USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 48
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ARTHUR WINN BALDWIN. In his office of regis- ter of deeds of Columbus County at Whiteville Arthur Winn Baldwin has met every test of service satisfactorily, and enjoys such popularity as a citizen and public official that he has been repeat- edly returned to the public position he now holds.
He was appointed to the office to fill a vacancy on September 4, 1911, and in 1912 was elected for the regular term of two years, and has been re- elected in 1914 and in 1916. Prior to his appoint- ment as chief in the office he was clerk to the register of deeds three years.
Mr. Baldwin is a member of an old and prom- inent family of Columbus County. He was born in Whiteville January 30, 1885, a son of Joseph A. and Sarah (Smith) Baldwin. His father for many years has been engaged in business as a turpentine operator, and grandfather Baldwin made a notable record in public affairs, spending consecutively forty-seven years as clerk of courts of Columbus County.
Arthur W. Baldwin was educated in the public schools and on leaving school worked two years as clerk in a general store, then for three years was salesman of a lumbering manufacturing con- cern, was a farmer on his own account one year, after which he entered upon his duties as clerk in the office of register of deeds at Whiteville. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, and is an active member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church.
HUGH ARMFIELD CRANOR, present mayor of Wilkesboro and an accomplished member of the
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local bar, is the second member of his family to practice Jaw in this part of North Carolina, and was associated with his honored father in that pro- fession until the latter's death.
The Oranor family has a long and honorable record in Western North Carolina. The great- grandfather was Moses Cranor. His grandfather, Emanuel Cranor, was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, and from there moved to Rock- ford, then the county seat of Surry County. There were no railroads in Western North Carolina in those days and all traffic and transportation was by teams and wagons. Emanuel Cranor kept a public house at Rockford, which in those days was a place of considerable importance. This house was also used as a stage station on one of the highways which carried an incessant traffic. In 1855 Eman- uel Cramor removed to Wilkesboro and again set up as a tavern keeper and followed that voca- tion in Wilkesboro several years and died in that city. The maiden name of his wife was Sue Swan, who was born at Waughtown, now a suburb of Winston-Salem.
Hon. John S. Cranor, father of Hugh A., was born at Rockford, Surry County, North Carolina, April 26, 1847. After his parents removed to Wilkesboro he attended public school there, also the high school at Lenoir, and a preparatory school at Hillsboro. He studied law under Judge Arm- field and on being admitted to practice opened an office at Wilkesboro, where he was an honored and prominent member of the bar and an influential citizen until his death on November 10, 1908. During his early youth he had enlisted in 1864 in Company B, a company intended to be attached to the First North Carolina Battalion. He and his comrades were captured at Camp Vance, were taken to Chicago and were kept prisoners of war for thirteen months. John S. Cranor had a strong hold on the confidence of his fellow citizens. In 1893 he was elected to the State Senate. He was chosen on the democratic ticket by a substantial majority, though the county is usually republican by a good margin. In 1894 he was appointed United States commissioner and served throughout Mr. Cleveland 's second administration.
John S. Cranor married Sarah Taylor, who was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, daughter of James and Mrs. (Babcock) Taylor. She died in May, 1902. Her nine children were Catherine, Hugh A., Edith, William T., Bessie, Fannie, John S., Jr., Frank T. and Charles M.
Hugh Armfield Cranor was born in Wilkesboro November 20, 1875. He attended the local public schools, took the literary course in the University of North Carolina, and in February, 1902, was admitted to practice law. For the next six years he was actively associated with his father and has since carried on a large practice alone.
Mr. Cranor was married June 26, 1907, to Jennie Hackett, a daughter of Frank D. and Alice Hackett. They have two sons, Hugh Armfield, Jr., and Robert H. Their only daughter, Sarah Alice, died in her second year. Mr. and Mrs. Cranor are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. His first presidential vote was cast for William J. Bryan and he has always been keenly interested in the welfare of his party and good government for county and state. He has been a delegate to various state, district and county conventions of his party and is now secretary of the Wilkes County Executive Committee. He made the race for representative to the Legislature twice from `Wilkes County. The confidence reposed in his
judgment and ability is well illustrated by the fact that he is now in his eleventh consecutive year as mayor of Wilkesboro. Mr. Cranor is affiliated with Liberty Lodge No. 45, Free and Accepted Masons, at Wilkesboro, which he has served as master. He also belongs to North Wilkesboro Council, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and the Knights of Pythias at North Wilkesboro.
