USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 65
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
Joseph Shepard Adams was born at Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, October 12, 1850. His father, Rev. Stephen B. Adams, was a native of the same state. His mother, Cordelia Shepard, was a native of Yancey County, North Carolina. Rev. Stephen B. Adams moved from Tennessee to North Caro- lina and established a school at Burnsville, known as Burnsville Academy. He was a great educator and a very eminent divine. He is said to have been one of the most eloquent Methodist ministers of his day.
Judge Adams owed much to the example and training of his excellent parents, who supervised his early education and that education obviously was much better than fell to the lot of many
who grew up with him. He afterwards went to school to Col. Stephen Lee in Chunn's Cove, just east of Asheville, a school which supplied advan- tages to a number of other prominent North Caro- lina men. In 1872 Judge Adams graduated with honor from Emory and Henry College.
Moving to Asheville, he studied law under that modest old jurist who was literally "without fear and without reproach," Judge John L. Bailey. Admitted to practice, he soon afterwards opened au office in Bakersville, Mitchell County, North Carolina. From his modest law office in that town he was promoted by election to the office of solicitor of the Eighth Judicial District. He served in the office of solicitor with ability and distinction for eight years. That he administered its duties with marked satisfaction is still attested by many older men who remember the enthusiasm, the courage and thoroughness with which Jo Adams, as he was affectionately called, conducted the prosecutions of the state. His reputation was not confined to the Eighth District. He was con- sidered one of the ablest solicitors in the state. He continued in the office of solicitor for eight years, during which time he removed to States- ville, where he continued the practice of his pro- fession.
At this point the direct words of Judge Prit- chard 's memorial address should be used as a more adequate statement of Judge Adams' career and attainments.
"Judge Adams was essentially a son of the mountains. While he was born in Tennessee, his mother came from the mountains of Western North Carolina, and was a representative of one of the leading families of Yancey county. He was reared among our own people and notwith- standing the fact that he was an educated man and a good lawyer he was absolutely devoted to the mountain people. He never imagined that he was above those sturdy people who nad not had his opportunities. He understood them and they understood him. On our trips to Bakersville and other places, where we practiced, we would stop and spend the night with the people of that section and talk with them about their crops, politics and religion, and in all of these matters he had a common interest. In this way he became endeared to the people of this section as much as any man of his day. In those times the lawyers cultivated the social side of life more than they do now and good fellowship was the order of the day. The counties in which we practiced were Buncombe, Mitchell, Madison, Yancey and Mc- Dowell and sometimes Rutherford and Haywood.
"In 1885 Judge Adams moved from States- ville to Asheville, where he established his perma- nent home and where he was actively engaged in the practice of law until his election as judge of the Superior Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Dis- trict to fill out the unexpired term of the late lamented Judge Fred Moore. Judge Moore had been on the Bench for several years and was acknowledged one of the ablest and purest judges the state had ever had. Thus it will be seen that Judge Adams assumed no easy task when he qualified as judge of this district in view of the splendid record that his honored predecessor had made. Judge Adams had been reelected in 1910 and had just begun the discharge of his duties when the end came.
"There is no man who ever felt that Joseph Adams, either as a man, solicitor, lawyer or judge, had done him an injustice. During his term of
CC
243
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
office as solicitor he had frequent opportunities to oppress and wrong the poor aud ignorant who were brought before him for prosecution. But uever once did he allow the hope of reward or personal enmity to influence him in the discharge of his duty. Neither did he ever permit himself to be influenced by the fear of evil consequences to himself or his fortunes while he was solicitor. He showed no man any favor because of superior birth or fortune or because of social or political influence. He did his duty simply and faithfully, without fear and without favor; and when his career as prosecuting officer expired he had per- haps as few enemies among those upon whom the punishment of the law had fallen through his efforts as a prosecuting attorney as any other man who ever held that important office.
"As a judge he never hesitated to spend all the time he thought necessary to enable him thoroughly to understand and grasp every feature of every case that came before him. He had no vanity to wish to appear abnormally quick and ready to see a point unless he actually saw and understood it in all of its bearings. These are the characteristics that bring a judge in close contact with the bar and the community and enable him to command the respect of the good people of all classes.
" After his election as judge and he had served during the unexpired terms in this district, there was never any doubt that he would receive the unanimous nomination for the next term. He had just entered upon his career as an elected judge when the end came.
