USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 60
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As a man of sound-and discriminating judgment Mr. Crow is interested in all that pertains to modern progress and advancement along material, intellectual and moral lines. He is a member of the Wake County Board of Education, a trustee of Peace Institute, secretary of the board of trustees of Rex Hospital, and a director of the Young Men's Christian Association. He has long been active in the Chamber of Commerce, and is ex-treasurer of the Raleigh Rotary Club, while his fraternal connection is with the Junior Order United American Mechanics. He has likewise been active in the work of the First Presbyterian Church, being an elder, member of the "Van- guard" and teacher of this Bible class.
On July 3, 1900, Mr. Crow was married to Miss Mary Dinwiddie, daughter of James Dinwiddie, the president of Peace Institute, and to this uuion there have been born four children: Nannie Burwell, Edmund Burwell, Jr., Hubert Dinwiddie and Mary Dinwiddie. The family residence is one of Raleigh's beautiful homes.
W. CONYERS HERRING, M. D. A southerner by birth, member of a prominent family of Georgia, Dr. Herring after extended experience and prominent connections with medical and sur- gical professions abroad and in New York City has brought his talents and experience to North Carolina and is now in active charge of the re- cently installed X-Ray and bacteriological depart- ments of the Presbyterian Hospital at Charlotte. A large part of Dr. Herring's experience has been in connection with leading hospitals rather than as a general practitioner. He did work in his special lines in the hospitals of New York City and Paris, and for a number of years had charge of the X-Ray department of the German Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Herring was born at Atlanta, Georgia, son of William F. and Chloe (Conyers) Herring. About two centuries ago the Herring family in England had as its most prominent representa- tive Sir Thomas Herring, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. Three of his nephews came to Virginia in 1721, and it is from one of them that Dr. Herring is descended. Dr. Herring's grand- father, William Herring, was born in Virginia. In early life he went to Georgia, locating in Fay- etteville, and afterwards moving to Fulton Coun- ty. His home was in the community then or afterward for some years known as Marthas- ville, and that nucleus of early settlement has since developed into the great commercial center
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of Atlanta. Friends of the Herring family seemed to think it possible that old Marthasville was named for Martha Herring, wife of William Herring, since they were among the first settlers of that locality.
William F. Herring, father of Dr. Herring, was also a native Georgian and a man of great promin- ence in that state both in business and commer- cial affairs. For a number of years he was a member of the Cleghorn & Herring partnership, cotton merchants and exporters. He was a pio- neer in introducing commercial fertilizer into Georgia, effecting a revolution in the cotton grow- ing industry. He was also one of the builders and was president of the Augusta & Port Royal Railroad, extending from Augusta, Georgia, to Port Royal, South Carolina.
Dr. Herring was named for his maternal grand- ยท father Dr. William Denson Conyers. The Conyers family in Georgia is descended from Thomas Conyers, a native of England, from which country he came to America after participation in a re- bellion by the Duke of Monmouth in 1685. Thomas Conyers lies buried under the old Huguenot Church at Charleston, South Carolina. He was descended by separate female lines from William the Conqueror and from Charlemagne. The Con- yers family was probably more prominent in South Carolina than elsewhere. Five or six of them were captains in the Revolution or in the early wars prior to that struggle. Three, Daniel, James and John Conyers, were majors in the Con- tinental army.
Dr. Conyers was one of the most influential char- acters of Georgia for many years. Besides being a physician he owned a large amount of land and slaves, and was the leader in various business and industrial enterprises of the ante-bellum period. The name of his plantation was Rockdale, and .Rockdale County in which it was situated was named for this plantation. The town of Conyers in Rockdale County, now a flourishing and wealthy little city, was also named in his honor. He was a native of Georgia and among other achievements was one of the builders of the Georgia Railroad, from Atlanta to Augusta.
Dr. Herring was reared and received his early education both at Augusta and Atlanta. At the age of fourteen he was sent abroad and was given a liberal education, chiefly in England and France. He began the study of medicine while in Europe and in the late '80s returned to America and was graduated M. D. in 1890 from the University of New York. He also has a degree from the Uni- versity of Paris, and much of his student career was spent in the French capital.
