USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 63
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On October 1, 1909, returning to Nashville, he re-entered the service of the Western Union as an operator. A month later, on November 1st, he was made district commercial agent with head- quarters at Nashville. On May 1, 1910, he was promoted to district manager of Kentucky with headquarters at Louisville. March 19, 1915, he became manager at Memphis, Tennessee, and on July 1, 1916, was appointed to his present posi-
P Ar. Hermegay
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tion as district superintendent for the district embracing North and South Carolina with head- quarters at Charlotte.
From this record it is easy to understand that Mr. Carroll possesses executive ability, energy and intelligence of high order, since those are the queities which insure promotion with the great telegraph company. He holds a position that requires tact, courtesy, and complete concentra- tion of faculties. Now, during war time, the business of the telegraph company is strictly un- der control of the Government, and Government business is given preference over everything else no matter how important it may be.
Mr. Carroll married Miss Mary Ferguson. She was born and reared in Southeastern Missouri. They have a son, Harwell Carroll.
LEMUEL WEYHER KORNEGAY, M. D. To one of the great writers of the day is attributed the remark that when posterity comes to study the present age it will find that its noblest figure is the doctor. His choice of profession proclaims un- selfishness, and its proper study compels the re- linquishment of many of the recreations and occu- pations attractive to ordinary young manhood, while its practice wears on brain, body and spirit, far beyond the conception of those who are the recipients of this acquired skill and scientific knowledge. Eastern North Carolina has contrib- uted her share of conscientious, well trained medi- cal men, but there are few who, while yet young men, have advanced so far and have demonstrated such surgical skill as has Dr. Lemuel Weyher Kor- negay, who is founder and president of the Rocky Mount Sanitarium, Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Doctor Kornegay was born October 30, 1881, in Wayne County, North Carolina. His parents are Robert and Henrietta (Parrott) Kornegay. His father is a farmer in Wayne County and carries on a general mercantile business at Mount Olive.
Lemuel W. Kornegay attended the public schools and after completing the high school course at Oak Ridge, attended Davidson College and then entered the medical department of the North Caro- lina Medical College of Charlotte, North Carolina. For two years afterward he served as interne in the St. Francis Hospital, at Jersey City, New Jersey, and then located as a general practitioner at Mount Olive, North Carolina, making a specialty of surgical cases and engaging in special hos- pital work in the Goldsboro Hospital. In 1911 Doctor Kornegay opened a private hospital at Mount Olive, and in 1913 he opened the Rocky Mount Sanitarium and Hospital, of which he is president and devotes himself exclusively to sur- gical cases in the hospital.
Few North Carolina surgeons have had better or more scientific training, and to name his in- structors is to mention the most eminent men of the profession that have added luster to medicine and surgery within the last decade or more in the United States. Doctor Kornegay took post gradu- ate work in the New York Polyclinic Hospital and clinic work in the New York Post Graduate College, and subsequently attended clinics at Johns Hop- kins University, Baltimore, Maryland, the clinic of the late Doctor Murphy, one of Chicago's most distinguished men of scientific attainments, and the noted Mayo Brothers at Rochester, Minnesota. These unusual advantages have served to bring to perfection the knowledge and skill that Doctor Kornegay exercises as diagnostician and surgeon.
Doctor Kornegay was married June 7, 1913, to
Miss Leoninie Dumais, who was born at Adams, Massachusetts. She is of Freuch parentage, her parents having been born in Alsace Province. She is a lady of many social graces and numerous accomplishments. After completing the regular course of study in the high school, residing then in New York City, she entered the Boston Conserva- tory of Music and subsequently studied the art in both France and Germany. Doctor and Mrs. Kornegay have one son, Robert Dumais Kornegay, who was born June 30, 1914.
Doctor Kornegay is identified with various scien- tific bodies and is a highly valued member of the Nash County, the Seaboard, the Fourth Dis- trict and the North Carolina State Medical socie- ties. It has been said of him that he not only brings to his patients the fine skill that will re- lieve their disabilities, but an atmosphere that en- courages and a quiet, strengthening influence that assures healing.
MARCUS WILEY BROWN was admitted to the North Carolina bar twenty years ago, and since then has made a commendable record of achieve- ment in the general work of his profession and also in the successful handling of various adminis- trative and executive public offices. He is one of the recognized leaders of the Asheville bar.
