USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 58
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Dr. Egerton was born in Rutherford County, North Carolina, November 30, 1856, a son of Dr. Thomas R. and Sarah (Logan) Egerton. He had a worthy example before him to lead him iuto the choice of a profession, since his father practiced medicine from early days until the closing years of his life and also served with the rank of sur- geon in the Confederate Army. Dr. James L. was liberally educated, having attended public schools, Yarborough Academy at Forest City, North Caro- lina, and took his medical work in the University of Maryland Medical Department at Baltimore, where he graduated M. D. in 1877. In July of the same year he located at Hendersonville, and that city has been the home and the center of his labo- rious life ever since. He has handled a general practice, was for years an active member of the Board of Health, and is a member in high stand- ing of the Henderson County, North Carolina, Tri- State and Southern Medical societies and the American Medical Association.
Doctor Egerton has also been called and has responded to various demands upon his time for public duty. . For four years he was postmaster of Hendersonville. He has been a director since organization of the First Bank & Trust Company and is an active member of the Baptist Church.
Doctor Egerton married for his first wife Martha Fletcher, daughter of Dr. George W. Fletcher, of Fletcher, Henderson County. Mrs. Egerton died leaving three children: Josephine, wife of Dr. William R. Kirk; Elizabeth, wife of Erskin Ehringhouse, a dentist; and Estelle, wife of Perry Quatterbaum, of Conway, South Caro- lina. In 1893 Doctor Egerton married for his present wife Effie Burroughs, of Conway, South Carolina, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Bur- roughs. Mr. Burroughs was a Confederate sol- dier, going through the entire war, was one of the most prominent men of his locality, a general business man, and the founder of "The Burroughs- Collins Company " at Conway.
MARTIN LUTHER KESLER, D. D. As general manager of the Thomasville Baptist Orphanage, Martin Luther Kesler has proved himself a wise and efficient administrator, executing the affairs of the institution with great skill, keen foresight, and much ability, being alert in promoting its scholastic status and in the furtherance of its Christian ideals. A native son of North Carolina, he was born on a farm in Cool Spring Township, Tredell County, coming from pioneer ancestry. His grandfather Kesler, a prosperous planter, was, as
far as known, a life-long resident of Rowau County, North Carolina.
Charles Washington Kesler, Mr. Kesler's father, was born and brought up in Rowan County, and being studiously inclined acquired a very good education when young. At the beginning of his active career he taught school for a while. Later he turned his attention to agriculture, and having settled on land in Cool Spring Township, Iredell County, was there a resident until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-six years. The maiden name of his wife was Elizabeth Lazenby. She was born in Cool Spring Township, a daughter of Robert and Margery (Lewis) Lazenby. Her father taught school in Iredell County when youug, and was afterwards a farmer uutil his death. Mr. Kesler's mother was but fifty years old when called to the life beyond. To her and her husband five children were born, namely: Martin Luther, John Lewis, Minnie May, Mary and Margery.
Brought up on the home farm, Martin L. Kesler first attended a subscription school, and later was a pupil in a free public school. Fitted for a higher education at Cool Spring Academy, and at Moravian Falls Academy, where for three years he was under the tutelage of Prof. George W. Greene, he entered in 1885, Wake Forest College, and was there graduated three years later with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His alma mater later conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. Mr. Kesler then entered the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Ken- tucky, where he was graduated with the class of 1891. Returning to North Carolina, he was or- daiued to the ministry at his old home church in Iredell County, and immediately after that event accepted the pastorates of the Spring Hill and Laurinburg churches in Scotland County, where he remained five years. The ensuing year Mr. Kesler had charge of the Baptist Church at High Point, from there going to Rocky Mount, Edge- comb County, where he was engaged in his minis- terial work for two and a half years. . Accepting then a call to Scotland Neck, he was pastor of the Baptist Church there for three and a half years. In 1903 Mr. Kesler assumed charge of a church at Morganton, North Carolina, and served as its pastor for two years, resigning mu 1905 to accept his present position as general manager of the Thomasville Baptist Orphanage.