Dr. Herring returned to America permanently in 1906. Until December, 1917, he practiced his profession in New York City and in New York State. In December, 1917, having a strong de- sire to return to his native Southland, and partly also as a matter of health, he came to Charlotte and arranged to make this city his future home and the scene of his professional activities. He accepted the offer from the Presbyterian Hospital at Charlotte to establish in the new hospital building an X-Ray and bacteriological laboratory with modern and complete equipment which Dr. Herring brought with him from the North. His principal work, however, is that of diagnostician for the hospital. Few men in any State excel Dr. Herring in diagnosis, and every judgment he pronounces is fortified by a quarter century of training and association with many of the largest
institutions and most noted men in medicine and surgery. The wealthy city of Charlotte, situated in the center of one of the richest agricultural and industrial districts in the South, offers a splendid field for Dr. Herring's efforts.
In 1914 he married Miss Mary Joy. Mrs. Her- ring is a native of Nova Scotia.
CHARLES GUY WEAVER has recently rounded out ten years of growing and successful law practice at Asheville, and today has a secure prestige as one of the leading civil lawyers of a bar that stands second to none in the state in point of ability and character of its membership.
Mr. Weaver was born at Weaverville in Bun- combe County, North Carolina, January 20, 1882. His great-uncle, Monterville M. Weaver, was the man who laid out the Town of Weaverville. In that community Charles G. Weaver, better known as Guy Weaver, grew to manhood, received his early education in Weaverville College, from which so many prominent men in the western part of the state went into the practical walks of life, and in 1906 completed his law course at the University of North Carolina, and was admitted to the North Carolina bar in August, 1906. During the fol- lowing year he taught in Weaverville College, and began general practice at Asheville, August 27, 1907. He is a member of the Asheville and North Carolina Bar associations and is secretary and treasurer of the Northwest Realty Company of Asheville, and president of the Elk Mountain Brick Company.
Mr. Weaver while a busy lawyer has become prominent in fraternal affairs and is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, is a past grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of North Carolina, and has served as grand repre- sentative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge for two years. He is chairman of the Board of Stewards of the Chestnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and teacher of a Baraca Class in Chestnut Street Sunday School.
Mr. Weaver was a member of the Legal Ad- visory Board of Buncombe County under the Selective Service Act, and has given a great deal of his time to advising registrants for military service in the National Army, as well as having served in Liberty Bond, War Savings Stamps and Red Cross campaigns in Buncombe, Haywood and Swain counties.
January 1, 1913, Mr. Weaver married Berta M. Hughes, of Leicester, Buncombe County, daughter of Dr. William J. and Addie L. (Brown) Hughes. Mr. and Mrs. Weaver have one daughter, Berta Adelaide.
PETER RENSSELAER ALLEN came to Asheville in 1907 as manager of the insurance department of the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company. He is an insurance man of wide and successful ex- perience, and a few years ago . established the P. R. Allen Company, handling general insurance, fire, life, casualty, etc. Mr. Allen has identified himself closely with the important civic and social affairs of Asheville, and his associates recognize him as a man of great energy and of forceful ability.
He was born in West Virginia December 1, 1873, a son of Nicholas N. and Susan (Martin) Allen. He was born on his father's farm, had a rural environment during most of his youth, and afterward managed to acquire a higher education. In 1897 he graduated from the normal college at
Guy New
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Knoxville Tennessee, and for ten years was a suc- cessful teacher in Virginia. He gave up his school work to come to Asheville in 1907, as already noted.
Mr. Allen is a member of the County Council of Defense, is a member of the Board of Good Samaritan missions, is a director of the Young Men's Christian Association, a member of the executive board of the Associated Charities, is identified with the work of the Asheville Board of Trade and is a Deacon and Treasurer of the First Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Rotary Club, is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and has attained the fourteenth degree of the Scottish Rite in Masonry.
Mr. Allen married for his first wife Alice Alex- ander, of Tazewell, Virginia, on June 4, 1902. She died December 19, 1905. Her father, John D. Alexander, was a merchant. On July 2, 1913, Mr. Allen married Carrie Alexander, of Atlanta, Georgia, daughter of Rev. James H. Alexander, a well known minister of the Presbyterian Church.
