USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 64
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Thomas Whitmel Allen, father of Mrs. Durfey, was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, April 5, 1849, a son of Christopher Blake and Mariam Bradford Alston Allen. The Allen family for several generations were railroad men, and Thomas W. Allen, who died October 18, 1901, was in active service as a railroad man all his career. His widow, Elizabeth Alston, is now living in Raleigh. They were the parents of four children: B. Lacy, of Raleigh; Jomes O., of Raleigh; Thomas W., Jr., of Raleigh; and Margaret W., now Mrs. Cary K. Durfey. Mrs. Durfey was educated at St. Mary's and Southern Conservatory of Music at Durham. The Alstons in North Carolina were of colonial ancestors who founded homes in the wilds of America, the wisdom and genius of whose sons contributed to the forming and establishing of this great republic. They have also furnished men for Colonial Congress and congressmen of today.
DONNELL GILLIAM. Through several generations the name Gilliam has been prominent in the legal profession and in the public life of North Carolina. One of the ablest of these lawyers and citizens was Donnell Gilliam, who died at Tarboro May 6, 1908.
He was a son of Judge Henry A. Gilliam and was born at Plymouth, North Carolina, October 31, 1861. His father, Judge Gilliam, was for many years distinguished as a lawyer and also served as judge of the Superior Court of the Second Dis- trict. Judge Gilliam at the close of his term as judge located at Tarboro in December, 1882, and a few weeks later Donnell Gilliam joined him from Elizabeth City, where he had shortly before begun the practice of law. At Tarboro he entered a partnership with his father and this firm enjoyed a distinctive position in the profession until the death of the senior member in 1890. Soon after that Donnell Gilliam joined practice with his brother Henry A. Gilliam.
Henry A. Gilliam, it should be noted, was born in Edenton County, North Carolina, September 7, 1870, a son of Henry Augustus and Hannah (Cle- ments) Gilliam. He was educated in Horner's Military School, the Tarboro Male Academy, the University of North Carolina, and finished his law
yours truly, Donnell Elliane
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course in the University in 1892 He became prominent as a leader in democratic politics and represented Edgecombe County in the Legislature in 1899, and was state senator in 1913 and 1915.
Donnell Gilliam was also prominent in public affairs, though the esteem in which he was held was not due to official honors but rather to per- sonal character. At the time of his death the editor of a local newspaper who had known him for a quarter of a century told the story of his life perhaps more effectively and with a greater approximation to justice than anyone else could. From the sketch written by this editor the fol- lowing extracts are made. The first refers to Mr. Gilliam soon after he came to Tarboro.
"Two unrelated events soon followed to bring Don Gilliam into favorable notice and esteem. The State Medical Society met here in the spring of 1883 and the address of welcome was made by him. It was a great effort. The writer was present and sees now a handsome young athlete proffering a welcome in diction so choice, in seul- tences so vividly depicting the altruism of the medical profession that young and old, doctors and laymen, were moved to hearty applause. His repu- tation as a speaker was established.
"Soon after this came his first big case, Farrar vs. Weathersbee, on exceptions to the findings of the referee. Older lawyers represented the plain- tiff, and young Gilliam the defendant. In his argu- ment, which the judge and all who heard him pronounced masterly, he displayed an acquaintance with the law, a research and a knowledge which convinced all that he could hold his own with the best. Time proved him to be both a foremost lawyer and pleader and from that time till now he enjoyed a lucrative practice.
"Mr. Gilliam had developed the quality of thor- oughness to a rare degree. In his practice when a subject of law came up he studied it thoroughly and briefed it, thus acquiring such a full and accurate knowledge of the law in all its ramifica- tions that it was almost impossible to take him unawares. No speaker have we ever heard was happier in his choice of words. He always used the best word to convey his idea. He was never prolix and never in his speeches resorted to slang. His English, whether addressing the jury on the evidence, or the court on law, was of the best. He probably never made a speech that was not a classic. Learned as he was, he was equally as re- sourceful, as members of the bar who came in touch with him appreciated. To laymen this quality was exemplified in the redeeming of the county from negro rule in 1892 and 1898. Those who were with him in those fights will bear ample testimony of his courage, judgment and resourcefulness.
