direc- tor of the People's Bank. He is a member of the Cape Fear Club and of the First Presbyterian Church.
April 3, 1908, he married Miss Anna S. Man- ley, of Canton, Pennsylvania. They are the proud parents of three sons: Randolph Manley, Robert Manley and Robert Flavel.
CHARLES AURELIUS WEBB is one of the really distinguished men of Western North Carolina. He was licensed to practice law and located at Asheville in 1891. Political honors followed rap- idly upon his first successes as a lawyer, and for three successive terms he represented Buncombe County in the State Senate. As chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee he proved him- self one of the ablest political managers the party has ever had, and made North Carolina practi- cally a unit for the welfare and strength of de-
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mocracy in the nation. Mr. Webb is now serving his second term as United States marshal for the Western District of North Carolina.
He was born at Warrenton, North Carolina, November 4, 1866, son of Alexander S. and An- abelle (Moore) Webb. The Webb family has long been prominent in Orange County, North Carolina, his great-grandfather ou his father's side, Richard Stanford, being for many years a member of the United States House of Represen- tatives. Alexander S. Webb served four years in the Confederate army and was as brave a soldier as ever followed Lee and Jackson. He was in many of the bloodiest battles of the war and a few months before Appomattox was cap- tured and was in prison at Fort Delaware until practically the end of the war. The mother of Charles A. Webb was the daughter of Rev. Junius P. Moore, a noted Methodist minister of Person County, North Carolina.
The close of the war found Alexander S. Webb absolutely without means, and in the reconstruc- tion period that followed he was unable to accumu- cumulate a margin above necessary expenses suf- ficient to provide a liberal education for his chil- dren. Therefore Charles A. Webb had a rare stroke of good fortune when at the age of fifteen he was taken into the home of his noted uncles, W. R. and J. M. Webb, proprietors and princi- pals of the famous Webb School at Bellbuckle, Tennessee. There he was given the benefit of four years of training in this school, which has equipped thousands of successful men for col- lege and for life. From that school he went into the ranks of teachers for one year, and applied his earnings to the entrance fee and other ex- penses when he entered the University of North Carolina in 1886. Through the generosity and kindness of Dr. Kemp P. Battle he secured loans from the Deems Fund and the Smith Fund, and by tutoring other students, keeping the Society Library, and performing other work he remained at the university until he graduated in 1889 with the highest honors. However, he was heavily in debt for his education when he left university, but had something more than the average gradu- ate, a training in self-reliance and a familiarity with the value of struggle and industry as a key to unlock the resources of life. Mr. Webb gradu- ated second in a class of twenty-one at the Uni- versity, was Washington 's Birthday orator in Feb- ruary, 1889, won the debater's and essayist's medals in the Dialectic Society in the same year and on his graduation was awarded the Wiley P. Mangum oratorical medal.
The fall following his graduation from Univer- sity Mr. Webb moved to Asheville, and during the next two years was teacher in the public schools of that city. He had carried some courses in the law while at the university and subsequently studied law at the university under the late Dr. John Manning and Judge James E. Shepherd. He was admitted to the bar in 1891 and for more than a quarter of a century has enjoyed a large and successful practice, has been consid- ered one of the most resourceful trial lawyers in the Asheville District and was connected with some of the highly important litigation in the courts of the state. He was a leading attorney in the case of the Southern Railway Company vs. Commissioners, involving the tax levy of Bun- combe County for 1907. The primary question of the case was the limitation of the poll tax to $2 on the head. Mr. Webb insisted from the be-
ginning of the controversy that in no event could the poll tax exceed $2. Although it was gener- ally thought that the Supreme Court would be of a different opinion, the court sustained Mr. Webb's conteutions and in effect overruled the treud of many former decisions of the court which held a contrary view.