Mr. Brown was born in Leicester, Buncombe County, North Carolina, September 21, 1876, a son of Thomas Caney and Margaret Lucinda (Hawkins) Brown. His father for a number of years was a merchant and served as chairman of the Board of County Commissioners of Buncombe County. A member of a substantial and honored family, Marcus Wiley Brown grew up in a good home, was educated both in public and private schools, and took his literary education and law training both in the University of Tennessee and the University of North Carolina. He was ad- mitted to the bar in September, 1897, when he had just turned twenty-one, and since then has been busied with an accumulating general practice. In addition to his private clientage he has filled the office of county attorney, was police judge for a time, and for two terms was solicitor of the Nineteenth Judicial District. Mr. Brown is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias, the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and a member of the Kappa Alpha College Fraternity. He is one of the governors of the Asheville Club and is a steward of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Asheville. June 20, 1906, Mr. Brown married Leonora Eugenia Johnston, daughter of Robert B. and Leonora V. (Pulliam) Johnston, a well-known family of Asheville, where her father has long been prominent in business and financial circles. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have four children: Leonora Eugenia, Sarah Eleanor, Marcus Wiley, Jr., and Margaret Lucinda.
WILLIAM HENRY MCKEE, M. D. Distinguished in that long and honorable roll of North Carolina's medical men was William Henry McKee, the last- ing benefit of whose services was rendered during the middle of the last century.
He was born at Raleigh September 7, 1814, and died April 24, 1875, at the age of sixty-one. His parents were James McKee of Orange County, North Carolina, and Priscilla Macon, of Frank- lin County, a niece of Hon. Nathaniel Macon.
In 1839 Doctor McKee received his M. D. de-
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gree from the University of Pennsylvania, and spent two years as an interne in Blockley Hos- pital. Prior to taking up the active practice of medicine he was a druggist for several years. For more than a quarter of a century he practiced actively at Raleigh, and in that time there came to him a large share of professional and civic honors.
He was one of the founders of the State Medical Society in 1849 and was its secretary during its first three years. In 1857 he was elected president of the society and in 1859 was elected one of the first State Medical Examining Board, North Caro- lina being the first state in the Union to estab- lish such a board. Doctor McKee was for many years a member of the board of directors, was also president and attending physician to the State School for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind. He also served a long time as one of the Board of Com- missioners of Raleigh, a position afterwards called alderman. He was at one time grand master of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows in North Caro- lina.
March 8, 1842, Doctor McKee married Susan E. Battle, a member of the prominent family of that name in North Carolina. The children of that marriage were: James, who married Mildred Sasser; Laura, who married W. B. Gulick; Lewis; and William. On November 20, 1854, Doctor Mc- Kee married Eliza O. Nixon. The only child of that marriage was Eliza N., who is the wife of Dr. Kemp P. Battle, Jr., of Raleigh.
JAMES McKEE, M. D. For more than three- quarters of a century the name McKee has been prominently identified with the medical profession of North Carolina. One of the name to gain dis- tinction was the late Dr. James McKee, who was the son of an earlier leader in medicine and pub- lic affairs of North Carolina, Dr. William Henry McKee and his wife, Susan E. Battle. Reference to the life and work of Dr. William H. McKee will be found on other pages.
Born at Raleigh January 5, 1845, Dr. James Mc- Kee spent more than forty years in the active work of his profession, and died January 10, 1912. He received his early training in the Lovejoy Academy at Raleigh, and then entered the State University, whose halls he left at the age of seven- teen to take up arms for the Confederacy. After the war he did not resume his studies at the uni- versity, but forty years later was granted a diploma by that institution. Entering the army, he spent four years and gave the utmost loyalty of his nature and his strength to the Confederate cause. He was in active service four years, and was ad- vanced from private to lieutenant.
After the war Doctor McKee entered the Belle- vue Hospital Medical College at New York, where he was granted his M. D. degree in 1869. From that time forward he practiced medicine in Raleigh, and besides the esteem in which he was held by his patients and host of friends, he had more than an ordinary share of professional honors.