REUBEN OSCAR EVERETT is one of the leading members of the bar at Durham, being associated with the law firm of Manning, Everett & Kitchen. His activities and attainments have made him well known throughout the state. In 1917 he was president of the North Carolina State Fair and it was largely through his efforts that that fair was one of the most successful in all the series of years since it has been held. Besides his large private law practice he is a director in several business corporations and a mover in everything that affects the welfare of his community and state.
Mr. Everett was born Ocober 20, 1879, a son of Justus Everett and Margaret Elizabeth Everett. His father spent his life in Martin County, North Carolina, and was identified with extensive farming interests there.
Reuben Oscar Everett was liberally educated. He received the degree Bachelor of Science from the University of North Carolina in 1903. During 1904-05 he studied for his Master's degree at Trinity College. . His law studies were pursued at Columbia University in New York City in 1911- 12-13, since which time he has been engaged in practice at Durham.
HON. CHARLES B. ARMSTRONG. Of the men of Gaston County who have risen to public promi- nence and business independence solely through their own efforts there can be no more notable example than Hon. Charles B. Armstrong, of Gas- tonia. Like many other youths of his day he commenced his career handicapped by a lack of educational advantages, as well as of financial assets, owing to the demands the great Civil war had made upon the resources of the Southland, but however insatiable the appetite of the great war, it had failed to take from him his ambition and determination, and with these he started upon a career that has led to his becoming one of the foremost business men of Gastonia and to a po- sition in public confidence that has been expressed in his election to the highest city executive office on three occasions.
Perhaps the spirit, the resource, the initiative and the persistence which enabled Mayor Arm- strong to overcome obstacles, to recuperate after misfortunes and to steadily continue to fight in the face of odds during the early part of his ca- reer, were inherited, for he comes of a fine old family of Scotch-Irish ancestry of the strong-
est and sturdiest type, big men
of great force, mentally and physically, and of the highest character. The ancestors of the Armstrongs owned Margerton Castle, near Carlisle, Scotland, and were among the last to yield to England's rule in Scotland's struggle for independence. Be- cause of their resistance the English King con- fiscated their estates and many of the family moved to Ireland and thence to America, coming to the latter country between 1720 and 1750 and settling in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Car- olina. When the Revolutionary war broke out, re- membering their own family history and misfor- tunes because of the cause of liberty, they were among the first to organize "Committees of Safe- ty" and to take the initiative in raising com- panies to fight for American freedom. From North Carolina went Gens. James and John Arm- strong, who were in active service from the be- ginning of the war to the end, the former being a member of the staff of Gen. George Wash- ington. After the war the family took an active part in uniting and building up the new nation, both in their State Legislatures and in the Na- tional Congress. There were many notable char- acters in this family, one of them, an educator, being the founder and principal of Hampden In- stitute in Virginia. The original Armstrongs of Ireland and Scotland were devout Presbyterians and were associated with Knox, the founder of that faith.
Charles B. Armstrong's grandfather was Mat- thew Armstrong, and his great-grandfather was Matthew Armstrong, Sr. The latter was but eighteen years of age at the close of the Revo- lution, and yet he had enlisted in the Continen- tal line and fought in the historic battle of King's Mountain, North Carolina, only a few miles north of the present Town of Gastonia, and had also been a participant in the battle of Cowpens. His father, Gen, John Armstrong, the great-great-grandfather of Charles B. Armstrong, was first a colonel in the Continental line, but was advanced to brigadier-general and served in the Southern Division, principally in North Car- olina. The Armstrongs had come to the Old North State prior to the struggle for American independence, but after its close Gen. John Arm- strong returned to the North and he is buried at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. His brother was Gen. James Armstrong, noted above as one of the notable patriots of the Revolution.
John Armstrong, the father of Charles B. Arm- strong, was born on the Armstrong plantation, on the south fork of the Catawba River, in South Township, Gaston County, North Carolina. There he passed the active years of his life in agricul- tural pursuits, suffering keenly, as did many others, by the ravages of the struggle between the North and the South, in which he fought as a soldier of the Confederacy for four years. He is now deceased, as is also Mrs. Armstrong, who bore the maiden name of Louisa West.