While Mr. Webb was a successful lawyer before he was widely known in politics, he has always been deeply interested in political affairs, be- ginning his services as chairman of the City Democratic Executive Committee and later be- ing transferred to county and state committees. He was elected to represent Buncombe County in the State Senate three times, in 1902, 1904 aud 1906. His veteran republican rivals in those three elections were, respectively, Thomas Settle, W. G. Candler and V. S. Lusk. An excellent re- view of his senatorial work was contained in a brief editorial iu the Raleigh News & Observer: "This is his third successive term in the Sen- ate, and he has proved worthy in every instance of the honors that have been conferred upon him. Upon the organization of the Senate in 1905 he was chosen presideut pro tem and again in 1907 this honor fell worthily upon him. While act- ing as presiding officer at times during the ses- sion he showed ability and capacity for presid- ing of the highest order, and was recognized as a parliamentarian of rare capacity.
"In 1907 he was chairman of the committee on insane asylums, and shares jointly with Rep- resentative Bickett (now governor), the honor of having secured the passage of the bill appropriat- ing $500,000 for permanent improvements for the state hospitals and for hospitals for the in- digent insane, the dangerous idiots and epilep- tics. The governor has appointed him a member of the commission of five to spend that $500,000 and a better appointment could not have been made. He also served as a member of the com- mittees on counties, cities and towns, corporation commission, election law and rules committee. He was a member of the conference committee that secured an agreement with the House of Repre- sentatives and made it possible to secure the pas- sage of the 21/4 per cent passenger rate bill. Seu- ator Webb was one of the best leaders on the floor of the Senate. He is a conservative thinker and an able and a fearless advocate of the causes he represents and his conception of the duty of a Senator, to wit: To represent his people, is eminently correct. In him Buncombe County has a senator who fully measured up to the high standards set by that county that has sent mauy notable men to the State Senate."
After the appointment of the State Hospital Commission Mr. Webb was elected its chairman. While in the State Senate in 1903 he introduced and secured the passage of the bill which limits the time attorneys may address juries in certain cases. This statute effected a real reform in court. procedure, and its application has no doubt been a means of saving the state many thousands of dollars.
While in the Senate he also conceived the idea of enlarging the jurisdiction of municipal courts, and prepared the bill which afterwards hecame the act establishing the present police court of the City of Asheville. The jurisdiction of this court was assailed in the case of State vs. Lytle, but his ideas were sustained by the Supreme Court. Since then many other cities and towns have had similar jurisdiction conferred upon their
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police courts, and the original measure alone has in many instances revolutionized the handling of criminal and civil cases in larger towns and cities.
All who have followed the private and public career of Mr. Webb to any extent will agree to the correctness of the following estimate: "He has almost an infinite capacity for details and is quick in thought and action. It has been said of him that his capacity for detail and untiring energy made him one of the most effective legis- lators the state has ever had. Mr. Webb is one of the strongest political leaders in Western North Carolina, and is acknowledged by all to be a dangerous foe in a political fight and an inval- uable friend to the side he espouses. He has a very wide acquaintance, is a good judge of men and faithful to a fault in behalf of his friends. To say that he is a man of ability is to speak what many already know. But he is much more than that; he knows how to turn his ability into practical utility; he is wise and far-seeing. His judgment is very frequently sought after."
Political leaders will remember the splendid results that he obtaintd as chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee in 1912, when Governor Craig was elected head of the State Government and when North Carolina rolled up a complete majority for Woodrow Wilson. In that year the governor carried the state over other candidates by 56,400 votes, a gain of nearly 20,000 over the former governor's majority, while President Wilson's majority of 46,238 was a gain of more than 22,000 over the vote of 1908. At the same time the indefatigable manager of that cam- paign brought about the election of 103 democratic members of the Legislature and forty-seven mem- bers of the Senate, making the most complete democratic victory the state had had for many years. In the same year North Carolina sent a solid delegation of ten democratic representatives to Congress.
Mr. Webb would have made a most competent United States attorney. However, on December 24, 1913, he accepted the appointment of United States marshal for the Western District of North Carolina from President Wilson, and after four years of valued service in that position, was renominated and reappointed in December, 1917.
Mr. Webb was one of the first men in North Carolina to appreciate the western section of the state for its value and possibilities as a fruit and cattle raising district. He has taken effec- tive means to demonstrate these possibilities. He himself owns the finest apple orchard west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and has one of the fine stock farms of the state. The Webb orchard is a remarkable demonstration of the class and qual- ity of fruit which Western North Carolina can and does grow. He was one of the originators and promoters of the association which drained and reclaimed 50,000 acres of land in Lake Matta- mustreet in Hyde County. In February, 1915, Mr. Webb bought the Asheville Gazette-News, changing its name to The Asheville Times, and is now the principal owner of this metropolitan and highly influential paper of Western North Car- olina.