This orphanage was opened November 11, 1885, with three members, a widow and two children. Improvements and enlargements of much value have since been made, many of them having been made under the supervision of Mr. Kesler. The estate at the present time consists of a tract of land containing 450 acres, a part of it lying within the city limits. A branch of the institution known as the Kennedy Memorial Home, was opened in 1914 with fifty children. Connected with this branch of the orphanage is a farm of 1,200 acres of land. The many substantial buildings at Thomasville, mostly of brick arc conveniently ar- ranged, and will easily accommodate 500 pupils. Under a corps of efficient teachers the boys and girls of the institution are prepared for college, and while the girls are taking lessons in domestic science the boys are taking lessons in manual training and being taught useful trades.
Mr. Kesler married, in 1892, Ethel Browne, who was born in Aiken, South Carolina, a daughter of Dr. J. C. Browne, a prominent Baptist minister. Of their union three sons have been born, namely : John Malcolm, a graduate of Wake Forest College,
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is now employed as a mechanical engineer; James Courtney, a student at Wake Forest College; and Martin L., Jr., a fourth-grade pupil at the Orphanage.
Prominent and active in educational circles, Mr. Kesler is a trustee of both Wake Forest College and Meredith College, and, by appointment of the governor, is a member of the board of trustees for the School for the Blind at Raleigh, and like- wise a member of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare.
WALLACE CARL RIDDICK. If a great educational institution can express the personalities and indi- vidual effort of one man, no better illustration could be found than the close relationship which exists between the North Carolina State College of Agri- culture and Engineering and its beloved president, W. C. Riddick. Mr. Riddick has been a member of the faculty and one of the executive officers of the college since 1892, when he was elected to fill the chair of engineering and mathematics. His fame as an engineer is widespread over North Carolina, but aside from what he has done as a member of that profession, he has exercised his most potent influence upon the great body of students who have from year to year assembled within the halls of the Agricultural and Engineering College and from that institution have gone out to perform the tasks fitted to their powers and carry the influence of the college throughout the length and breadth of the state.
For seven years Mr. Riddick served as vice presi- dent of the Agricultural and Engineering College and at the 1916 meeting of the board of trustees he was unanimously elected for the presidency. That was only a fitting mark of appreciation for his many years of unceasing devotion to the school. Next to the honor thus conferred by the board of trustees, Mr. Riddick takes the greatest pleasure in the action of the body of alumni of the college when in their annual meeting in 1916 they gave Professor Riddick their unanimous and enthusiastic endorsement for the presidency of the college.
His has been a long career of practical work and broadening educational influence. He was born on a farm seven miles northeast of Raleigh in Wake County, August 5, 1864, a son of Wiley Goodman and Anna Ivy (Jones) Riddick. The Riddick family were among the earliest settlers in Eastern North Carolina, the old family seat hav- ing been in Gates County. Professor Riddick's mother was born and reared in Wake County. After instruction under a private tutor Mr. Riddick entered a preparatory school at Forestville, North Carolina, under Dr. R. H. Lewis. He attended Wake Forest College and the University of North Carolina, where he was graduated in the classical course in 1885. For two years after leaving col- lege he taught in Stokes County. In 1887 he entered Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, where he pursued the technical studies leading up to the degree of civil engineer. He was a member of the football team in Lehigh University and his interest in athletics has never subsided. He has always encouraged wholesome outdoor sport as a supple- mentary part of the training received in the Agricultural and Engineering College, and it is a happy tribute to his influence in this direction that the college athletic park is named Riddick Field.
After receiving his diploma as a civil engineer Mr. Riddick spent two years as resident engineer of the Roanoke Navigation and Water Power
Company 's canal at Weldon, North Carolina. The City of Raleigh and the state at large owe much to his thorough experience and broad ideals as an engineer. As engineer in charge he is given credit for the efficient waterworks system installed by the municipal government of Raleigh in 1914. The efficiency of this system has no superior in any city of the size in the South. When Raleigh bought the old waterworks from its private owners, a complete rebuilding and remodeling of the plant became necessary, and Professor Riddick had charge of the work of construction of a storage pond on Walnut Creek and the installation of all the new machinery and water mains.
