USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 66
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Doctor Dillard determined to devote himself to the profession which his grandfather had so suc- cessfully followed, and graduated in the collegiate course of the University of Virginia, subsequently taking 'his degree in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in the year 1839. He was the first honorary member of the North Carolina Medi- cal Society. After travel and recreation, he re- moved to North Carolina from Virginia and en- tered earnestly upon that profession in which he acquired honor, usefulness and wealth, until stricken down in the full tide of honor and dis- tinction by that mysterious and fell destroyer- paralysis, which repeated its assaults for two years, with mind unimpaired and body a wreck, until death came to his relief and bore him to that undiscovered country where the weary are at rest and where it is our reasonable hope that lives of usefulness here will be followed by lives of hap- piness there.
Doctor Dillard was always a politician, deeply interested in the affairs of his country, a democrat of positive convictions, a partisan, in its better sense, a Southern man in all its tender ties, a State Rights man from careful study of our Con- stitutional history, and when the civil conflict be- tween the states came on, he was by the sequence of his convictions a Southern secessionist. His acknowledged ability and fidelity to his section made him the choice of the party for representa- tive in Congress in the troubulous times that pre- ceded the bloody conflict, but ere he was elected the tocsin was sounded and the lurid glare of war had dissevered our connection with the Federal counsels. He was then elected by the people of the Secessionist Convention of North Carolina, aud when war darkened the firmament he devoted all his energies of mind and body and contributed of his ample means to the support of the Southern cause. He turned over one of his valuable farms to the Chowan County authorities and gave the proceeds derived from it to be devoted to the care and equipment of our newly-organized soldiers, and was himself appointed by the governor of North Carolina aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel and was specially instructed to superintend the defense of the Albermarle and Currituck sounds. These instructions were given by autograph letter from Governor Clark. Later in the war he was acting brigade surgeon to Gen. Roger A. Pryor when sta- tioned near Franklin, Virginia, and performed the duties of the office with signal ability and skill, being in active service in the memorable seven days' fight around Richmond.
When peace came Doctor Dillard returned to his old, home on Chowan River to find it a desolation. It had long been an especial object of vengeance to the Federal troops and the war had swept it as with the besom of destruction. Fire and shot and shell had made it uninhabitable and Doctor Dil- lard took possession of another place near by and soon resumed his profession to repair his broken fortune. Success came and he was able to prosper again in business and accumulated the means of spending the close of his life in comfort and af- fluence, with "honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,"' and when the last summons came he passed away quietly and peacefully in the arms of his loving children and surrounded by weeping friends. In his later years Governor Scales, who was his lifelong friend, appointed Doctor Dillard director of the Western Insane Asylum of North Carolina, and afterward to the State Insane Asylum at Raleigh, for which place he was, pecu- liarly fitted by his eminent medical attainments and by his fondness for questions of mental analysis. Soon after, his active work on earth was done. In full health, with full capacity for enjoyment, with a bright future and in the full career of usefulness, a mysterious and inscrutable Providence gave him warning and in an instant made of a Hyperion a physical wreck, but left his mental powers all intact, until that fatal Tues- day, two years after, which swept his conscious- ness, and in a few days called him away.
Doctor Richard Dillard the younger, the bril- liant son of a brilliant father, was given excellent opportunities for the attainment of an educational training, attending Horner's School, the University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia, and the Jefferson Medical College, from which last named he received the degree of Doctor of Medi- cine in 1879, and which college conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in 1901. Imme-
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diately after his graduation he settled at Edenton, where he has since been in the enjoyment of an ever increasing practice, the mantle of his father's greatness as a man of medicine and surgery hav- ing without a question fallen upon his shoulders. In 1880 Doctor Dillard became acting assistant surgeon to the U. S. P. H. service at Edenton, and this position he has retained without interrup- tion for a period of thirty-seven years. At various times he has been honored with other appoint- ments and with identification with some of the leading learned bodies of the state and country. He was appointed a member of the North Caro- lina Historical Commission by Governor Alcock, and at present is president of the Roanoke Colony Memorial Association, a member of the Council for National Defense for Chowan County and vice president of the North Carolina Folk Lore Society. At one time he was vice president of the North Carolina Medical Society, and in 1907 was elected vice president of the State Literary and Historical Association, and also has the honorary degree of Master of Arts. Politically the doctor is a demo- crat, while his religious connection is with Saint Paul's Episcopal Church.