Mr. Webb served as grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias for North Carolina in 1896, and was twice elected supreme representative of that order to the supreme lodge. He is also a Mason and a member of the Royal Arcanum. He
is a member of the Asheville Country Club and the Asheville Club.
On July 10, 1895, he married Miss Bell Bruce Banks, of Washington, D. C. Mrs. Webb died in 1913, leaving four children. Charles, Bruce, the oldest, born June 8, 1896, is now serving as second lieutenant in the Three Hundred and Eighteenth Machine Gun Battalion. Robert Stan- ford, born February 18, 1901, is a student in the Asheville School; Julia Banks is a student of Oak- hurst, Asheville; Mandeville Alexander, the young- est, born July 15, 1908, is also a student in the Asheville schools. Afterwards Mr. Webb married Mrs. Jessie Close Shaw, a native of Michigan, but who had resided in Asheville for some years.
EUGENE C. WARD is one of the younger mem- bers of the Asheville bar, member of the firm Smathers & Ward, and has connected himself with some of the substantial and influential interests of his home city.
Mr. Ward was born in Haywood County, North Carolina, November 10, 1888, a son of Admiral Eugene and Mary C. (Long) Ward. His father was a farmer and Mr. Ward grew up in the coun- try, attended the district schools, also the gram- mar school and high school of Waynesville, and from 1907 to 1911 was a student in the University of North Carolina. In 1913 he was again in University pursuing a special course. He read law privately and also at the University of North Carolina, and was graduated and admitted to practice on August 13, 1913. For three years while preparing for his profession he taught school. In January, 1914, he formed his present partnership with Mr. G. H. Smathers under the name Smathers & Ward, and their practice is largely land law and land title law.
Mr. Ward is a member in good standing of the Buncombe County and North Carolina State Bar Association. He is a member of the High School Building Committee and is secretary and treasurer of the Asheville Club.
GEORGE JUNKIN RAMSEY has for years been one of the educational leaders in the South. His work has identified him with different states, but from 1912 until his resignation in the spring of 1916 he was president of Peace Institute at Raleigh, and thus became a figure in North Carolina educational affairs.
How high a place he occupied as a school man and citizen of Raleigh is well indicated in an editorial which appeared in the Raleigh News- Observer commenting upon his resignation as president of Peace Institute. It is fitting that some sentences from that editorial should be quoted in connection with this brief article on his career :
"Some four years ago Dr. Ramsey accepted the presidency of Peace Institute, having held high positions in the educational world, and his ability being recognized by his colleagues in his election to important positions in educational organiza- tions. In Raleigh he has won a place not only as a distinguished educator, but as a man interested in the various activities which are factors for civic betterment. A man of virility, he has given freely of himself in work to advance the interests of Peace Institute and of this city. Under his ad- ministration Peace Institute has made marked prog- ress, the new life in it being shown by the move- ment now in progress to raise two hundred thou-
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
sand dollars to give the institution greater op- portunity for service.
"Raleigh joins with the officials of Peace In- stitute in its regret that Dr. Ramsey resigns the position of president of the institution. It recog- nizes that he would not take the step he has did he not consider it one involving his vital interests. Let it wishes that he could have seen things dif- ferently. He has rendered that service to Peace Institute which the board of trustees recognize have put it into excellent condition. He has made a place for himself in Raleigh, our people holding him in the highest regard, wishing for him the greatest success in whatever he may undertake, and doing this because they recognize that he deserves the very best."
George Junkin Ramsey was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, June 28, 1857, a son of James B. and Sabra (Tracy) Ramsey. His father was a Doctor of Divinity. Mr. Ramsey graduated A. M. from Hampden-Sidney College in 1878, and during the following year pursued post-graduate work in the University of Virginia. In 1898 he was honored with the degree LL. D. from the South- western Presbyterian University of Tennessee.