Naturally enough he has been keenly interested in the movement for better highways for the state. He is a member of the North Carolina Good Roads Society, the State Highway Commission, the Na- tional Highways Association and has served as chairman of the Wake County Roads Commission. He was a member of Governor Glenn's staff as lieutenant colonel of the engineers and is a member of the North Carolina Academy of Science and of the National Society for the Promotion of Engi- neering Education. In June, 1917, the honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Wake Forest College and by Lehigh University. Socially he belongs to the Kappa Alpha fraternity and the Country Club, the Capital Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the First Baptist Church. In 1893 Mr. Riddick married Miss Lillian Daniel of Weldon, North Carolina. They are the parents of five children: Wallace W. Riddick, Lillian, Narcissa, Auna and Eugenia. Wallace W. was graduated in civil engineering from the Agricultural and Engineering College, class of 1916, and is at the present time (February, 1918), captain and adjutant in the One Hundred and Fifteenth Artillery, United States Army.
HON. FRANK SHEPHERD SPRUILL. Among the men of mark in Eastern North Carolina must be named Frank Shepherd Spruill, who is recog- nized as one of the ablest lawyers in the state. He has been a resident of Rocky Mount since January, 1908, having come to make his home in this city when appointed division counsel of the great Atlantic Coast Line Railway system. Brilliant and successful in the law, scarcely less important have been his achievements in public life, he having been associated with some of the greatest men of this nation.
Frank S. Spruill was born December 9, 1862, in Martin County, North Carolina. His parents were William E. and Harriet ( Arrington) Spruill, of Scotch-Irish and English stock. During the war between the states the family removed from Martin to Halifax county. The father of Mr. Spruill served through the war in the Confeder- ate army.
In the public and in the private schools Frank Spruill secured his early educational training, and after deciding on the law as a career he directed his studies particularly along that line and completed a course in law in the University of North Carolina, obtaining his license to prac- tice in February, 1884. He located at Hender- son, North Carolina, and for one year was asso- ciated there with William H. Young, and then removed to Louisburg in Franklin County, where he became a partner of Hon. Joseph J. Davis, a former member of Congress and later judge of the North Carolina Supreme Court. His talents were immediately recognized and from
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that day to the present he has taken high rank at the bar.
Heredity, training and invironment were all factors in bringing the brilliant young lawyer to the front in politics and he soon became re- cognized as one of the democratic leaders in the county, his usual gift of oratory making him a powerful force in every campaign. In 1888 he was sent as a delegate to the Demo- cratic National Convention that nominated Hon. Grover Cleveland for the presidency for a second term, and in the campaign of that year. Mr. Spruill was reckoned one of the most effective public speakers in the state. In 1898 he was sent to the State Legislature from Franklin County, and during his period of service rendered conspicuous service, especially on the judiciary committee and as chairman of the committee on railroads and railroad commissioners. Many pub- lic positions were tendered Mr. Spruill at this time and he was appointed a member of the directing board of the state prison, by Governor Carr. From this position he soon resigned but later accepted an appointment as a director of the North Carolina Railroad, and in this position he rendered invaluable services in opposition to the proposed new lease for ninety-nine years of that railroad to the Southern Railway Company. During President Cleveland's second term Mr. Spruill served with great ability as assistant United States district attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. In 1904 his party once more demonstrated confidence in Mr. Spruill by nominating him for another term as repre- sentative, but this honor he felt compelled to de- cline because of his subsequent nomination as one of the presidential electors for the state at large by the Democratic State Convention. He took a most active part in the campaign of that year and his speeches in Mr. Alton B. Parker's behalf were favorably commented on all over the state, not only because of their beautiful dic- tion but of their unanswerable logic. Mr. Spruill had much to do with briuging out the great democratic majority that marked the North Carolina vote. For a number of years he was counted one of the great political forces in the state, capable of arousing enthusiasm wherever he went on a political mission and loyally serv- ing party and candidates.
On January 1, 1908, Mr. Spruill came to Rocky Mount and through choice this beautiful little city has ever since been his home and its citizens appreciate the distinction his presence gives. He is a member of the law firm of Bunn & Spruill, justly considered one of the strongest combinations of legal talent in the state. As division counsel of the Atlantic Coast Line Rail- road system, he occupies a position of profes- sional eminence.