"In his race against the Hon. Richmond Pear- son for Congress from this district, his true quali- ties shone forth. He was fair and temperate in debate, and the animosities and disagreements which had characterized previous joint debates were conspicuously absent from this campaign. It is true that he was defeated, yet he emerged from this race with the respect of the best men of both parties and the increased affection of those who knew and loved him best.
"But it was as a friend and the father of a family that Joseph Adams' finest qualities shone brightest. Knowing the value of education he made it his business often times, I am afraid of great sacrifices of his own comfort and pleasure to see that each of his children received the best education the country could supply. Knowing, too, the importance of religious training, he saw to it that his family should be brought up, as he him- self had been, in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Two of his sons are already successful lawyers at the bar, and a third is a successful physician. His daughter is the wife of an eminent educator who holds a professorship in North- western University. He made a companion of his children, and himself being a consistent member of the Methodist church he set for them an example of unostentatious and sincere piety which must influence them throughout all the trials and pleasures of life.
"As a friend I knew him best; there was no truer, sweeter, more affectionate man than Joseph Adams-none more loyal, more unselfish or more disinterested than he. Incapable of anything that was small or mean, above all low suspicion and cunning, looking with charitable eyes upon the weaknesses and shortcomings of other men, bear- ing no malice in his heart against any man, woman or child, he was one of the 'tall men,
suncrowned, who dwell above the clouds in public aud in private thinking.' "
Iu 1877 Judge Adams married Sallie Sneed Greene, of Greensboro, North Carolina. She died November 16, 1901. Their children were: John Sneed Adams, attorney; Mrs. Julia Bryan, wife of Professor Bryan of Northwestern University ; Junius G., a well known attorney of Asheville; J. L. Adams, a Philadelphia physician; and Shepard R. and William G. Adams.
CHARLES CARROLL COOPER. Few people outside those intimately interested realize the extent of the great tobacco industry in the United States. When it is realized that the annual production of tobacco amounts to more than 1,000,000,000 pounds, enough to give every man, woman and child in the United States ten pounds each, this stupendous fact illustrates the volume and importance of this great industry. More than that, the United States produces two-thirds of all the tobacco used by mankind. In peaceful times, when conditions were normal, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany all grew large tobacco erops, but this industry, like others in those countries, is languishing and it is to the United States that tobacco users must turn for many years to come for a luxury that has become a necessity. The growing, the handling, the warehousing of this yearly crop, gives employment to many thousands aud has brought to the front a number of men who have been trained to the business from early manhood. One of these able and experienced to- bacco men at Rocky Mount is found in Charles Carroll Cooper, who is president and general man- ager of the C. C. Cooper Tobacco Company, opera- tors of the old reliable Cooper's Warehouse and a pioneer of the Rocky Mount Tobacco Market.
Charles Carroll Cooper was born in Nash County, North Carolina, February 9, 1866. His parents are Neverson Wright and Patsy (Battle) Cooper. His father was an extensive planter for many years and was prominent and influential in public matters, serving as sheriff and treasurer of Nash County uninterruptedly for twenty-seven years in the two offices. The family homestead in Nash County has belonged to the Coopers for more than 200 years and no name is held in higher esteem.
Charles C. Cooper received an academic education in the best institutions in the county and, although a practical business man all his life, possesses many of the qualifications that would have made him successful in some of the professions. He is active, courageous, patient, generous and often self-sacrificing, and his fellow citizens know these characteristics well.
After leaving school Mr. Cooper went into the tobacco business, first as a warehouse bookkeeper. In 1894 he established a business under the trade name of Cooper's Warehouse, after an experience of four years in the business for himself, for two years being in Henderson, North Carolina, but for over a quarter of a century has been a resident of Rocky Mount and identified with the warehouse business at this place. The business he estab- lished prospered from the first and in 1894 he established a record of sales that has been repeated every year since then, selling more pounds of to- bacco than any other warehouse man. This is ample proof of his thoroughness as a business man. It is safe to say that no more competent man in the tobacco business in Eastern North Carolina can be found today than Mr. Cooper and he has
244
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
surrounded himself with men who are thoroughly experienced in this business. Mr. Cooper served two terms as president of the Tobacco Board of Trade.
Mr. Cooper was married December 20, 1893, to Miss Eva Bassette, who was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, and is a daughter of William and Eva Bassette. The father of Mrs. Cooper is a contracting painter, well known all through this section. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have three children: Chloe Miller, Helen Clifford and Charles C., Jr.