For several years he served as secretary and was also president of the State Medical Society. For many years he was professor of obstetrics in the Leonard Medical School in Shaw University for the Colored in Raleigh, which he served as its first professor and for many years as its dean. His great public service, however, was rendered to the insane asylum at Raleigh. He was one of its di- rectors from 1896 until 1901, when he was elected superintendent, and in that capacity he wisely ad-
ministered the affairs of one of the state's most important public institutions until his death.
Doctor McKee was one of the founders and for many years president of the Capital Club of Raleigh. Fraternally he was an Odd Fellow. On September 30, 1873, at Raleigh he married Mildred Sasser, daughter of John W. and Lucinda (Hay- wood) Sasser. Their children were William Henry; John Sasser, who married Elizabeth Purnell; James B., who married Margaret McPheeters; Edwin Borden; Lewis Middleton, who married Ada Strayhorn; and Philip.
1
JAMES McKEE. It can hardly be said that James McKee has neglected any opportunity since he started out to make a name in the world. His active career began as soon as he had completed his education in the Raleigh Male Academy. He was born at Raleigh December 10, 1878, a son of James and Mildred (Sasser) McKee. His father was long a well known physician at Raleigh.
On leaving school James McKee found employ- ment in the executive offices of the Southern Rail- way under Col. A. B. Andrews. He remained there four years. He left the railroad to enter the life insurance business, and made a record as an ag- gressive business getter during the next six years. He was then for four years manager of the new business department of the Carolina Power and Light Company, and in 1914 he and Mr. James McKinnon established the Mckinnon and McKee Real Estate and Insurance Company. This com- pany are successors to the Raleigh Insurance and Real Estate Company and they handle a large volume of real estate transactions in and outside of Raleigh and also represent a number of the standard insurance lines. Mr. McKee is secretary and treasurer of the company.
"He is a member of the Capital and Country clubs, of the Elks' Lodge and the Milburnie Fish- ing Club. He was married November 4,"1914, to Miss Margaret McPheeters, of Raleigh, daughter of Alexander M. McPheeters, a prominent citizen of Raleigh. They have one son, James, Jr., born March 31, 1916.
RICHARD ALVAH SENTELLE. The position of Richard Alvah Sentelle in Haywood County is measured neither by large accumulations of ma- terial property nor by conspicuous honors of poli- tics. His work, quietly and efficiently performed through a period of half a century, has consisted in the training of minds and the turning of many to righteousness. It has been well said that his chief fortune is that invested in the lives and characters of a host of men and women in Haywood and other counties, in the form of teaching and inspiration, the influence and results of which will go on forever.
Mr. Sentelle was born in "Henderson County, North Carolina, December 23, 1846. Thus his early youth and boyhood had to pass through the ordeals and obstacles of war times. Even before the war it was possible to attend school only a few months each year. During the four years of strife the schools of the county were closed al- together.
He arrived in Haywood County soon after the war and during the spring of 1866 was working as a hand on the farm of W. W. Lenoir in East Fork Township. In the fall of the same year he en- tered school under Dr. J. M. Mease, and during the winter of 1867 was under the instruction of Rev. Dr. D. B. Nelson. It was during that winter
R. A. Sentelle,
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that the foundation of his aims and ambitions was laid.
Mr. Sentelle taught his first school in the fall of 1867. This was on the west fork of Pigeou, and since then for every year except one he has been connected with school work. In 1871 he taught a public school for the first time at the Thickety schoolhouse. Capt. W. J. Wilson, under whom he had studied and recited, was county examiner at the time and granted him his first teacher's certificate. Mr. Sentelle early realized that 110 amount of training could be too much for a man whose career was to be a teacher of use. Thus in 1875 he was again in school at Waynesville under Dan M. Jones, considered one of the best teachers in Haywood County. For two years he alternated between teaching and studying, and then left off teaching altogether and spent an entire year de- voted to his books. Almost every year since then he has attended summer normals and has accepted every opportunity to equip himself the better for his duties.
At different times Mr. Sentelle was principal of schools at Bethel, Waynesville, Clyde, Rock Springs and at Bellevue in Cherokee County, and has taught many free schools in different points of the county.