"For many years he was the most popular man in the county. Not since the war has there been, we believe, a man so popular or who had so many friends. In 1884 he was an elector and the youngest in the electoral college. The following year he was elected solicitor of the Inferior Court of this county and served nearly ten years with an ability and a success that made this tribunal more dreaded by the law breaker than the Superior Court. He also served two terms as mayor and three as town commissioner. To his efforts was due the installation of the water system.
"He served two terms as state senator and could have been such again and again had he sig- nified the slightest wish. In 1896 he at the demand of his party headed the county ticket for senator, but with the rest of his colleagues he went down
in defeat by the combined republicans and popu- lists. Probably the only political office he ever sought was that of congressman in 1900, when he was defeated for the nomination by Claude Kit- chin, the present congressman. The Edgecombe delegation stood by him to a man even to the last ballot. He was widely known throughout the state and is justly regarded as one of the ablest men ever born in the state."
November 10, 1886, he married Miss Mamie Rawls, oldest daughter of E. W. Rawls. Their four children were: Hannah Clements, named for her grandmother; Donnell, a successful member of the Tarboro bar; Louis and Mary Rawls.
DONNELL GILLIAM, a prominent member of the Tarboro bar, was born at Tarboro March 12, 1889, a son of Donnell and Mamie (Rawls) Gilliam. His father's sketch appears elsewhere in this pub- lication.
Mr. Gilliam was educated in the high school, attended the University of North Carolina from 1905 to 1910, graduating A. B., and took his law degree in February, 1910. In September, 1911, he moved from Tarboro to Greenville, where he was in practice for several years, but in March, 1916, returned to Tarboro and handles a large general practice. In June, 1916, he was appointed attorney for Tarboro. At the age of twenty-one he was chairman of the Democratic Executive Com- mittee in Edgecombe County, and is now secretary of the County Board of Electors. He is a mem- ber of the North Carolina Bar Association, the Tar Heel Club, the Tarboro Golf Club, is a Mason and a Knight of Pythias. He is also a member of the Episcopal Church. March 25, 1916, he married Miss Alice Farley, of Aurora, Nebraska.
EUGENE WHITMEL SMITH is proprietor of a farm and country seat that would easily furnish material for almost a book, not only descriptive of its charms and productive enterprise but also of its wealth of associations with North Carolina history and especially the annals of the Smitlı family. This farm, known as Lebanon, is in Duke Township, five miles southwest of Dunn on the Raleigh and Fayetteville Road and on Rural Route No. 4 out of Dunn.
The present owner and proprietor belongs to one of the old and noted families of the Cape Fear and Little River sections of North Carolina, and one that has kinship with numerous other historic families in the annals of the state. This branch of the Smiths was founded in North Car- olina by E. W. Smith's great-grandfather, John Smith, whose ancestors came from Scotland and first settled in Virginia. A few years before the beginning of the Revolutionary war John Smith came to North Carolina and located on a tract of land near the junction of the Little River and the Cape Fear River. This land was then in Cumberland County, but is now in the extreme southeastern part of Harnett County. He was one of the large landed proprietors of his time. Most of that land has been continuously lived on by his descendants and is still owned by them. The old house built by John Smith for his home is still standing. That it was the scene of more than one passage at arms is shown by the numerous holes in the building caused by bullets and cannon balls. It is in fact one of the oldest structures of habitation found in the state. All the region around it is known as Smithville and is especially rich in history.
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On what was originally Smith lands is Chicora Battlefield, where the last battle of the war be- tween the states prior to the surrender at Ben- tonville was fought. Adjoining is old Averasboro, now an extinct village, but which in the early his- tory of North Carolina was of such importance that it came very near being selected as the cap- ital of the state. Thus all this ground is hal- lowed with history and with associations that are prized by many families. John Smith was a man of prominence in his day, noted for his learning, his dignity, his substantial wealth, and his lead- ership in public and political affairs. He was at one time a member of the North Carolina House of Commons.