Doctor Dillard is a bachelor and resides at beau- tiful "Beverly Hall." His ancestral home was formerly "Wingfield," on the Chowan River, and was built by the Brownriggs in 1760 and destroyed during the Civil war. He is a member of the North Carolina Sons of the American Revolution. In literary circles there are few men in North- eastern North Carolina who are better known or who have a wider circle of readers and admirers. He is the author of numerous historical mono- graphs, including The Edenton Tea Party, 1774, and of numerous short stories, nature essays and miscellany. He is likewise a public speaker of much more than local reputation, and is a naturalist by taste, having made a thorough study of the trees and plants of Eastern North Carolina and being considered an authority on the subject, as he is also in regard to the Indian lore of this section. It is the doctor's own opinion, however, that his best work has been done in the preserva- tion, etc., of local history.
J. PLUMMER WIGGINS. Among the members of the Robeson County bar who in recent years have made rapid strides and have forged to the fore- front in the ranks of their profession is found J. Plummer Wiggins, now engaged in practice at Maxton. During the comparatively short period of his professional life he has gained a substan- tial reputation as a close student of the law and as a painstaking, able and strictly reliable law- yer.
Mr. Wiggins was born at Whiteville, Columbus County, North Carolina, in 1878, his parents be- ing J. L. and Missouri (Prigden) Wiggins, both of whom are now deceased. His father was a native North Carolinian, born in Sampson County, and there reared and educated, and his youth was devoted to learning the vocation of general me- chanic. When the war between the states came on his services were cheerfully offered to the Confederacy, and throughout the period of the great struggle he worked in railroad shops, not a spectacular service, but one just as necessary and valuable as that rendered by the soldier on the field of battle. When the war closed he took up his residence at Columbus, and the remainder of his useful and industrious life was divided be- tween working as a mechanic and labors as an
agriculturist. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and inherited many of the desirable traits of both races. His death, and that of his wife, occurred in Columbus County, in which both were highly respected.
The early education of J. Plummer Wiggins was secured in the public schools of Whiteville, and he early showed a predilection for the law, which he favored rather than either of his fa- ther's vocations of mechanic or farmer. In or- der to gain the necessary education he was forced to overcome some obstacles and undergo some hardships, but he was persevering and ambitious, and, after a long course of home study and at- tendance at the University of North Carolina law department, he finally mastered his vocation, and in 1908 was admitted to the bar. Mr. Wiggins at once chose Maxton as the scene for his pro- fessional labors, and since that time has beeu engaged in a general practice in civil and crim- inal law. He is one of the able young members of the bar of this section of the state and his talents have been rewarded by a large and rep- resentative clientele. His interest in matters of civic importance have given him the reputation, well deserved, of being one of the active and public-spirited citizens of the thriving little City of Maxton.
Mr. Wiggins married Miss Lillian MacQueen, of Robeson County, North Carolina, daughter of the late James Stewart MacQueen, and they are the parents of one son, James MacQueen. Mr. Wiggins is secretary of the MacQueen Clan As- sociation, an organization composed of the de- scendants of Col. James MacQueen, who settled in Robeson County, coming from Scotland, prior to the war for the winning of American inde- pendence. They are a notable family and the men and women bearing the name have been and are among the best and most substantial citizens of the state, while other members have achieved prominence in other states.
JULIUS C. MARTIN. Every year of the thirty since he was admitted to the bar has brought increasing power and reputation to the career of Julius C. Martin of Asheville, one of the ablest lawyers of the state and one to whom has been entrusted interests and responsibilities as are placed in the hands only of the wisest and most skillful attorneys and business men.