Charles B. Armstrong remained on the home farm until he was twenty-three years. While he was denied good educational advantages because of the hard years which followed the war, he was given the very best of business discipline. His first business venture was in traveling through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, peddling clocks, associated with experienced men in this line, a vocation which he followed with some suc- cess for two years. Returning to Gaston County, he established himself in business at Lowell, but
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after three years disposed of his interests in his store and again took to the road as a peddler, this time handling an assorted line of notions and small merchandise and remaining away for three years. With the capital thus gained, he again came back to Gaston County, this time to settle permanently at Gastonia. He here went into the furniture business, founding what is now known as the Armstrong-Rankin Furniture Company. He continued in the same line for a period of nine years, when he was elected sheriff of Gaston County, and remained in office by virtue of subse- quent elections for a period of six years. About the year 1906 he became interested in the cotton mill industry at Gastonia, which was then but be- ginning to assume proportions that have led up to the present development and which have made Gas- tonia one of the largest centers of this kind in the country. Since that time the cotton mill in- dustry has comprised Mr. Armstrong's princi- pal interest in business. The first mill which he erected was that of the Clara Manufacturing Company; the next that of the Dunn Manufactur- ing Company; his following enterprise was the building of the Armstrong Cotton Mills Company plant; later he purchased the controlling interest in the Monarch Cotton Mills Company; and his latest enterprise was the mill of the Seminole Cotton Mills Company, which he built in 1916. He is president and treasurer of all five of these corporations.
Mr. Armstrong was first elected mayor of Gas- tonia in 1907, and served as such two years; in 1913 he was again chosen for this office, and, be- ing re-elected to succeed himself in 1915, is still filling the position. He has proven an excellent executive for this live and growing community, progressive, enterprising, public-spirited and very popular with all classes. Of his administration it may be said that it has been characterized by a businesslike handling of the city's affairs and the installing of many new and much-needed improve- ments. Gastonia is noted for having the best sidewalks and pavements of any town of its size in the South, and during Mayor Armstrong's ad- ministration twenty-two miles of sidewalk have been laid and about eighty blocks of the best as- phalt street paving. The municipality owns the water works and the electric light plant. Mayor Armstrong is a Knight Templar Mason and a Shriner.
Mrs. Armstrong before her marriage was Miss Dorcas Jenkins. To her union with Mayor Arm- strong there have been born six children: Clyde C., Mrs. Clara Wetzel, Ralph, Raleigh, Ethelda and Mildred.
JAMES WILLIAM Cox has been one of the men primarily responsible for the development of Elm City as a business center of more than local im- portance. He is active head of a prosperous whole- sale grocery firm and has directly stimulated a number of other business activities and concerns in the same town.
Mr. Cox was born in Lenoir County, North Caro- lina, December 29, 1868, a son of James Gabriel and Virginia O. (Pollock) Cox. His father is now a retired capitalist. The son, after completing his education in the public schools of Kinston, was employed for five years in a wholesale grocery establishment in that city and there laid the foun- dation of the experience which he has successfully applied to a business of his own.
Coming to Elm City in 1899 Mr. Cox established
and organized the Toisnot Wholesale Grocery Com- pany. He has since been secretary and general manager of the firm, which has extended its busi- ness relations to a territory many miles in radius around Elm City. He is also president of Braswell, Dawes & Company, and is a director in the Toisnot Banking Company.
Mr. Cox has also been a man of affairs in the community, served six years as alderman of Elm City, was for four years a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Wilson County and is secretary of the graded school board at Elm City. He is treasurer of the Missionary Baptist Church and is teacher of the Baraca Class.
On April 29, 1896, he married Miss Alice Norris, of Wilson County, North Carolina, daughter of Jesse and Lanie (Braswell) Norris. Her parents were natives of North Carolina and her father was an active farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Cox have two children, James William, Jr., associated with his father in the grocery business, and Lula Norris.
DARLEY HIDEN RAMSEY. It is only a com- paratively few years ago that a man of university training was restricted to not more than half a dozen professions or vocations in which his liberal education could be utilized so as to justify the time and expense required to obtain it. The op- portunities for college trained men have been immensly broadened and enlarged within even the last five years, and many departments of public service now require men of highly specialized minds such as are produced by the universities and technical institutions.