A son of this pioneer was Farquhard Smith, who was born at Smithville. One of his sons is still living, Dr. Farquhard Smith of Dunn, a grand- son of John Smith and uncle of the Eugene W. Smith above named. Doctor Smith was born in 1839 and was one of seven brothers who served all through the war in the Confederate Army. Following the war he studied medicine in the Med- ical College of South Carolina at Charleston, graduated in 1869, practiced his profession in Johnston County for six or eight years, and then removed to Harnett County, where for something over thirty years he carried his patience, skill, learn- ing and ability to a large round of people who counted him a precious friend as well as a most trusted medical adviser. He is now living re- tired, makes his home among his children and is a gentleman of most interesting personality, with a mind replete with interesting and historical reminescences of both the old and the new South. Doctor Smith's mother was Sallie (Slocomb) Smith. Her family was a most interesting one. Her grandmother was the famous Polly Slocomb of Bladen County, wife of Ezekiel Slocomb, a Revolutionary soldier. Polly Slocomb herself per- formed acts of heroism during that war which made her name familiar to all who have followed the fortunes of this state in the strug- gle for independence.
The father of Eugene W. Smith was Henry Elliott Smith. He was born at Smithville, and like his brothers served through the war in the Confederate Army in a cavalry regiment. With the close of the war he went to Fayetteville, Cumberland County, and there spent the rest of his life, and he died in 1903. He married Miss Maria Louise Cross, of Louisiana, both of whose parents were natives of France. She was a stu- dent during the later years of the war at Burwell School at Charlotte, North Carolina. While a student there she first met the dashing young cavalryman whom she afterwards married. She died in 1905.
Eugene Whitmel Smith, son of Henry E. Smith, was born at Fayetteville in 1875. He was reared and educated in his native city and was a student in the graded military school there which before the war was known as the Donaldson Military Academy. While a member of the Fayette Mili- tary Company he won the first prize for being the best drilled man in his company. For some years Mr. Smith was engaged in the turpentine business in Alabama and other parts of the South, but in 1909 returned to Smithville in Har- nett County and has busied himself with the de- velopment and cultivation of his fine farm, Leb- anon, comprising something over 600 acres. The place is the original home of his grandfather, and is two miles from the first home of the John
Smith above mentioned. As a home it leaves noth- ing to be desired in the way of attractiveness, environment and comforts, and the farm sur- rounding it combines all those elements which have made this one of the rich agricultural sections of the state. Mr. Smith carries on general farming operations, and is one of the leading producers of cotton and corn in Harnett County. Like his fore- fathers, he measures up to all the tests applied to good citizenship, is enterprising and public- spirited, and while without political ambition is always willing to help solve some problem that concerns the welfare of his immediate commu- nity.
Mr. Smith married Miss Mary Eleanor Robin- son, of Clinton, Sampson County. They have four children, Mary Robinson, Eugene Whitmel, Jr., Annabelle and Sidney Douglas.
HOMER LEGRAND LYON in his personal career as a lawyer and public official has added further honors to a name which has long enjoyed dis- tinction in the legal profession and public life of the state.
He was born in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, March 1, 1879. His father is Judge Chatham Cal- houn Lyon, a prominent lawyer and former judge of the Ninth Judicial District. The mother is Maggie (Richardson) Lyon.
Homer L. Lyon determined early in his career to take up the law, and his choice of a profession has been well justified by the results since he began practice over fifteen years ago. He was educated in the Davis Military School, spent two years in the literary department of the University of North Carolina, and then finished in the law department. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1900, and on January of the follow- ing year began his practice at Whiteville. His has been a general practice, and he has handled many important cases. In 1913 Governor Locke Craig appointed him to the office of solicitor of the Eighth Judicial District, and in 1914 he was elected for the regular term, which expires in 1918.
Mr. Lyon is a member of the State Executive Committee of the democratic party in North Caro- lina, and in 1904 he was a delegate to the National Convention at St. Louis. He is a past master of his Masonic Lodge, is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and belongs to the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Whiteville.
Mr. Lyon was married October 26, 1904, to Miss Kate Mallory Burkhead of Whiteville. Born to their union are three children: Catherine Grace, Homer LeGrand, Jr., and Margaret Dixie.