He began his career in school work as professor of Latin in Ogden College in Kentucky, where he remained from 1880 to 1884. He was president of Silliman Institute in Louisiana from 1884 to 1899. From the latter year until 1902 he was editor in chief of the B. F. Johnson Publishing Company of Richmond, Virginia, and then became president of King College at Bristol, Tennessee. During 1904- 06 he was president of Sayre Institute in Kentucky, and in the latter year took the chair as professor of education in the Central University of Ken- tucky. He held that post until 1912, and during the last two years had been assisant to the presi- dent. .
Doctor Ramsey has exercised many opportunities for service and influence in the organized educa- tional bodies. He is a member of the National Educational Association, was president in 1897- 98 of the Southern Educational Association, is a member of the National Council of Education and of the Southern Educational Council, which he served as president in 1912. He is on the execu- tive committee of the Conference for Education in the South (the Ogden movement), and was execu- tive secretary of the Kentucky Educational Com- mission created by the Legislature to revise the school laws of that state. He is also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the National Institute of Social Sciences.
On July 1, 1884, Mr. Ramsey married Annie Stevens, a native of Georgia and representing an old family of that state. They are the parents of three children: Sumner Morrison, who is now editor of the News at Wichita Falls, Texas; Anna Sabra, at home; and George LeConte, a lieutenant in the regular army.
HON, JOHN ALBERT MCRAE. An able member of the North Carolina har, Hon. John Albert Mc- Rac, of Charlotte, is also a leader of the state democracy, and a citizen who has impressed the force and straightforwardness of his character upon the legislation and institutions of his native commonwealth. As a member of the Upper House of the General Assembly his service has been of great practical value to his constituents and he has been noted as one of the most serviceable members of the State Senate, ready and logical
in debate and yet alive to all the practical demands of his district and industrious in pushing forward all needful legislation.
John Albert McRae was born at White Store, Anson County, North Carolina, December 29, 1875, his parents being Dr. John A. and Lavinia (Boggan) McRae, both of whom are now deceased. Both were born in Anson County, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and Doctor McRae was a physician dur- ing all the active period of his life. John A. Mc- Rae attended the public schools of his home com- munity and the Marshville High School, follow- ing which he enrolled as a student at the University of North Carolina, where he took both the academic and law courses and was licensed to practice law in 1903 by the Supreme Court of North Carolina at Raleigh. Prior to his studies at the uni- versity he had entered upon his public career, hav- ing been elected as representative in the Lower House of the State Legislature by his home county, Anson, and serving in the session of 1903. In that year he came to Charlotte and began the practice of his profession, in which he has risen to a leading place in a community that does not lack for skilled and learned legists. In 1907 he was elected city attorney of Charlotte, an office which he held for two years.
In 1904 Mr. McRae was elected a member of the State Senate from the Twenty-fourth Sena- torial District, composed of the counties of Meck- lenburg and Cabarrus, and at once began to take an active part in the deliberations of this body in the session which began in January, 1915. He was chairman of the committee on elections, and a member of the judiciary, insurance and several other important committees. Perhaps the most notable feature of Senator McRae's work in the session referred to was in connection with the law entitled "An Act Relating to the Incorpora- tion, Management and Supervision of Credit Unions and Co-Operative Associations," which he succeeded in having passed. This law provides. for the organization and incorporation of rural credit unions, which may receive the savings of their members in payment for shares, or on deposit, and which may lend to their members money at the legal rate of interest; or may invest, as provided by the act, the funds so accumulated, and may undertake such other activities relating to the pur- pose of the corporations as their by-laws may au- thorize. The principle involved in the act is some what analogous to the building and loan idea, with special application to farmers and rural com- munities. Its object is to encourage saving and thrift among farmers, and to secure the results that spring from co-operation. The building and loan associations having proved so great a success in the cities and towns of the state. it was Sen- ator McRae's desire to amend the Building and Loan Law so that it would be adaptable to the rural communities. Under the regulations of the regular building and loan associations, loans are only made on real estate, and for a period of something over six years. There are many farm- ers who own no real estate, but who are prompt in meeting their obligations when their crops are gathered and marketed. It suits them to meet their obligations annually instead of carrying them over a long period of years. The land and loan association act anthored and passed by Senator MeRac contains provisions for short-term loans and on personal endorsement or upon per- sonal property as security. In all other respects
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