USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 52
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WILLIAM HANDY HIPPS was entrusted with one of the most important offices in connection with the administration of the school system of North Carolina in 1912 when elected county superinten- dent of public instruction of Buncombe County. The six years of his administration has been a period of growth and development seldom equalled by any other county in the state, and it all re- flects high credit upon Mr. Hipps' skill, ability and enthusiasm. No one could be more deeply interested in the work and it is only natural that he should feel a great deal of pride in what has been accomplished since 1912 in the schools of Buncombe County outside the independent district of Asheville.
· Some figures and statistics might be introduced at this point very appropriately. The value of rural school property in 1912 when he was elected county superintendent was $77,000 and in 1917 the value of such property had been raised to $300,000. The local tax fund to support the rural schools in 1912 amounted to $14,000, while in 1918 it was $35,000. A corps of 140 teachers in 1912 has been increased to 183, and there are fifteen high schools, furnishing an improved cur- riculum and vastly better opportunities to the peoples of the rural districts than six or seven years ago were even dreamed of. During 1918 six new school buildings are in course of con-
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struction, and when completed they will represent a total value of $190,000.
Superintendent Hipps is a member of the North Carolina Sub-Text Book Commission for 1917 and he went into the work of revising and adapting school books and other material for school instruc- tion with a great deal of enthusiasm and with much experience that proved valuable to other members of the commission.
William Handy Hipps was born at Spring Creek in Madison County, North Carolina, May 20, 1885, a son of Rev. Robert Henry and Sarah Malinda (Cogdill) Hipps. His father was a farmer in early life, but after he was forty years of age took up the ministry of the Baptist Church and spent many years in the service of his church in Western North Carolina. Superintendent Hipps was educated in district schools and high school meluding the Spring Creek Seminary and the Mars Hill Preparatory School. His college education was acquired in Wake Forest College, where he graduated with the class of 1909. He also studied law while in college and in August, 1910, was admitted to the bar, though so far he has found his profession as an educator too engrossing to leave. After graduating from Wake Forest Mr. Hipps was principal of the Barnardsville High School a year, and for two years principal of the Biltmore High School at Asheville. He is a member in high standing of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly and is affiliated with the Rotary Club and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
JOHN FRANKLIN LOVE. The list of men who are prominently connected with the cotton industry, and more particularly so in Gaston County, in- cludes in a leading place the name of John Frank- lin Love, of Charlotte, who was formerly interested as the proprietor of one of the largest mills in the South, but who of recent years has been a broker in cotton, cotton seed and cotton seed products. From the time that he completed his education he has been identified with this industry and his name is widely known in connection with business of a large nature. Mr. Love was born in 1866, in Gaston County, North Carolina, and is a son of the late Robert Calvet Grier and Susan (Rhyne) Love, both of whom are deceased.
John F. Love attended Captain Bell's Military School at King's Mountain, following which he took a course in commercial business at the Spen- cerian Business College, Washington, District of Columbia. His first experience in the cotton busi- ness was gained at Gastonia, and in 1900, in asso- ciation with the late George A. Gray of that place, promoted and built the Loray Cotton Mill at Gas- tonia, a $1,000,000 plant, at that time the largest cotton mill in the South and still one of the larg- est plants in the entire country. After a success- ful association with the milling end of the busi- ness, in 1911, Mr. Love removed to Charlotte, where he has since been engaged in business as a broker in cotton, cotton seed and cotton seed products, as noted. Mr. Love is public-spirited and charitable, and despite his large business cares has found time to study and forward movements for the public welfare.
Mr. Love was married at Spartanburg, South Carolina, to Miss Sallie Bryan, who was born in Williamsboro County, South Carolina, and they are the parents of six children: J. Grier, Susie, Haselline, Erdman, Edgar and Sarah.
Robert Calvet Grier Love was born in the south-
ern part of Gaston County, North Carolina, near the South Carolina state line, in 1843, and his death occurred at Brunswick, Georgia, in 1907. Grier Love, as he was universally known, was one of the notable characters of his day and genera- tion, and left the impress of his character and worth indelibly engraved on the hearts of all those who knew him and came under his beneficent in- fluence. He was descended from splendid ancestors who were of Scotch origin and who possessed the dependable virtues of that race. His father was Andrew Love, who was one of the leading spirits in the organization of Gaston County when it was cut off from Lincoln and made a separate county, and who was a leading and influential citizen, as well as a large land and slave owner.