OBEDIAH THOMAS CARVER has been active in mer- cantile and manufacturing business in North Car- olina for many years, and is now handling many of the details of the Duke interests at Durham.
He was born near Roxboro in Person County, North Carolina, January 30, 1866, a son of Thomas Jefferson and Eliza Gordon (Lawson) Carver. His father was a farmer. Obediah Carver was educated in private schools and in 1884 at the age of eighteen came to Durham and found his first employment as clerk in a wholesale and retail grocery house. In 1889 he became paymaster dur- ing the construction of the Norfolk and Western Railway. In 1890 upon the completion of that line of road he engaged in the warehouse business for four years and from 1902 to 1906 was in the
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tobacco warehouse business. In May, 1906, he be- came private secretary to B. L. Duke, and is still Mr. Duke's confidential man. In July, 1908, the organization of Duke Land and Improvement Com- pany was consummated at which time he was made assistant secretary and manager of the company.
Mr. Carver is a member of the Masonic Order and the Mystic Shrine, is a past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, has affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the Durham Rotary Club. February 12, 1890, he married Nannie E. Bradsher. They have one son, Gordon Malone Carver, who was educated in Trin- ity College, graduating in 1915, and is now second lieutenant in the quartermaster's department of the United States Army.
ANGUS DHU MACLEAN. Both through his pro- fession and through his business and civic rela- tions Mr. MacLean has had a successful career since he came to Washington in 1899. He long since attained a high place in his profession and through his ability and character enjoys the excep- tional confidence and esteem of clients and fellow lawyers.
Mr. MacLean represents the solid old Scotch stock so numerously and prominently represented in North Carolina. He was born at Maxton, in Robeson County, North Carolina, July 12, 1877, a son of John Allen and Mary Virginia (Brown) MacLean. His mother was a sister of Judge Brown of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and a sister-in-law of Chief Justice Shepherd. The father is a merchant and farmer. Angus MacLean was educated in private schools at Maxton and at Laurinburg, North Carolina, and there came under the instruction of the noted Professor Quackenbush. From 1894 to 1898 he was a student in the Uni- versity of North Carolina, and in August, 1898, graduated from the law department. Mr. MacLean had a brief experience in practice at Maxton with G. B. Patterson, until April, 1899, and at that date located at Washington, where he became asso- ciated with John H. Small, congressman from this district. The firm of Small & MacLean has since been increased by the addition of other competent lawyers and is now Small, MacLean, Bragaw & Rodman.
Mr. MacLean handles a general practice, but largely tending to corporation work. He is presi- dent and general counsel of the Washington & Vandemere Railroad, division counsel for the Norfolk Southern, attorney for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, general counsel in North Carolina for The Interstate Cooperage Company and the Roanoke R. R. & Lumber Company, divi- sion counsel for the Roper Lumber Company, gen- eral counsel for Albemarle farms and other large development projects in Eastern North Carolina, in which he has been active attorney for E. R. Mixon & Company, The First National Bank of Washington, Bank of Bellehaven, and many other business enterprises in his section of the state.
He is one of the members in high standing of the North Carolina and American Bar Asso- ciations and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In October, 1900, Mr. MacLean married An- netta Everett, daughter of Capt. Lawrence Everett of Laurinburg, North Carolina. They have five children: Angus D., Jr., Mary Virginia, Martha Lawrence, Annetta Everett and Janie.
Vol. V-16
HENRY CLAY DOCKERY. Standing prominent on the list of the younger members of the legal pro- fession of North Carolina is found the name of Henry Clay Dockery, who has been engaged in practice at Charlotte since 1915 and is adding to the prestige which he secured at Rockingham. He comes of an old and distinguished family of the Old North State, the members of which have been eminent in profession and public life, and bids fair to prove a worthy successor to those who have gone before him.