While member of an old and prominent family of North Carolina, Julius C. Martin entered into his professional career only after a long and ardu- ous apprenticeship, involving the necessity of earning his own living from boyhood. This was due largely to the fact that when he himself was hardly conscious of the tremendous events going on around him, his father, a gallant officer and soldier, lost his life on one of the battlefields of the war between the states.
This branch of the Martin family is descended from Peter Martin, who came from Germany to Virginia about 1700, settling on the Chickahominy River. His son Henry Martin married Mary Bryan, daughter of John Bryan, a Virginian of high character. Of the several children of Henry and Mary one was Benjamin Martin, who married Diana Harrison, daughter of Benjamin Harrison of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and a first cousin of William Henry Harrison, president of the United States.
In 1792 Benjamin and Diana Martin moved from Fluvanna County, Virginia, to Wilkes
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County, North Carolina. Five years previously, on January 26, 1787, their son James Martiu was born.
Col. James Martin in 1806 acquired a farm at the mouth of Brier Creek on the south side of the Yadkin River and eleven miles east of Wilkesboro. Here Colonel James lived for a great many years and was a man of more than ordinary distinction in his commuuity. He died March 26, 1846. He was survived by his widow, Elvira Bryan Martin, and eleven children, namely: John Martin; Felix Bryan Martiu; Diana Adelaide, who married James Huut; Benjamiu Oliver Haggard Perry Martin; Mary Ann Martin, who married Jacob Cansler; Emeline Martin, who married Elkanah Shuford; Elvira Martin, who married Burgess Heathman; Leland Martin; Rufus W. Martin; James Oscar Martin; and Augustus Harrison Martin.
Augustus Harrison Martin, youngest son of Col. James Martin, was born at the old Martin homestead in 1832, and was liberally educated. He distinguished himself as a ready public speaker and early became prominent in politics. In 1856, at the age of twenty-four, he was elected to the House of Commons from Wilkes County and was. reelected in 1858. He was a whig, a stanch Union man, and consistently opposed the policy of secessiou. He proposed and advocated to the very last submitting the question of seces- sion to a general and popular vote. And when the convention finally definitely settled the matter he accepted the decision with a heavy heart and with many misgivings as to its wisdom.
Soon after secession was an accomplished fact he organized a company among his old neighbors aud friends, and many of them, like himself, had formerly been strongly union in sentiment and were non-slave holders. It is an interesting testi- mony to their devotion to the cause which they could not embrace wholeheartedly that of the entire company only six remained to surrender at Appomattox, the others having been left dead on battlefields in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsyl- vania. As captain of his company Augustus H. Martin was in service from the battle of Gettys- burg uutil the retreat from Richmond to Appo- mattox. While in command of the 54th North Carolina Regiment as a senior captain he fell instantly killed in the battle of Sailors Creek on April 6, 1865, three days before the surrender of General Lee. His body was temporarily interred by Federal soldiers and a board put up at the head of the grave marked-"Capt. A. H. Martin 54th N. C. Regiment-a brave man." His remains were afterwards removed and lie in the church- yard at Brier Creek Baptist Church in Wilkes County. He was a leader in the Baptist Church and his ancestors as far back as the record goes have been identified with the same denomination.
Captain Martin married Susan Virginia Corpen- ing, a daughter of David Corpening, a wealthy planter of Burke County, North Carolina. At his death Captain Martin left three children: Dr. James Everett Martin of Bluefield, West Virginia; Laura A. Linney, of Wilkes County; and Julius C. Martin.