The Love home was in the sonthern part of Gaston County, in the Crowder's Creek neighbor- hood, and there Grier Love was reared on his fa- ther's plantation. In very early life he showed characteristics of stability and self-reliance, and when only seventeen years of age was given by his father, who had confidence in his manly qualities. a plantation in what is now the western part of the City of Gastonia and within a stone's throw of the present Arlington Mill. To that place the youth took a slave boy to help him in his work and began operations as a planter. He was mar- ried at the age of nineteen years to Miss Susan Rhyne, the eldest daughter of Moses H. Rhyne, a member of the famous Rhyne family of German origin whose ancestors settled in Lincoln County prior to the War of the Revolution. Moses H. Rhyne was a prominent and useful citizen of Gas- ton County, and lived in abundance on his fine farm near Mount Holly, and was one of the pioneers in the cotton manufacturing business, gold mining and other industries. Two of his sons, Daniel E. and Abel P. Rhyne, are among the largest and wealthiest cotton mill operators in North Carolina.
At the outbreak of the war between the states Grier Love offered his services to the Confederacy and was made a captain of Home Guards for Gaston County. Near the close of the war he was called into active service and was on his way to the front when the great conflict came to a close at Appo- mattox.
About the year 1870 Mr. Love started in business as a merchant and cotton buyer at Woodlawn (now Mount Holly), where he was successfully engaged in mercantile lines for several years and where several of his children were born. In 1880 he made removal to King's Mountain, in order to give his children the benefit of the school that was conducted there by Captain Bell, and about 1883 removed to Gastonia, which city thereafter continued to be his home.
In 1888 Mr. Love promoted the building of and was the largest stockholder in the mill of the Gastonia Cotton Manufacturing Company, which company built the first mill at Gastonia-the pioneer enterprise of an industry which with that small beginning has steadily grown and is yet grow- ing, and at the present time is represented at Gastonia and in Gaston County by more mills than any other county in the United States, there now being in the neighborhood of one hundred, with more building. Mr. Love's experience as a cotton buyer and planter had made him interested in the subject of cotton manufacture, and it was such interest that led him to establish this mill, which is still in successful operation at Gastonia. The original capital stock of the mill was $80,000,
For Love.
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and its success was such that it had paid for itself three years after its construction. Mr. Love con- tinued to be one of the most prominent operators in the cotton mill industry, which constituted his main financial interest during the remaining years of his active life.
Thus is very briefly outlined Mr. Love's business career. He is probably best known, however, and of course will be longer remembered, for his great worth and character, and for the wonderful change that was wrought through his efforts by the abolishing of the liquor traffic and the estab- lishing of law and order in Gaston County and the resulting moral upbuilding of the entire com- munity. In this great work he was never what is commonly known as an "agitator." He was in every sense a worker and was satisfied only with deeds accomplished. He talked very little, but did much. When he began his efforts to drive out the whiskey traffic in Gaston County there were forty-seven licensed distilleries in the coun- ty, and about an equal number of "blockade" distilleries. It is recalled that the expressed am- bition of Mr. Love's life about this time was that all these distilleries should be abolished and re- placed by cotton mills in equal number, and it was his fortune to live to see this splendid result accomplished. Long before North Carolina had statewide prohibition he had brought about the abolition of the distilleries and saloons in Gaston County. He was the originator of and was the means of having enacted in Gaston County the law requiring that there should be no distillery or saloon within two miles of a school or a church. As soon as this law was established he went, quietly but with determined purpose, to work at building a church or schoolhouse in every part of the county located at such points as would make this law effective in driving out the liquor traffic. He prosecuted this work so thoroughly that on occa- sions he would take a measuring line and measure the actual distance from a saloon or distillery to see if it was violating the law. He went down into his own pockets and spent a great deal of money in the building of these churches and schools and in other necessary work connected with the great reform, which he originated and which, for a number of years at least, he carried on single- handed and alone. In the earlier years of his