Mr. Cooper has been an active and useful citi- zen, and during the time he was one of the city aldermen he advocated many of the measures that have brought about Rocky Mount's commercial prosperity. He is a Knight Templar Mason and both in and outside the fraternity has a host of warm, personal friends. Although a man of promi- nent position, he is exceedingly unostentatious in manner, is genial and friendly at all times and the poor and discouraged have often found in him a ready helper. There are enterprises now prosperously conducted at Rocky Mount that in their early days were generously financed by Mr. - Cooper. He is too busy a man to actually seek recreation but when he feels the necessity for rest he sometimes retires to the old homestead, now the property of his brother. On that land his maternal great-great-grandfather, Lawrence Battle, settled when he came to America in 1735. The Battles of Swift Creek, Nash County, of which Mr. Cooper's mother was one, are known all over this section of the state and have been prominent in business, agricultural and professional life.
ARCHIBALD CHEATHAM, M. D. A busy profes- sional man over thirty years, widely known as one of the foremost physicians and surgeons of North Carolina, a host of other interests has claimed the time and abilities of Doctor Cheatham and with these his name is probably more intimately asso- ciated in the minds of many people than with his profession.
Doctor Cheatham was born in Grandville County, North Carolina, in that portion that is now Vance County, on August 16, 1864. He comes of a pro- fessional family. His father was Dr. William T. Cheatham, who at one time in his career achieved the dignity and honor of being elected president of the North Carolina Medical Society. Doctor Archi- bald's mother was Geneva (Davis) Cheatham.
Doctor Cheatham was educated in private schools, in the Horner's School at Henderson, North Caro- lina, and in 1885 graduated from the literary de- partment of Trinity College. He began his medi- cal studies in the University of Virginia, but fin- ished them in the University of Maryland, where he graduated M. D. in 1888. From that year until 1893 he was in practice at Henderson, and since then his home and professional interests have been at Durham. In 1913 he was elected superintendent of health of Durham County and city. For many years he has been an active member of the Ameri- can Public Health Association, and is a member of the American Association for the Study and Prevention of Infantile Mortality. He also belongs to the North Carolina Medical Society.
In 1901-02 Doctor Cheatham was a member of the Board of Aldermen of Durham. In 1888 he entered the North Carolina Guards as a private, and subsequently served as surgeon with the rank of major in his regiment. He was with the state military organization until 1892.
Some of his best service has been rendered as a pioneer and always an active advocate of good roads movements. He was one of the first to give definite form to good roads agitation, and his in- terests have been by no means provincial, and have extended in recent years to the great national high- ways. He was a member by appointment of the State Highway Commission in carrying out the "Seashore to Mountains" improvement. He is a member of the executive committee of the Appa- lachin Commission comprising seven states. In November, 1911, Governor Kitchin appointed him a member of the American Highways Association and in 1913 Governor Craig sent him as a delegate from North Carolina to the American Roads Con- gress at Detroit, Michigan. He has served as chairman of the Roads Committee of the Chamber of Commerce at Durham.
Doctor Cheatham is a member of the United States Selection Service Exemption Board, in 1916- 17 was president of the North Carolina State Health Officers' Association, is president of the Athletic Committee of Trinity College, and is for- mer president and for many years has been active in the Durham City and County Medical Board. He is a steward of the Memorial Methodist Episco- pal Church of Durham.
Doctor Cheatham married for his first wife Ida Shaw of Randolph County, North Carolina. She died in 1903, the mother of five children: Geneva, Malcolm, Elizabeth, Archibald, Jr., and Ida Mae. In 1907 Doctor Cheatham married Ethel Gibbs of Columbia, South Carolina. They have two chil- dren, Robert Hunter and Bessie Gibbs.
WELCH GALLOWAY. A representative member of the bar of his native state, Mr. Galloway is engaged in a successful practice at Brevard, and his present attainments are backed by twenty years of active experience. He has done much in a public way, has served as mayor of Bre- vard, and is in every sense a public-spirited, pro- gressive and loyal citizen.