Julius C. Martin grew up on the old farm in the Yadkin Valley. His widowed mother man- aged to keep her children about her, and while allowing them the advantages of the limited terms of the common schools in the neighborhood she also depended upon them for much assistance in cultivating the farm. Julius Martin lived at
home until about eighteen and in the meantime had put forth strenuous and well rewarded efforts to secure a real education. One of the most influential of his early teachers was Mr. R. A. Spainhour, who for about two years taught a private school at Oak Forest in Wilkes County, about two miles from the Martin homestead. In this school Julius Martin was a student in 1869-70 and one of the youngest pupils. He and his old teacher have ever since been the warmest personal friends. It was as a result of the inspiration received from this teacher that from the age of fourteen to fifteen Mr. Martin, after following the plow all day across the wide and hot Yadkin River bottoms, would spend several hours at night over his Latin, algebra and other studies. In 1880, then nineteen years of age, he taught the public school at Roaring River in Wilkes County. In May of the following year he left home and with all his property in a handbag walked across the Blue Ridge Mountains to Virginia as far as Grayson County. There he found a brother of his old teacher, J. F. Spainhour, who had charge of a school at Oak Hill. Mr. Martin worked on a farm in that vicinity for several months and attended a session of the school, serving as assist- ant teacher and paying his board by diligent work on Saturdays. This was the journeyman ex- perience of Mr. Martin's life and the summer of 1882 found him in Johnson County, Tennessee. He taught a couple of winters in public schools in that state, and during 1884 was also a teacher in the Cove Creek Academy in Watauga County, Tennessee. All this teaching and the careful cconomy which went with it was inspired by one purpose, and that was to give himself the benefits of a higher collegiate education. In August, 1884, Mr. Martin was able to enter the University of North Carolina and spent a year in an elective course in preparation for the study of law. His determination to become a lawyer had received its first impulse when he was about ten years old, while listening to Justice Court trials conducted by his step-father. Though Mr. Martin had en- joyed little of the continuity of formal schooling he distinguished himself as a very solid student while in the university, and it was a matter of regret to his instructors and newly formed friends there that he had to leave school in the spring of 1885 for lack of funds. His father's farm had been temporarily taken from its true owners and to relieve the family distress and refill his own pocket book he spent another two years teaching in Cove Creek in Watauga County, Tennessee. From the summer of 1887 to 1888 he was a student in a law school conducted by Col. George N. Folk at his country home in Caldwell County. In Feb- ruary, 1888, Mr. Martin was licensed to practice by the Supreme Court of North Carolina.
It is said that when Mr. Martin arrived at Asheville August 4, 1888, for the purpose of establishing himself in practice in that city, he had hardly enough funds to keep him in the com- forts of one of the average hotels of the city a single day, and possessed less than half a dozen acquaintances in Buncombe County. For two or three months he shared an office with William M. Cooke, Jr., and then entered the offices of H. A. Gudger and H. B. Carter. January 1, 1889, he was admitted to a partnership, becoming junior member of the firm Gudger, Carter & Martin. Mr. Martin had the benefit of association with these fine lawyers until Mr. Carter was elected judge of the Criminal Court in 1892 and Mr.
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Gudger retired in 1894 to enter the service of the United States Government. In 1898 Mr. Martin formed a partnership with Mr. C. A. Webb, which continued three years. After that he practiced aloue for ten years or more, and in January, 1912, became senior member of the firm Martin, Rollins & Wright. Individually and as a member of this firm Mr. Martin has given his services as attorney and counsel to many of the largest corporations of the city and state, including the Asheville Light and Power Company, the Southern Express Company, as assistant division counsel in sixteen counties for the Southern Railway Company, attorney for the Champion Fiber Company, the Citizens Bank of Asheville, and many other cor- porations.
Speaking of Mr. Martin as a lawyer, one of his former legal associates has characterized him as follows: "He is a thorough student and by careful study has mastered all the difficult branches of the law. He is perhaps as familiar with the decisions of the Supreme Court of North Carolina and the United States as any practitioner in the state. He can readily refer to any of the important cases of these two courts. He is well versed in text book law and is not only a most successful practitioner, but is a splendid adviser. His opinion on questions of law is sought after by many clients as well as by his brother attorneys and in the writer's opinion his judgment is scarcely ever wrong."