AUGUSTUS E. FLOYD has been prominent since the very beginning of the Town of Fairmont in Robeson County in connection with its varied busi- ness and civic interests and welfare. Mr. Floyd is one of the oldest living native sons of Robeson County and has crowded a great variety and range of experience and usefulness into the three quar- ters of a century of his life. He was a soldier in the Confederate Army throughout the war, and his business occupation for the most part has been farming.
He was born about five miles south of his pres- ent home at Fairmont, in what is now Fairmont Township of Robeson County, on the 8th of March, 1842, son of Francis and Christine (Williams) Floyd. He is of Irish ancestry, the family first locating in Virginia and from there moving to South Carolina. Francis Floyd was born in Horry County, South Carolina, across the state line and not far from the present Floyd home in Robeson County, North Carolina. Francis Floyd accom- panied his father to North Carolina and settled at the old homestead in Fairmont Township about 1820. The Floyds are a large and prominent family in this section of Robeson County. Sev- eral of them have been leaders in agricultural and commercial life and have been especially inter- ested in the upbuilding of the splendid little City of Fairmont and the surrounding territory of rich land. One of the nephews of Augustus E. Floyd is Mr. A. J. Floyd, a wealthy merchant and planter and member of the Board of County Com- missioners of Robeson County. A son of Mr. Floyd, Marcus W. Floyd, is register of deeds for Robeson County and for a number of years has been prominent at Lumberton. He was elected register of deeds in 1914, re-elected in 1916, and his admin- istration has been characterized as one of the most efficient and popular the county has ever had.
Augustus E. Floyd grew up on a farm, and was nineteen years of age when at the outbreak of the war he volunteered in the Confederate service, joining Company D in what was first the Eighth North Carolina Regiment, but later was changed to the Eighteenth Regiment. With this organiza- tion he saw very strenuous work and service until the close of the war. His enlistment was at Camp Wyatt near Wilmington, where he remained until September, 1861. The command was then sent to the Coosa Hachie River near Savannah, and from there to Newbern, North Carolina. In May, 1862, the Eighteenth Regiment, as part of General Branch's Brigade, went into Virginia and became part of Gen. A. P. Hill's Division, Gen. Stone- wall Jackson's Corps, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Among numerous other battles Mr. Floyd participated at Hanover Courthouse, the seven battles around Richmond, second Manassas, the operations in Maryland, Harpers' Ferry, Char- lottesburg, and Gettysburg. At Gettysburg he was wounded, but was out of the hospital and had rejoined the ranks after seven or eight weeks. He was in those terrific conflicts of Fred- ericksburg, Spottsylvania Courthouse and Chan- cellorsville. At Chancellorsville his regiment was
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iu the brigade of five regiments commanded by Gen. James H. Lane, who had succeeded General Branch, slain at Sharpsburg. Late in 1864 Mr. Floyd was at Petersburg, later was on duty in the trenches and lines around Richmond, and partici- pated in that final scene of the war at Appomattox.
Mr. Floyd was still a young man when he came out of the army. There was a very narrow choice of occupations and pursuits open to the returned soldiers in the midst of the devastation which they found after the war. Mr. Floyd taught school for some years in the vicinity of Fairmont, but on the whole his steadiest and most remunerative occu- pation has been farming. He still owns a good farm two and a half miles south of Fairmont. He moved to that town soon after it was started in 1898 and has been one of the active and progressive citizens in the upbuilding of this wealthy and enterprising little city. Mr. Floyd now holds the offices of justice of the peace and district recorder for the county district of which Fairmont Town- ship is a part. He has been a magistrate or jus- tice of the peace since 1888. He is a democrat in polities, and practically all his life has been a member of the First Baptist Church of Fairmont. This church was originally organized in 1794, and under the name of Ash Pole Church is one of the oldest and most historic of that denomination in North Carolina.