Mr. Galloway was born near Rosman, Transyl- vania County, North Carolina, January 3, 1872, a son of Andrew Jackson and Alpha M. (Aiken) Galloway. He spent his boyhood on his father's farm, attending the local schools, and afterwards availed himself of the privileges of the Normal School in Jackson County. He finally took up the study of law in the University of North Car- olina, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1897, since which date he has handled a grow- ing general practice at Brevard. Mr. Galloway served as mayor of Brevard two years. He was never an office seeker, but in the democratic pri- mary held June 1, 1918, he was a candidate for judge of the Superior Court for the Eighteenth Judicial District of North Carolina. He had two other opposing democratic candidates. He did not secure the nomination, but there were only twelve votes cast against him, in his home county. He is one of the stewards of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South, of Brevard, and fraternally is identified with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. May 21, 1902, he married Miss Effie Hawkins, of Hendersonville. They have two children, Q. Lamar and Marian Amelia.
JAMES EUGENE RANKIN. If a list were being made of the oldest bankers of the state, and those who had been most successful in guiding their respective institutions through the storms of adversity and distress, few would dispute the
BEVERLY HALL, BUILT 1810 Residence of Dr. Richard Dillard, Edenton, N. C.
€
12
215
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
appropriateness of the name of James Eugene Rankin of Asheville standing well at the top. Mr. Rankin entered banking in the years imme- diately following the devastating period of the war. He retired only recently, and his service was as successful as it was long.
He was born in Cocke County, Tennessee, April 27, 1845, a son of William D. and Elizabeth (Roadman) Rankin. His father was a merchant and in 1846, the year following James Eugene's birth, moved to Asheville and conducted a large and prosperous establishment in that town until the time of the war. The son was educated in local schools, was reared in a home of social taste and comfort, and his early training fitted him to take charge as successor to his father's business, which he continued for about twenty years.
Mr. Rankin went into banking as vice president of the Bank of Asheville, which was the first financial institution established at Asheville after the war. He was with that bank until 1888, and the following three years was cashier of the Western Carolina Bank. In 1891 he and Col. Frank Coxe 'and Capt. J. P. Sawyer organized the Battery Park Bank of Asheville. Mr. Rankin served this institution as cashier until 1914, when he retired and was succeeded by his son. This bank from the beginning has enjoyed the confi- dence of the people in its integrity and the per- sonnel of its managing directory, and sustained this confidence to the full during the panic of 1907, when it was the only institution at Ashe- ville which went through without the impairment of its credit or resources for a single hour.
Mr. Rankin has been a useful figure in public affairs at Asheville. He was elected mayor of the city in 1911 and has filled that office continuously since that date. He was first elected mayor in 1872, and the honor of this office has been con- ferred upon him a number of times. For twenty- two years he was chairman of the County Board of Commissioners of Buncombe County. He was one of the organizers and for ten years has been president of the Blue Ridge Building and Loan Association, is a former director of the Asheville Board of Trade, has been a member of the Ashe- ville Club since organization, and is a dyed in the wool democrat, cast his first vote in 1866 and has never missed an election in more than fifty years.
October 10, 1867, Mr. Rankin married Miss Fannie Cocke, daughter of Congressman William M. Cocke of Asheville. Six children were born to their marriage: Clarence, who succeeded his father as cashier of the Battery Park Bank; William E., a horticulturist at Tryon, North Carolina; Arthur, cashier of the American National Bank of Ashe- ville; James G., who is in the cotton business; Edgar R., a brick manufacturer at Statesville; and Grace, wife of P. H. Branch, proprietor of the Morgo Terrace at Asheville.
WILLIS JAMES BROGDEN. Teaching and school administration, a growing reputation as a lawyer, public office and business affairs have successively and together filled up the active years and de- manded the best energies of Mr. Brogden. He is a member of the prominent Durham law firm of Bryant & Brogden.
He was born in Wayne County, North Caro- lina, October 18, 1877, a son of Willis H. and Vir- ginia E. (Robinson) Brogden. He spent his early life on his father's farm, attended district schools, the high school at Goldsboro, from which he grad-
uated in 1894, and from that year until 1898 was a student in the literary department of the Uni- versity of North Carolina. On leaving university he accepted a position as an instructor in the Raleigh Male Academy. In 1901 he came to Dur- ham and for five years was principal of the Fuller School and then was promoted to principal of the Durham High School. In the meantime from 1905 to 1907 he studied law in Trinity College, and in the latter year resigned his office as principal, entered the law department of the University of North Carolina, and was admitted to the bar on September 1, 1907. Since then he has been in active practice at Durham, at first with Col. S. C. Chambers under the firm name of Chambers & Brogden. In March, 1909, he formed his present partnership with Victor S. Bryant.