efforts he met with not only many ordinary diffi- culties and obstacles, but at times with real per- sonal danger, on account of the opposition that his work naturally aroused among the disorderly ele- ment. But he never once wavered or even thought of wavering. He was a man of great moral courage and fear was entirely absent from his nature. Many a business man would hesitate in such udertakings on account of the possibility of injury to his business; not so with Mr. Love. In his work as a reformer he never allowed the thought of his business to enter his mind and seemed to care not in the least whether it was in- jured thereby or not. Likewise, he never cared at all for what is commonly known as "popularity." He was a man of decided force of character, and when his mind was once made up he allowed nothing to divert him from his purpose. It was noticed by all that everyone in the whiskey bnsi- ness whom he opposed or prosecuted thoroughly respected him for his manhood and determination, and many of them afterwards became his friends and supporters. They realized, like others, that everything he did was square and fair and accord- ing to the strict letter of the law. Mr. Love had
a passion for justice and humanity, and these were not alone confined to the cause of prohibi- tion, but in every phase of life's activities, for at all times he was ready to take the part of the weak and helpless. In this connection his concep- tions of justice were clear and positive, and he always acted on those conceptions without doubt or hesitation. In all the affairs of life he was a dignified and useful citizen, and had the high regard and esteem which men of character always enjoy in communities in which they live. He seemed to realize thoroughly that "better than honors or wealth is an irreproachable name."
Mr. and Mrs. Love, the death of the latter of whom occurred in January, 1916, were the parents of eight children, of which family six are still living, namely: James Lee; Margaret, who is the ·wife of C. S. Tait, of Brunswick, Georgia; John F .; Edgar; Mary, who is the wife of W. W. Glenn, of Gastonia; and Robert A.
PULASKI COWPER was one of the honored and useful citizens of North Carolina for half a cen- tury. Reference to his name recalls a very prom- inent old family of this state.
He was born in Murfreesboro in Hertford County, North Carolina, February 2, 1832, a son of Lewis Meredith Cowper and Anice Collins Cow- per. His mother, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was one of the Collins and Baker families of Virginia. She was noted as a thorough Biblical student and was a social favorite.
Lewis Meredith Cowper was born and reared in Murfreesboro and was clerk of courts for some years. "Murfreesboro was quite a favorite lo- cality in the county in 1803,"' so Mr. Winborne states in his history of Hertford, "something like the mecca of the East. Over on a hill across the ravine leading to the river was the residence of Captain Lewis Meredith (grandfather of Pulaski Cowper). He was a man much valued in his day. He left no sons, but several daughters. One of his daughters married William Cowper, and she became the mother of Lewis Meredith Cowper. In 1825 the county was honored by a visit from Gil- bert Montier and Marquis de Lafayette, the young French general in the American army for freedom. He reached the town of Murfreesboro from Suf- folk, Virginia, February 26, 1825. The news of the coming of General Lafayette was made known throughout the county, and the noble sons and daughters of the county were on hand to greet and honor the distinguished guest." Major John W. Moore tells in his history that a meeting was held in the town several days prior to the arrival of the great Revolutionary hero, this meeting being for the purpose of arranging for his reception. Dr. Thomas Borland presided and William Rea was secretary. A committee consisting of Col. James Buckle, Doctor O'Bryan, Lewis M. Cowper and John W. Soughall was appointed to meet the general in Virginia and escort him to the town. Pulaski Cowper's daughter now has a golden souve- nir presented to Mrs. Lewis Meredith Cowper, her grandmother, by General Lafayette at this time.
Pulaski Cowper grew up and was educated in the old family seat at Murfreesboro. He was awarded his degree in law after study under Thomas Bragg of Jackson, Northampton County. Thomas Bragg was afterwards governor of North Carolina. Mr. Cowper practiced law for some years, but in 1855 became private secretary to Governor Thomas Bragg. After his marriage in 1857 he took np farming in Beaufort County, and was thus engaged
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until the outbreak of the war. He then filled the position of clerk to Geueral Mallett in the couscript department at Greensboro, North Carolina, until the end of the war. After the war Pulaski Cowper became prominent iu the insurance business, and at the time of his death and for a number of years before was president of the North Carolina Home Insurance Company of Raleigh. He died at Raleigh October 28, 1901.