Mr. Floyd married Miss Adelia M. Pittman, member of a well known pioneer family of this part of the state. She died in 1913, the mother of eight children, named Francis A., Marcus W., Patrick R., Dudley Y., Christine, Fulton O., Giles E. and Dinabel.
THOMAS LINCOLN GREEN. With more than twenty years of legal experience, Thomas Lin- col Green is one of the older members of the Waynesville bar, in private practice has always enjoyed a large clientage, and is especially popu- lar for the services rendered his community in official position and his constant public spirit in all matters of local welfare.
Mr. Green was born in Haywood County, North Carolina, December 31, 1867, son of Thaddeus M. and Louisa (Shook) Green. His father made a record of four years of continuous service in the Confederate army in the Twenty-first North Caro- lina Infantry. Aside from that army service he was a farmer. Thomas L. Green was educated in the Clyde High School, and for about three years was a teacher. He took his law course in the University of North Carolina and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1895, beginning practice at Waynesville.
Mr. Green was at one time an alderman of Waynesville and took the lead in promoting the movement for a bond issue to install lights and water works in the city. He is president of the Waynesville Library Association, a member of the North Carolina Bar Association and president of the Haywood County Bar Association. Dur- ing 1901-02 he served as private secretary to Congressman J. M. Moody at Washington. Mr. Green was postmaster of Waynesville from 1907 to 1916. He is known all over the state for his prominence in the Independent Order of Odd Fel- . lows. He was grand master of North Carolina in 1916-17 and is at present grand representa- tive to the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the United States. He is also a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and past counselor of the Junior Or- der of United American Mechanics.
December 31, 1888, Mr. Green married Dora Rogers, of Clyde, North Carolina, daughter of Jackson J. and Amanda (Stilwell) Rogers. Her father was a farmer. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Green: Lawrence, chief clerk of the Waynesville post office; Mckinley, who volunteered at the outbreak of the war with Germany and is now in the United States Army; Arthur, in the aviation section of the navy; Lillian, Louise and Joyce, all at home.
HENRY CLEMENT SATTERFIELD. The business community of Durham has honored Henry Clement Satterfield with many substantial positions and responsibilities. Most of these he has attained as a result of his own steady progress from minor things to greater.
He was born at Roxboro, North Carolina, March 8, 1882, a son of Samuel Paul and Lou Marie (Winstead) Satterfield. His father was for twenty years engaged in the general insurance business. The son was educated in public schools, in Trinity Park School, and in 1904 graduated from Trinity College. His first work on leaving college was as an office man and department fore- man with The American Tobacco Company. Then in 1906 he transferred to his permanent field, the lumber industry, going with the Cary Lumber Company as an office man and later secretary and treasurer and since 1911 has been president of this large and flourishing company. He is also presi- dent of the Trinity Land Company and a director of the Durham & Southern Railway Company.
Mr. Satterfield is a Royal Arch Mason, a mem- ber of the Durham Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. On April 11, 1906, he married Carlotta Gilmore Angier of Durham, daughter of the late John C. Angier, one of the prominent lumbermen and industrial executives in the state. Mr. and Mrs. Satterfield have three children, Henry Clement, Jr., Carlotta Angier and John Angier.
LYNDON LEA WHITE is a prominent North Caro- lina educator and is now principal of the high school of Winston-Salem. He represents an old family of the state, and the name has been vari- ously identified with agriculture, the public service and various professions.
Professor White was born at Glenola in Randolph County, North Carolina. His great-grandfather served in the office of sheriff of Randolph County in the early days, and after that was widely known as Sheriff White. Mr. White's grandfather, Isaac White, was born in Randolph County and became owner of a large plantation located on the plank road from Fayetteville Road westward. He not only occupied and operated that farm, but owned several teams and before the railroad era was extensively engaged in transporting produce and merchandise. On his estate was a grove which was used as the favorite camping ground for the wagoners while enroute to and from Fayetteville. Isaac White lived to be an old man and his last years were spent largely with his sons. Among his children were Julius J., David, Isaac and Letitia.