Mr. Brogden served as county attorney of Dur- ham County from 1908 to 1911, and from 1911 to 1915 was the progressive mayor of Durham. He is director of and attorney for the First National Bank. He is a member in good standing of the North Carolina and the American Bar associa- tions, and is affiliated with Lodge No. 352, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Durham.
January 9, 1917, Mr. Brogden married Lila Markham of Durham. She is a daughter of John L. Markham and a niece of W. T. Blackwell, originator of the famous "Bull Durham" tobacco.
RICHARD DILLARD, M. D. Among the names that are widely and favorably known in Northeastern North Carolina, few have gained greater distinc- tion than that of Dillard. While this is particu- larly true as applying to the profession of medicine, many benefits have accrued from the family 's par- ticipation in literature, history and other fields of endeavor, and in this connection special mention should be made of Dr. Richard Dillard, the present worthy representative of the family at Edenton.
Doctor Dillard was born at the home of his grandfather, "Farmers Delight,"' Nansemond County, Virginia, December 5, 1857, and is a son of Dr. Richard and Mary Louisa Beverly (Cross) Dillard. He comes of old Colonial stock of Eastern North Carolina and Virginia, and is a descendant of John Campbell, who founded the Town of Colerain in Bertie County, North Carolina, was a member of the Provincial Congress at Halifax and at Hillsborough, and resided at his place near Colerain, named "Lazy Hill." The elder Dr. Richard Dillard, father of the present doctor, was one of the eminent men of his day, and as a distinguished and useful life is a heritage to pos- terity whose lessons should be charished by its beneficiaries, a plain and unpretentious record of his life, written in the sincerity of friendship and in the candor of biographical truthfulness by one who loved and admired him, may not be without benefit-certainly not without interest-to his sur- vivors.
Dr. Richard Dillard, the elder, had reached the patriarchal age of sixty-five years when the pale messenger beckoned him away from earth, and for nearly a half a century his life had been an ex- ample of usefulness, of energy and diligence in business, and of patriotic devotion to the interests of his country and his fellow men. His father, Maj. James Dillard, was a native and long resident of Sussex County, Virginia. It was at his father's home at Sussex that Dr. Richard Dillard was born, December 1, 1822. His early years were passed as those of other boys, in school and play, and in that physical development which afterwards
246
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
made him conspicuous among men. Of Scotch lineage, he inherited the personal and intellectual characteristics of that race which has so enriched the history of our country. He was by nature greatly endowed. To a large and commanding presence was added gracefulness of bearing and a winning expression which won the confidence and commanded the respect of men. These personal gifts of nature formed a setting for the social and intellectual qualities that made him the genial companion in the charmed circle of private friend- ship, the mentor of private confidence, the trusted counsellor in business, the safe leader in times of disturbance that tried men's souls. Cast in heroic mold of mind and form, he would in any associa- tion anywhere have been singled out as a leader among men. All the mental characteristics of leadership were his. His judgments were de- liberate and singularly unerring, and, when formed, were firm and unvarying. These, we think, were the striking combinations in the mental character- istics of our friend; independence of thought, self-reliant resources, deliberation in judgment, un- ering accuracy in his conclusions and tenacity when his conclusions had been reached. With such qualities men naturally turned to him for counsel and guidance. We have often reflected with pain that such qualities could not have been conserved in the public service; that fate, or destiny, or cir- cumstances, or whatever it may be called, had not made such men poor in worldly possessions and not encumbered them with the cares of worldly pros- perity. There are many striking cases of this kind in the history of the Albemarle section. Had Richard Dillard been a poor man and not blessed (so called) with business prosperity, he would have been one of North Carolina's jewels, given to us by Virginia, and would have read his history in a nation's eyes. Had Lewis Thompson of Bertie been a poor man and not been blessed (so called) with business prosperity, he would have con- manded "the applause of listening senates." And some others. Our friend came near consecrating himself to the public service, for which he always had an instinctive longing, once when a young man, not long in his adopted home, when the admiring throng of his countrymen lifted the young man in their enthusiastic arms and placed him in the Legislative Hall in the Senate of Northi Carolina, and later, when, late in life, the governor of North Carolina called him from his retirement to the public service, and the pale messenger "with the inverted torch"' warned him of the time which too surely came.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.