As is true of many of the men who have gained the highest prizes in the law, Mr. Martin has had little to do with practical politics and that chiefly in recent years after his success and reputation as a lawyer were established beyond all question. More than twenty years ago, in 1894, he was nominated on the democratic ticket for the office of mayor of Asheville, and contested the honor with a well known local citizen who had been nominated previously on a citizens ticket sup- ported by both republicans and democrats. Mr. Martin in view of the circumstances took his defeat very gracefully. It was some sixteen years later that he again became a candidate for an important office, when in 1910 he was elected to the State Senate, succeeding the former repub- lican from that district. The two years he spent as a member of the State Senate were character- ized by much hard work in behalf of his con- stituents and the advocacy of measures which he believed vital to the welfare of the state and its people. His name is associated with the Martin Act, passed while he was in the Senate, an im- portant law revising and modifyiug the laws of debt. Senator Martin was for four or five years chairman of the County Board of Education, resigning that office in 1910, and has always been devoted to the uplift and improvement of public schools. For six years he was a member of the School Committee of the City of Asheville. Among other interests Mr. Martin is vice president of the Citizens Bank of Asheville and for ten years was president of the Asheville Young Men's Christian Association, an institution which has called forth his enthusiasm and cooperation ever since it was established. He is a trustee of the First Baptist Church of Asheville and fraternally is a Mason.
The Martin home is one of the most beautiful in Asheville, and that means in the state. On December 29, 1891, Mr. Martin married Miss Helen Emilie Werres-Goertz. She was born at Crefeld, Germany, and was educated in vocal music at
Strassburg, Germany, where she lived for several years. Mrs. Martin has always delighted her friends and the social circles in which she moves by her varied accomplishments and especially her talents in music. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have three sons: Augustus Harrison, Julius, second, and Frederick Norman. Julius is now a student in the University of Virginia and Norman is in the Asheville schools. The son Augustus Harri- son has already achieved some distinctions that make him a worthy grandson of his namesake who fell in one of the last battles of the war between the states. For his higher education he spent one year in the University of North Caro- lina and four years in the University of Virginia and in May, 1917, became a student in the officers training camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and came out with the commission of first lieutenant, being assigned to the ordnance department of the regular army, in the gun division of the French Warfare branch at Washington.
CICERO L. BADGETT. For many years prom- inently associated with one of the more important industries to which a man may devote his time and talent, Cicero L. Badgett, a former builder and contractor, has accumulated, through industry, thrift, and wise investment, a handsome property, and is now living retired from active business cares at his pleasant home just at the edge of the old Village of Jackson Hill. He was born in Alleghany Township, Davidson County, North Caro- lina, in 1846, a son of William Harris Badgett.
His paternal grandfather, James Badgett, was born in Granville County, North Carolina, of thrifty French stock. He was brought up on a farm, and when ready to settle in life moved to that part of Rowan County that is now included within the boundaries of Davidson County, and having purchased a tract of land in what is now Jackson Hill Township, cleared and improved a homestead, and was there a resident until his death, at the age of fifty-eight years. He was a preacher in the Primitive Baptist Church, and active in the ministry for many years. The maiden name of his wife was Jemima Kinney. She survived him many years, dying at an advanced age. They reared six sons and four daughters, as follows: Samuel, James, Wilson, William Harris, Jonathan, Daniel, Charity, Jemima, Jiney, and Priscilla.
Born in Jackson Hill Township, in 1817, Wil- liam Harris Badgett grew to man's estate on the parental homestead, and as a boy assisted in the pioneer task of clearing and improving it. Sub- sequently buying land in Alleghany Township, he carried on general farming with satisfactory re- sults for many years, being one of the foremost agriculturists of his neighborhood. He was acting magistrate for over forty years and county sur- veyor for many years. He was above the age for active service during the Civil war but served as home guard for some time before the close of the war. Late in life he bought a home at Jackson Hill, and there lived until his death, which occurred in the ninetieth year of his age. He married Eliza- beth Cameron, a Scotch lassie, who was born on a farm at Healing Springs Township, where her father, James Cameron, was a life-long resident. She attained the good old age of four score and four years. Two children were born into their household, James Madison and Cicero L.
James M. Badgett was raised on the farm and at the age of nineteen entered the mercantile pro- fession at Jackson Hill, North Carolina, buying
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