He was a man of varied interests, experiences aud tastes. Besides his insurance business he was a man of letters, writing for the University Maga- zine published at Chapel Hill, and many state newspapers. He wrote the biographies of Governor Thomas Bragg of Raleigh, of Judge David Cald- well of Salisbury, and also compiled the letters of General Bryan Grimes to his wife during the Civil war. Mr. Cowper served as city alderman of Raleigh for many years, and was a true dem- ocrat, interested in state and city affairs, ever loyal to the Commonwealth of North Carolina, and frequently was instrumental in giving aid to his party and to his friends in their public careers, though he never wanted office for himself. He was a member of the Capital Club of Raleigh.
At Avon in Pitt County, North Carolina, May 13, 1857, Pulaski Cowper married Mary Blount Grimes, daughter of Bryan Grimes of Pitt County and of Olivia Blount of Washington, North Caro- lina. Mrs. Cowper was a member of the old Eng- lish family of Blount and also of the Harvey fam- ily, conspicuously represented by Thomas and John Harvey. Thomas Harvey was the first provincial governor of North Carolina, and John Harvey, her great-grandfather, was the first speaker of the House in the first Continental Congress. Her grandfather, John Gray Blount, was a personal friend of Daniel Boone and explored a part of Kentucky with that pioueer.
The following children were born to Pulaski Cowper and wife: Willie Grimes Cowper, who died in 1865; Bryan Grimes Cowper; Olivia Blount Cow- per, who died May 4, 1896; Thomas Bragg Cowper ; Anice Collins Cowper, who died October 9, 1868; Margaret Iredell; Mary Pulaski Cowper, who died August 23, 1912; and Pollie Blount Cowper, who died November 24, 1876. The daughter Olivia mar- ried Richard Beverly Raney. Bryan Grimes Cow- per married Minnie C. Heck. Thomas Cowper married Mamie A. Williams; and Margaret mar- ried R. B. Hall.
BRYAN GRIMES COWPER, whose business offices are in the Tucker Building at Raleigh, has con- tinuously for more than thirty-three years been engaged in the general insurance business in that city, and his success, his associations, and his varied services to his home city make him a prom- inent figure in the life of Raleigh.
He was born in Washington, North Carolina, April 8, 1860, a son of Pulaski and Mary Blount (Grimes) Cowper. He grew up in Raleigh, at- tended the Lovejoy Academy and the Ryan and Bailey School, and some of his early experiences were as clerk in the offices of the secretary of state and attorney general and as bookkeeper in a cotton house.
He was twenty-three years of age when in 1883 he entered the general insurance business, and has been continuously identified with that line ever since. He was chairman of the Dispensary Commission for Raleigh for several years, has served as director of the cemetery association, and is now a trustee of Olivia Rainey Public Library
aud chairman of its executive committee. He is a mau ot cultured tastes and has identified himself with many progressive movements in the state. He is a member of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Commission, a member of the Raleigh Country Club since it was organized, of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a vestryman iu Christ Episcopal Church. April 8, 1885, he mar- ried Minnie Callendine Heck. They have two children: Mary Grimes and Bryan Grimes, Jr. Mary Grimes is living at home. Bryan Grimes volunteered in 1917 in Company H, Thirty-second Infantry, aud is located at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. He received a commission as second lieu- tenant of his company.
ROBERT LEE STROWD. To become owners of land has undoubtedly been the moving influence that has led, through revolution or otherwise, to the settlement and civilization of great nations that have thereby risen to strength and power. At the present time in the United States land investments are usually looked upon by shrewd business men as among the safest, and when they include rich farms and improved city realty, a certain and increasing income is more or less assured. There is very little land in Orange Couuty, North Carolina, but what has definite and sustained value, and a large owner of the same is Robert Lee Strowd, former vice presi- dent of the Bank of Chapel Hill.
Robert Lee Strowd was born in Chatham County, North Carolina, February 1, 1864. His parents were Rev. William Franklin and Lou Har- riet (Atwater) Strowd. His father was a man of prominence in the state, serving as a member of the Coustitutional Convention in 1875, and twice was elected to the United States Congress.