Mr. Spruill was married in 1886 to Miss Alice Capehart Winstou. She belongs to a celebrated family. Her parents were Hon. Patrick Henry and Martha Elizabeth (Byrd) Winston. She is a sister of ex-Judge and ex-Lieutenant Gov- ernor Francis D. Winston, Judge Robert W. Win- ston, Patrick Henry Winston, ex-attorney gen- eral of the state of Washington, and George Taylor Winston, ex-president of the University of North Carolina, ex-president of the North Car- olina A. & M. College and of the University of Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Spruill have three children: Mrs. Thomas Alexander, of Charlotte, North Caro-
lina, Miss Martha Byrd and Frank Shepherd. The family home is an elegant residence situated on Falls Road, and in its hospitality tendered and its refined atmosphere there pervades the charm that has made social life in exclusive circles in North Carolina a notable part in the intimate history of the state.
JAMES WILLIAM HAYS, cashier of the Toisnot Banking Company at Elm City, was for many years one of the leading educators of North Car- olina, and the work he did as an individual teacher and as a school administrator is not easily overestimated.
Mr. Hays was born in Nash County, North Carolina, March 27, 1857, a son of Levi Mercer and Martha (Batts) Hays. His father was a farmer. Mr. Hays was educated in the Wilson Collegiate Institute, and from early boyhood showed unusual talent for artistic performance. To cultivate these talents he went to New York City, and was a student in Cooper Institute and also the National Academy of Design. In 1881 he returned home at the death of his father, and through the burdens of responsibility thrown upon him as manager of the estate he gave up his ambition for an artistic career.
However, he found an outlet for his talents in the field of teaching. He began his work as a teacher in 1883, and for some time was super- intendent of the Toisnot graded schools. In 1881-82 he taught art and drawing in the Nor- mal School at Wilson and for a number of years had charge of drawing and penmanship in sum- mer schools. From 1885 to 1891 he was em- ployed as a bookkeeper at Wilson and in 1892 became principal of the Creswell private schools and in 1893 became connected with the Wilson Collegiate Institute. In 1894 Mr. Hays was elected county superintendent of public instruc- tion of Wilson County and filled that position eleven years, part of the time being also prin- cipal of the Elm City Academy. He finally gave up teaching as a personal matter and gave all his time to the supervision of the county schools and did much to build up the entire school system of Wilson County.
In the meantime for a number of years from 1903 to 1909 he was in the life and fire insur- ance business, aud he still has a large amount of farming land in Wilson County. Mr. Hays was elected cashier of the Toisnot Banking Com- pany in 1909.
He has long been prominent in Odd Fellowship, has filled all the chairs in the Subordinate Lodge, is a member of the Encampment and has sat in the State Grand Lodge. He took his first de- grees in Masonry in 1887 and is a past master of his lodge and a Knight Templar. He is one of the charter members of Elm City Council of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. His church affiliations are with the Methodist Episcopal, South, in which he is a steward. Mr. Hays is a man of thorough culture, has traveled extensively, and in 1891 made a tour of Europe, where he paid particular attention to the great art centers.
On July 3, 1895, he married Miss Beulah Grady, of Halifax, North Carolina. Mrs. Hays died Oc- tober 12, 1913, leaving two children: Mary Belle, still at home; and James William, Jr., now a student in Trinity College at Durham, North Car- olina.
Jamesa Hack
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
JOHN H. CATHEY, clerk of the Superior Court of Buncombe County, is a sou of an old settler and former Confederate soldier, and has himself an interesting military record as a soldier in both the Cuban war and the Philippine war.
Mr. Cathey was born on a farm in Buncombe County, North Carolina, March 1, 1878, son of John L. and Louisa (Hyatt) Cathey. His father represented some of the old families of Western North Carolina. At the very outbreak of the war he enlisted iu 1861 in Company I, of the Sixtieth North Carolina Troops, and was in active continued service until the Battle of Chickamauga, where he lost a leg. After the war he took up farming in Buncombe County, and enjoyed the highest esteem among his ueighbors and friends both for his substantial character and associations with the life and institutions of the old South. From 1890 to 1898 he filled with credit and ability the office of clerk of the Superior Court of Buncombe County, being in that office at the time of his death in August, 1898.