His fifth child was Rev. Isaac H. White, father of Professor White. He was born in Randolph County in 1855, was educated in the rural schools and afterward in Trinity College. After his col- lege course he took up merchandising, but at the same time carried on the study of law and theology and was finally licensed to preach. He joined the
حمد Aring
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North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, and served with credit in various pastorates. Finally, on account of failing eyesight, he discontinued his ministerial work and has since lived at Raleigh, where he is now in the coal and wood business. Rev. Mr. White married Mary Elizabeth Elder, who was born near Trinity in Randolph County, daughter of Lea and Chris- tiana (Foutz) Elder, the former of English and the latter of German ancestry. Mrs. White died in 1890, and Rev. Isaac A. White married for his second wife Johnnie Lillian Herritage. She ten- derly cared for the five children thus placed in her care. These children are Lyndon Lea, Lucy Neal, Ernest Eugene, Julian Elder and Herbert, the last dying at the age of fourteen.
Lyndon Lea White had his early training in pub- lic schools and afterward entered Guilford Col- lege, where he was graduated in 1904. He took his advanced training in Haverford College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from which he received his degree Bachelor of Arts. Mr. White has made a striking success in the field of education and it is his chosen life work. On leaving college he became superintendent of schools at Jamestown, North Carolina, and built up those schools to a high grade of efficiency during the five years he remained there. He then accepted the call to Winston-Salem as principal of the high school, and is now directing this, one of the largest and best equipped high schools in the state.
In 1909 Mr. White married Miss Jessie Holt Foust. She was born in Alamance County, North Carolina, daughter of Thomas C. and Mary (Rob- bins) Foust and a granddaughter of Ahi Robbins, who in his time was one of the extensive planters of Randolph County. Mr. and Mrs. White have three children, Lucy May, Martha Gray and Lyndon Lea, Jr. Mr. White and wife are active members of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he is a member in good standing of the various educational organizations, including the National Educational Association and the North Carolina Teachers' Association, and is also a mem- ber of the National Geographic Society.
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LAWRENCE JAMES HERRING, D. V. S. The most enlightened tenets of veterinary medical and sur- gical science have found expression in the career of Dr. Lawrence James Herring, who since 1911 has been engaged in the practice of his calling at Wilson. Still a young man, he has had a thorough and comprehensive training, as well as broad experi- ence in his chosen work, and his signal ability and trained skill have made him a helpful factor in the community where he is now located as the head of a veterinary hospital.
Doctor Herring was born on a farm in Samp- son County, North Carolina, November 28, 1882, and is a son of Rufus F. and Katherine ( Corbett) Herring. His parents were farming people, and on the homestead place the lad formed a deep and lasting friendship for horses and other livestock and developed an understanding and sympathy that have done much to assist him in his work in later years. After attending the country schools, he became a student of the high school at Salemburg, and when he had left that institution as a grad- uate secured his first scholastic training in the profession which he meant to make his life work at the North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh. Graduating therefrom in 1907, he enrolled as a student at the Kansas City Vet- erinary College, from which he graduated in 1909,
and then located in Raleigh. On January 1, 1910, he was sent to the State Experimental Farm of Georgia, where he was placed in charge as animal pathologist and veterinarian, and continued to act in that capacity until June 22, 1911, when he came to Wilson. Here he has since been at the head of the Dr. L. J. Herring Veterinary Hospital, an institution which has become favorably known all over this section of North Carolina. Doctor Herring has a large practice as a practicing and office veterinarian, and has proved himself a humane and skillful overseer of the welfare of the horse and other quadrupeds. Few young men are better equipped for success in this difficult calling than is this agreeable and popular vet- erinary surgeon. He has a bright and inquiring mind, a disposition to make himself of practical use in the world, and a keen appreciation of the possibilities as yet undiscovered in his calling. Although his practice demands a large share of his time, leaving him but little leisure for other activities, he has willingly allowed the community to benefit by his ability and knowledge, and has served as meat and milk inspector of the City of Wilson. His standing as a member of his vocation may be noted by the fact that he is a member of the North Carolina State Board of Veterinary Examiners, and he holds membership also in the American Veterinary Medical Association and the North Carolina Veterinary Association. He be- longs to the Country Club and to the local lodges of the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in all of which he is very popular.