An excellent example of the university man in practical affairs is the case of Darley Hiden Ram- sey of Asheville, who since 1915, has been com- missioner of public safety of the city and during the period of the war has been chairman of the Buncombe County Fuel Administration, chairman of the War Savings Committee of Buncombe County, and enjoys a number of responsibilities and honors that give special distinction to this young man of only twenty-seven years.
He was born at Elba, Virginia, September 24, 1891, son of Simeon Clay and Lucy (Pinkard) Ramsey. His father has for many years been in the railway industry as roadmaster. D. Hiden Ramsey graduated from the Asheville High School in 1908, took his A. B. degree from the University of Virginia in 1912, was awarded the Master of Arts degree in 1913, and in 1913-14 was in gradu- ate work in the University of Virginia. From September to December, 1914, he was supply professor in economics. He was Phelps Stokes Fellow in Negro Study 1913-14, and Willian Cabell Rives Fellow in History 1912-13.
Mr. Ramsey is vice president of the North Carolina Municipal Association, president of the Associated Charities of Asheville, member of the Advisory Committee of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, National Municipal League, American Society of Political Science, Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Sigma Rho, Sigma Delta Chi, and Knights of Pythias.
WILLIAM PRESTON FEW has been a factor in the scholarship of North Carolina for over twenty years and since 1910 has been president of Trinity College at Durham and has done much to re-enforce the splendid ideals and the all round efficiency of this, one of North Carolina's foremost insti- tutions of higher learning.
Doctor Few was born in Greenville County, South
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Carolina, December 29, 1867, and has a very inter- esting ancestry. All the members of the family are descended from Richard Few, of Quaker stock, who came to America with the Pennsylvania colonists in 1681, settling in what is now Chester County. One of his grandsons was William Few, who moved from Pennsylvania to Baltimore County, Maryland, where he married Mary Wheeler a de- vout Catholic, and a descendant of one of the early settlers of that section. In 1758 the family came to North Carolina, where William Few bought a tract of land on both sides of the river Eno near Hillsboro. William's second son, James, was leader of the North Carolina Regulators, fought in the Battle of Alamance, was captured, and ex- ecuted without trial. After his death the Few family removed to Richmond County, Georgia. James left a widow and two children, William and Sally. Sally married a Methodist minister. Wil- liam came to South Carolina and settled in Green- ville. His son William was a soldier in the War of 1812. Benjamin Few, the youngest son of the War of 1812 soldier, was the father of Dr. Wil- liam Prestou Few, and served as an assistant sur- geon in the Confederate army. He married Rachel Kendrick.
William Preston Few did his preparatory work in Greer's High School at Greer, South Caro- lina, and from that entered Wofford College at Spartanburg, where he was graduated A. B. in 1889. His graduate work was done in Harvard University, from which he received the Master of Arts degree in 1893 and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1896. Doctor Few also has the honorary degree Doctor of Laws conferred by Wofford Col- lege in 1911, Southwestern University in 1912, and Allegheny College in 1915. Following his gradua- tion at Wofford College he taught during the year 1889-90 in St. John's Academy at Darlington, South Carolina, and in 1890-91 was instructor of Latin and English in Wofford College Fitting School, and in 1891-92 instructor in English at Wofford College.
In 1896 on returning from Harvard University Doctor Few became professor of English in Trinity College. In 1902 he was given the additional re- sponsibilities of dean, and in 1910 became presi- dent of the college. Doctor Few is a member of the Committee of Board of Overseers to visit the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University and is a trustee of the Jeanes Founda- tion. Since 1909 he has been a joint editor of the South Atlantic Quarterly and is a frequent writer and speaker on educational and social questions. He is an independent democrat, a member of the Harvard Club of New York, of the Commonwealth and Country clubs of Durham, and a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity. Doctor Few is a proni- inent layman of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He was delegate to the General Conference in 1914 and in 1918, has been a member of the Educational Commission since 1898, and since 1914 a member of the General Sunday School Board.
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