It was his wide experience and his knowledge of local school conditions that has enabled him to render such splendid service in the office of county superintendent. He was first elected to that posi- tion in 1881, and remained in office twelve years. He was then out of office for eight years, but in 1901 was again elected and has had the super- vision of the public school work in Haywood County continuously since.
For many years Mr. Sentelle has been an active minister of the Baptist Church and has performed a great deal of preaching and pastoral work. For ten years he was secretary of the Western North Carolina Baptist Convention, and for several years was moderator of the Haywood County Baptist Association. As he looks back over his busy life it must be a matter of pride and satisfaction to see the several churches and many schoolhouses that stand as monuments to his efforts and influence, and also the many leading citizens of the county who at different times have been pupils in his school.
In 1867 Mr. Santelle married Addie Blaylock. They have reared and trained a most worthy family of children, namely: Lizzie, wife of Zimri Rogers, of Detroit, Michigan; Lavonia, wife of W. E. Sheppard, of Mooresville, North Carolina; Nannie, who married C. H. Chamblee, of Wake- field; Iola, wife of John McElroy; John E., Horace N., Boone, Ennis, who is superintendent of graded schools at Lamberton; and Jennie May.
HON. A. G. MANGUM. Among the members of the Gaston County bar none have attained more honorable or respected position than Hon. A. G. Mangum, of Gastonia, an ex-member of the Leg- islature and a citizen of public spirit and gen- eral worth. Mr. Mangum is generally acknowl- edged to possess a ready and sound judgment in broad and intricate matters of civil jurisprudence and his knowledge of the law is extensive in its comprehensiveness and accuracy, while in its ap- plication he is earnest, concise, logical and force- ful, fairly earning his high standing in the ranks of his calling.
Mr. Mangum was born in 1868, in Mangum Township, Orange County, North Carolina, a son of Addison and Nannie Taylor (Speed) Mangum,
and a member of an old aud ditsinguished family of the Old North State whose members were for several generations large planters, and, before the war between the states, extensive slavehold- ers. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Mangum was Ellison G. Mangum, who was a first cousin of Wilie P. Mangum, the distinguished North Carolina statesman of the early part of the nine- teenth century, who had a long and eminent ca- reer as a United States senator and who at one time was president of the Senate. Addison Man- gum, who fought as a soldier in the ranks of the gray during the last two years of the Civil war, passed his entire life in Orange County, and died in 1908, at nearly eighty-two years of age, at the old family home "The Cedars." This home is not far from old "Walnut Hall," which was the home and plantation of Senator Wilie P. Mangum in Orange County. One of the brothers of Addison Mangum, Dr. A. W. Mangum, was in his day professor of English and moral philoso- phy in the University of North Carolina, and the son of the latter, Dr. Charles Staples Mangum, is a prominent physician and holds the chair of anatomy in the University of North Carolina.
On Mr. Mangum's mother's side the family history is very interesting. The Speeds came from England in early colonial days, one of them set- tling in Virginia, and from him Mrs. Mangum was descended. Members of this family were prominent in colonial, Revolutionary and subse- quent American history. William Speed, one of the members of this family, who lived at Spring- field, Illinois, was a merchant at the time Abra- ham Lincoln went to that city as an unknown young lawyer to gain a start in his profession. Looking over the town for an office, because of having no money he was unsuccessful in his search until he met Mr. Speed, who had a vacant office in his store building and who told young Lincoln to go ahead and occupy it and not to worry about the rent until he got ready to pay it. Mr. Lin- coln, when he became president, offered Mr. Speed a lucrative political appointment, which, on ac- count of his business affairs, the latter did not accept, whereupon Mr. Lincoln appointed Mr. Speed's brother, of Louisville, Kentucky, to the office of attorney-general. Mrs. Mangum was born at Buffalo Springs, Virginia, and died at the home place in Orange County, North Car- olina.
A. G. Mangum received his early education at Horner's Military School at Oxford, North Car- olina, following which he attended the State Uni- versity, and was duly graduated therefrom. He read law under the capable preceptorship of Judge Avery, of Durham, North Carolina, and in 1893 was liceused to practice. In 1894 he changed his residence to Gaston County, locating at Gas- tonia, the county seat, which has since been his home. He is now a prominent and successful law- yer of large practice, representing legally a number of the large and important industrial in- terests which are located at Gastonia and in Gas- ton County. At the present time he is serving in the capacity of county attorney, and at various times has held other positions of trust, having been a member of the Legislature in 1907-08. As a citizen he has shown a desire to assist his community in its growth and welfare in every possible way, and is always found with other pub- lie-spirited men in the promotion of beneficial enterprises. He is now a member of the board of trustees of the University of North Carolina, and
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has always been a close and generous friend of the cause of education.