The son, John H. Cathey, has spent most of his life in and around Asheville, attending the district schools of the country and also the Asheville High School. He was deputy clerk of the Superior Court under his father for two years, but in May, 1898, a few months before his father's death, he responded to the call of the country and enlisted in Company F, of the First North Carolina Vol- unteer Infantry. He was with that regiment at- taining the rank of sergeant, until granted his honorable discharge. That did not satisfy his taste and thirst for military experience and he then enlisted in Troop H, of the Fifth United States Cavalry, and saw a great deal of active service in the regular army, for a time in the Philippine Islands during the insurrectionary troubles and also at posts in the West in the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. He was in the regular army with the cavalry for three years.
In December, 1902, Mr. Cathey returned to Asheville, and has since been in business or public affairs. In 1905 he took a position as bookkeeper with a local hardware concern, but in 1914 resigned upon his election to the office of clerk of the Superior Court. Mr. Cathey is affiliated with Mount Hermon Lodge No. 118, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with the Royal Arch Chapter and with French Broad Council No. 705, Royal and Select Masters, and is also a member of Pisgah Lodge No. 32, Knights of Pythias.
January 6, 1905, he married Miss Ida Mitchell, of Asheville, daughter of Thomas J. and Sallie (Collins) Mitchell. Her father is a retired mer- chant of Asheville, where Mrs. Cathey was reared and educated. They have three children, Isabel, James and Martha.
JULIAN WILBER BUNN, a former member of the Legislature and now state senator from Wake County, is member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of this section of North Caro- lina. The people of the name were English and they first came to America in 1756, two brothers settling in Virginia and becoming planters. The family has been identified with North Carolina since 1770. One of the later generations distin- guished himself by many years of service in Con- gress. His name was Benjamin H. Bunn. Senator Bunn 's great-grandfather, Benjamin Bunn, located where the present counties of Wake, Nash and Franklin adjoin, and secured there a vast domain
of 18,000 acres of land granted by the Earl of Granville. On this great estate he built about 1800 the old colonial home which still stands and is one of the interesting surviving landmarks of the pre-Victoriau era in North Carolina. This old homestead is 21% miles east of Wakefield on the Wilson road.
It was at Wakefield in Wake County, North Carolina, that Julian Wilber Bunn was boru March 24, 1883. His parents were Cade D. and Bettie A. (Young) Bunn. His father was also born in Wake County and was a farmer by occupa- tion. Senator Bunn attended the Wakefield Acad- emy and in 1907 graduated from the law depart- ment of Wake Forest College, securing the degree of Bachelor of Laws. His license to practice was grauted him August 25, 1907, and on the 9th of October following, he entered upon the work of his profession and has since accumulated a large clientage and a position as a leader in the Raleigh bar.
He was elected to the Legislature in 1913, and served during both the regular and extra sessions. In March, 1915, he was elected county attorney of Wake County, and on June 3, 1916, was nomi- nated as democratic candidate for the State Seuate. His nomination was confirmed by election in No- vember and he served his district with honor.
He is a member of the Wake County and North Carolina Bar associations, and belongs to the Tabernacle Baptist Church. Besides his interest as a lawyer he has some farming interests in Wake County. On September 17, 1913, Senator Bunn married Miss Maude Davis, of Yadkin County, North Carolina. They are the parents of one daughter, Nancy Elizabeth, born November 15, 1915.
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GEORGE RUSH SPENCER. Much of the history of Gaston County centers around the Spencer family. The Spencers were among the first white settlers there. Spencer Mountain, a notable land- mark in that county, is located on lands which were granted to the Spencer ancestors by King George before the Revolutionary war.
The branch of the family here cousidered in- cludes two prominent names, John T. Spencer, who was practically the founder and for mauy years was prominently identified with the up- building of Gastouia, and his son, George Rush Spencer, whose activities as a lumber miller and wholesale and retail lumber dealer make him oue of the strongest factors in the present day pro- gress of that city.
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