Doctor Herring was married August 19, 1909, at Wilson, to Miss Mary Louise Carter, of Canisteo, New York, and they are the parents of two chil- dren: Katherine Imogene and Lawrence James, Jr. Doctor and Mrs. Herring are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he is serving as deacon.
CHARLES COLLINS BENTON. Among the firms of architects that have come to the forefront during recent years, one which has had an almost phe- momenally successful career is that of Benton & Benton, which is composed of brothers, Charles Collins and Frank Warthall Benton. With its main offices at Wilson, it has not confined its activities to the immediate vicinity of its head- quarters, but evidence of its operations ean be found in various of the towns and cities of Cen- tral and Eastern North Carolina. The junior inember of this firm, Charles Collins Benton, while still a young man, has already accomplished much in a professional way and has earned a right to be accounted one of the leaders of his voca- tion in his community. He was born at Wilson, Wilson County, North Carolina, March 14, 1888, and is a son of Henry E. and Margaret (Whi- taker) Bentou, his father being a mechanic in the employ of the United States Government.
When his preliminary educational training had been completed in the grammar grades and he had left the high school in 1901, Charles Collins Benton took further instruction under a private tutor at Charlotte, North Carolina. Returning then to Wilson, he began the practice of his cho- sen profession, but soon found that he was still in need of further preparation, and accordingly went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy, where he completed the third course. In 1908 ho again came back to Wilson, this time to locate permanently, although the firm of which he is a member also conducts an office at Norfolk.
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Virginia. Mr. Benton has won his way to the front rank of North Carolina architects through hard work and well-directed purpose. A close student, he has kept constantly abreast of the times, and his services are greatly in demand, he having done work ou large projects all the way from Washington, District of Columbia, to Atlanta, Georgia, and at the present time having under con- struction structures to the value of $1,500,000. While not specialized in any line, some of his most important work has been done in the erec- tion of courthouses and other public buildings, but he also has a long line of handsome church edifices, schoolhouses, banks and business build- ing to his credit, not to speak of some of the most beautiful residences to be found in this part of the state. He is a member of the Society of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a York Rite Mason, and belongs to Sudan Temple of the Mystic Shrine. While he has been too de- voted to his professional duties to enter actively into public affairs, he has not shirked the duties of citizenship, and is ex-building inspector of Wilson.
Mr. Benton was married July 19, 1911, to Miss Mary Powell, of Wayne County, North Carolina, and they are the parents of two sons: Henry Ed- win, born November 17, 1913; and Charles Col- lins, Jr., born September 12, 1915.
Frank Warthall Benton was born at Wilson, North Carolina, and secured his education in the public schools of this city. In his youth he ap- plied himself to learning the trade of machinist, but as this work brought him into touch with architecture he was gradually attracted to the lat- ter vocation, for which he had natural aptitude. He developed his latent powers in this direction by following architectural work at Kansas City, Missouri, and in Oklahoma, but eventually re- turned to North Carolina and for a time was lo- cated at Wilmington, where he was a draughts- man for 31% years in the architect's office of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway. At the end of that period he returned to Wilson, where, with his brother, he formed the firm of Benton & Benton. Since then his rise has been steady and continu- ous and the prominence which he enjoys among the members of his calling and the public in general is due to industry and a display of splen- did ability in the field which he has chosen for his life work. He is a thirty-second degree, Scot- tish Rite Mason, and a member of Sudan Tem- ple of the Mystic Shrine.
GUSTAVE ALPHONSO ALLISON. For many years actively identified with the railway interests of Western North Carolina, Gustave Alphonso Allison, station agent at Mocksville, Davie county, is fill- ing the responsible position he now occupies with ability and fidelity, and to the satisfaction of both railway officials and the railway patrons. A son of Theophilus Allison, he was born at Third Creek, now Cleveland, Rowan county, North Carolina, July 18, 1861.
His grandfather, Samuel Allison, it is said, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, being a direct descendant of one of four brothers that emigrated from the North of Ireland to America, locating in North Carolina. Descendants of these brothers are uumerous, being found in many states of the Union, and not a few of them are prominent in professional and public life. Samuel Allison, him- self, a life-long resident of North Carolina, was a farmer in Rowan County.
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