Mr. Dockery was born at Rockingham, Rich- mond County, North Carolina, and is a son of Hon. Henry C. and Minnie (Everett) Dockery. His grandfather, Hon. Alfred Dockery, was one of the distinguished men of his day in North Carolina and one who had great influence in the political destinies of his state. He was a son of Thomas Dockery, was born in Richmond County, December 11, 1797, and early adopted the vocation of planter, continuing to be engaged as such during the active period of his life. Al- fred Dockery was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons in 1822, and served therein for several years, and in 1836 was elected a mem- ber of the State Senate and acted in that body until 1844. He was a strong whig in politics and as a representative of that party was elected a member of the Twenty-ninth Congress of the United States, beginning his services March 4,
1845, and serving until March 3, 1847. He de- clined renomination. He was, however, elected to the Thirty-second Congress, beginning March 4, 1851, and serving until March 3, 1853. In the following year he was the whig candidate for governor of the state, but met with defeat. He died at his residence in Richmond County De- cember 7, 1875. General Dockery, as he was known in his lifetime, was one of the most useful and public-spirited citizens of his day and one who did a great deal for his state, particularly the western portion thereof. The people of the state cherish his memory with great affection. He was a man of many strong friendships. The people of the western and southern sections of the state particularly felt a warm degree of grat- itude for General Dockery for his successful ef- forts, in 1854, to compel the somewhat reluctant democrats of the eastern and central sections of the state to adopt a more liberal attitude toward internal improvements, without which the western and southern portions of the commonwealth were practically shut in from the world and deprived of the means and advancement which were indis- pensable to their progress and prosperity. He was an unselfish, patriotic man in every respect. He was a member of the convention of 1835 which was called to remodel the old constitution which had been adopted by the Congress at Hali- fax in 1776.
Among the children of Gen. Alfred Dockery was the late Col. Oliver Hart Dockery, the uncle of Henry Clay Dockery. He was born in Rich- mond County, North Carolina, August 12, 1830, graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1848, and became a planter. He was a mem- ber of the State Legislature in 1858-59, and first entered the Confederate service, but after serv- ing a short time in the army withdrew and took a strong stand in favor of the Federal Govern- ment. He was elected as a republican. to the Fortieth and Forty-first congresses. beginning March 4, 1867, and was United States consu-
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general at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 1899 to 1903, inclusive. His death occurred at Baltimore, Maryland, to which city he had gone for medi- cal treatment, February 22, 1906. Like his fa- ther, he was a man of wide influence in public and political affairs of North Carolina.
Henry C. Dockery, father of Henry Clay Dock- ery, who died at his home at Rockingham in 1911, was born at the old Dockery home in Richmond County, six miles north of Rockingham. He was a very prominent man, both in his native county and in the state, and, following the traditions of his whig ancestry, was a republican in politics. He was United States marshal for the Western District of North Carolina for two terms, under both the Mckinley and Roosevelt administra- tions, and was a man of wide influence in politi- cal affairs in the state. He was a member of the State Senate for two terms, and as a private citizen was extensively engaged as a farmer and had large property interests. One of his sons, John Dockery, is one of the largest and most successful farmers in North Carolina and the owner and operator of a large agricultural prop- erty in Richmond County. Henry C. Dockery married Miss Minnie Everett, a daughter of the late Captain Everett, who was the father of W. N. Everett, of Rockingham, a sketch of whose career will be found elsewhere in this work.
Henry Clay Dockery' was reared at Rocking- ham and there received his early education in the public schools. He was graduated from Wake Forest College with the' class of 1909. and studied law in the University of North Carolina in 1910 and 1911, being graduated in the latter year and granted his license to practice. He began the pursuance of his professional duties at Rocking- ham, and in 1915 came to Charlotte, where he has since continued to be successfully engaged, and is now the law partner of Hon. Cameron Morrison. He is adjudged one of the thorough and promising younger members of the bar, and it is predicted that he will go a long way in his profession. On May 28, 1918, Mr. Dockery was selected for service as a soldier in the National Army.
HON. JOSEPH SHEPARD ADAMS. One of North Carolina's great and eminent lawyers and jurists was the late Joseph Shepard Adams, who was serving as a judge of the Superior Court of the Sixteenth Judicial District when death arrested his labors at Warrenton on April 2, 1911, at the age of sixty years. Of the experiences of his life and of the value of his character and attainments it is possible to recover much for the purpose of a written record through the memorial address delivered by Hon. J. C. Pritchard at a meeting of the Asheville bar.
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