Mr. Mangum was united in marriage with Miss Annie Walton, of Morganton, North Carolina, and they have two children, Francis and Annie Speed.
JOHN EDWARD SWAIN, since January, 1915, solicitor of the Nineteenth Judicial District, was admitted to the North Carolina bar in the fall of 1905 and for the past twelve years has maintained a successful position in the profession at Ashe- ville, where he is member of the firm Jones, Wells & Swain, with offices in the Legal Building.
Mr. Swain was born at the village or postoffice known as Democrat in Buncombe County, North Carolina, September 26, 1876, a son of Rev. John L. and Harriett E. (Carter) Swain. His father gained honorable distinction by his services as captain of Company K in the Seventeentlı Regi- ment of North Carolina Infantry during the war between the states. Later for many years he served as a minister of the Methodist Protestant Church. John Edward Swain besides the advan- tages of an education in the public schools attended Weaverville College and in 1902 graduated from the University of North Carolina. After that he taught school and studied law in the summer sessions of the university until he was admitted to practice in 1905. During the fall of that year he continued teaching school, but in January, 1906, came to Asheville and practiced as a mem- ber of the firm' Wells & Swain in partnership with R. M. Wells until January 15, 1917. At that date the firm was reorganized as Jones, Wells & Swain.
Mr. Swain has been a leader in the democratic party in Western North Carolina and he was chairman of the County Executive Committee from 1910 to 1914, and since January, 1915, has made a splendid record by his capable and fearless administration of the office of solicitor for the Nineteenth Judicial District. In 1912 Mr. Swain was elected a trustee of the University of North Carolina. He is also a director of the State Colored School at Greensboro, and is a member of the County and State Bar associations. Mr. Swain is one of the prominent laymen of the Methodist Protestant Church, has sat as a mem- ber of the General Conference and is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Asheville church of this denomination.
August 14, 1913, Mr. Swain married Mozelle B. Stringfield, a native of Wake County, North Caro- lina, and a daughter of Rev. O. L. Stringfield, a widely known Baptist minister in this state. Mr. and Mrs. Swain have two children, John Edward, Jr., and Dorothy Mozelle.
CARY KENNEDY DURFEY, though only thirty-five years of age, has gone far in business accomplish- ment, and is one of the leading real estate and insurance men of North Carolina.
Born at Wilmington, North Carolina, December 28, 1882, he is a son of William Edwin and Fannie Ida (Carroll) Durfey. His father was a mechanic and the son grew up in a home of modest comfort, with only such advantages as the public schools pro- vided in the way of education.
His real entrance into life of practical expe- rience was when he came to Raleigh and accepted a position as clerk in a grocery store and after- wards accepted a position as bookkeeper with Mrs. Florence P. Tucker. He arose from this position to a trusted assistant, whose honesty, ability and
energy was so marked as to cause her to name hin as one of her two executors and trustees of her estate at her death. A few months after her death the other trustee died leaving Mr. Durfey in complete charge. In the eight years which have since passed he has ably justified the confidence reposed in him, having handled the estate with such business foresight as to greatly enhance its value each year.
He is now president of the Capital Insurance & Realty Co., president of the Highlands Farms Co., secretary and treasurer of the Central Building Co., a director of the Raleigh Banking & Trust Company, a director of the Raleigh Building & Loan Association, and a director of the Atlantic Fire Insurance Co.
Mr. Durfey finds time also for social and civic interests. He is treasurer of the Raleigh Young Men's Christian Association, a member of the Rotary Club and is a Mason and belongs to the Country Club, and is also a director of the Cham- ber of Commerce.
On April 22, 1914, he married Miss Margaret Whitmel Allen of Raleigh, North Carolina. They have two children: Frances Alston and Florence Tucker. Mr. Durfey is also a member of the Board of Deacons of the First Presbyterian Church.
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