Robert L. Strowd had excellent educational ad- vantages, attendiug both the Mebin and the Bing- ham private schools, educational institutions of some note, and subsequently the University of North Carolina. Afterward he engaged for some years in general farming and then embarked in the mercantile business at Chapel Hill, from which he retired in 1913. He has long been one of the enterprisiug aud successful business men of this section and is interested in worthy enterprises of this city and at present is serving on the direct- ing board of the Bank of Chapel Hill. He is au active and representative citizen and was ap- pointed clerk of the Exemption Board, 1917- 1918.
Mr. Strowd was married April 27, 1886, to Miss Fannie Headeu, of Pittsboro, North Carolina, who is a daughter of Aaron C. and Mary (Rives) Headon, the former of whom was a merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Strowd have the following children: William Franklin, who is engaged in the manu- facture of lumber at Chapel Hill; Wallace Hea- den, who is a chemist employed at the University of Wisconsin; Bruce, who is in the automobile business at Chapel Hill; and Mary Louise, Grace and Elizabeth, all of whom are at heme. Mr. Strowd and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, iu which he is a member of the board of stewards. He is identified with the Masonic Lodge at Chapel Hill.
BENJAMIN W. TOWNSEND is a successful North Carolina citizen whose success largely rests upon his business as a farmer, though his interests are now widely extended. His has been a record of almost unvarying success in the handling of all
Halter F Wordand
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his business affairs. Mr. Townsend resides at Red Springs in Robeson County, and is now serving as mayor of that city.
He represents one of the old Scotch families that settled in this section of North Carolina be- fore the Revolutionary war. He was born near Laurinburg, in what was then Richmond but is now Scotland County, in 1863, a son of Solomon R. and Hannah (Baldwin) Townsend. Both par- ents are now deceased. Both his grandfather and his great-grandfather were named Solomon R. Townsend, and the great-grandfather is buried near Lilesville in Anson County. Solomon R. Townsend, father of Benjamin W., was born on the Pee Dee River in Richmond County, served in the Confed- erate Army throughout the war in Lane's Brigade, being mustered out at High Point, and about 1886 removed from Richmond County to Red Banks in Robeson County, and died in 1914. Mr. Benja- inin W. Townsend was named for his uncle, who as a Confederate soldier was killed at the battle of Cedar Mountain.
Mr. Townsend was a boyhood and young man- hood friend of the well known poet, the late John Charles MacNeill, with whom he attended school at Spring Hill in what is now Scotland County. He also attended the Famous Bingham Military School under Colonel Bingham at Mebane. Mr. Townsend removed to Red Springs in 1895 and for many years has been one of the leading busi- ness men and farmers in that section of Robeson County. He has many large interests, including a fine farm of 600 acres adjoining Red Springs on the west. He is also owner of considerable valuable property in the city itself. He has been a stockholder and director in the Bank of Red Springs since it was organized, and in everything that concerns the welfare of that town he takes a most public spirited interest. In 1912 Mr. Townsend was elected mayor and was reelected in 1914 and again in 1916, and his administra- tion has been both efficient and practical. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Masonic Order and Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Townsend married Miss Janie Robeson MacMillan. Her father, the late Hon. Hamilton MacMillan of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was a lawyer by profession, but was best known as a writer and historian. He was particularly noted as an authority on the history of the Croatan Indians of North Carolina. His publications giv- ing the results of his researches and investiga- tions on that subject are extensively quoted in the government reports on those Indians. 'He was a very erudite scholar and had a great gift as a writer. Mrs. Townsend is a descendant through her mother of Peter Robeson, who was a Revolu- tionary soldier from North Carolina and for whose family Robeson County is named. The Robesons originally settled on the Cape Fear River in Bladen County. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend have two chil- dren: William Bartram, who is a lieutenant in the United States Army and now in France; and Hannah Baldwin Townsend.
WALTER FARMER WOODARD, the subject of this sketch, is the eldest son, having been born Sep- tember 14, 1864, of Warren and Jerusha Woodard.
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