History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V, Part 67

Author: Connor, R. D. W. (Robert Digges Wimberly), 1878-1950; Boyd, William Kenneth, 1879-1938. dn; Hamilton, Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac, 1878-
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago : New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 730

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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA

an interest in the company of R. S. Adderton & Co. In this occupation he was very successful and accumulated a handsome little property. He died January 23, 1895.

At the age of sixteen years, having improved to the utmost every offered opportunity for acquir- ing au education, Cicero L. Badgett entered the professional ranks as a school teacher. In the spring, 1864, he eulisted in Company C, First North Carolina Battalion, in which he was elected second lieutenant and acted captain on many occasions when the commanding officer was absent. He made out most of the pay- rolls for Company C and late in 1864 two or three depleted battalions were merged into the Seventieth Regiment, North Carolina troops, with which he served during the remainder of the war. He was with his regiment in various marches, campaigns and battles, until the close of the con- flict, being with Johnson's army when it surren- dered. Returning home April 19, 1865, he served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, after which he worked for awhile as a journeyman car- penter. Becoming efficient at his trade, Mr. Badg- ett established himself as a carpenter and builder, and subsequently filled many important building contracts in both North Carolina and Tennessee, erecting not only large and substantial residences, but municipal and factory buildings, operating in many of the larger cities and villages of both states. Mr. Badgett continued in active business until 1905, and during the time accumulated con- siderable wealth; a part of his money having been invested in valuable farm lands in Jackson Hill Township. He was acting magistrate for a period of several years in Montgomery County aud was county commissioner for Davidson County.

Mr. Badgett has been twice married. He mar- ried first, in 1867, Martha J. Adderton, who was born in Jackson Hill Township, a daughter of Stepheu and Temperauce (Johnson) Adderton. His second wife, whose maiden name was Nellie Surratt, was born in Jackson Hill Township, a daughter of William M. Surratt. By his first mar- riage, Mr. Badgett had four children, namely: Stephen Harris, Eugenia I., William R., and Sam- uel B. Stephen H. Badgett, a commissioned of- ficer in the United States navy, with which he has been connected for fifteen years, married Karo Reed, and they have one child, Stephen Harris, Jr. Eugenia I. Badgett married J. T. Wood, and has five children, Grace, Thomas, Jessie, Sidney, and Jamie. William R. Badgett married Julia Surratt, and they are the parents of five children, Kenneth, Marvin, Eugenia, Elizabeth, and Wil- liam Cicero. Samuel B. Badgett married Mabel Lowe, and to them three children have been born, John Lowe, McDonald, and Annie L. Mr. and Mrs. Badgett are both faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally Mr. Badgett is a member of Farmers Lodge No. 404, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons.

FORDYCE CUNNINGHAM HARDING began the prac- tice of law at Greenville twenty-three years ago, and has won his worthy prominence and achieve- ment by his strongly marked native abilities and by the care and conscientious fidelity he has giveu to every interest entrusted to his charge. Mr. Harding has become a forceful factor in local busi- ness affairs, and is a man whose public spirit and effective work in civic causes make him one of the leaders of his home community.

He was boru in Pamlico County, North Carolina, February 12, 1869, a son of Henry aud Susau Elizabeth (Sugg) Harding. His father was long identified with educational work, served four years as superintendent of schools of Pitt County, also was registrar of deeds of the county two years, and when not teaching or in public office was a farmer. The son was educated in public schools, took both his literary and law work at the Uni- versity of North Carolina, and has the degree Ph. B. and LL. B. He finished the work of the law department in 1894, and at once moved to Greeuville and entered upon a general practice. His success as a lawyer and iu business affairs have made him one of the prominent men of the com- munity. Mr. Harding is a director in the Green- ville Cotton Mills, a director of the National Bank of Greenville, and through the ownership of 2,000 acres of land is identified with the agri- cultural resources of his part of the state. He is a member of the North Carolina and American Bar associations, of the Carolina Club, the Southeru Geographical Association, and is secretary to the executive committee and member of the board of trustees of the East Carolina Training School. He was a member of the board of aldermen of Green- ville two years, and was elected a member of the State Senate for the sessions of 1917 and 1919, and is president pro tem of the Senate at the present time. For fourteen years he was chair- man of the board of trustees of the Greenville graded schools. Mr. Harding takes part in church affairs and teaches a Sunday school class in St. Paul's Episcopal Church. On November 15, 1899, he married Miss Annie Buxton Harding, of Pitt County. They have one daughter, Mary Louise.

JOHN SUMTER MACRAE. Introductory to the personal career of one of Robeson County's best known citizens, a merchant, banker and extensive planter at Maxton, it is appropriate to tell some- thing of his family and antecedents. The Mac- Raes are, of course, Scotch, and representatives of the best of the people of that race who have been so prominent in the settlement and the cit- izenship of North Carolina from colonial days to the present. While the MacRaes were among the original settlers of Robeson County, this brief sketch may begin with John MacRae, who in the early part of the last century owned an exten- sive landed estate in Robeson County, extending for several miles south of Maxton. He was con- sidered oue of the men of large affairs in his day, and his broad acres were tended by a large number of slaves. One of his sons was Col. Mur- doch MacRae, who became widely known in pub- lic life as a member of the State Senate and in other offices, and gained distinction in the war between the states. He was chairman of the board of county commissioners of Robeson County when it was redeemed from carpet bag misrule in 1870. A son of Colonel Murdoch was the late Col. Elijah F. MacRae, also a prominent figure, who served his county both in the House and in the State Senate, was three times elected county commissioner and five years was chairman of the board of county commissioners, was chairman of the county board of education, several years a member of the Democratic State Executive Com- mittee, and vice president of the North Carolina Agricultural Society. His country home, "Rae- mont," now occupied by his nephew, Murdoch MacRae, is in the extreme southern part of Robe-

F. C. Harding

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son County, where the MacRae ancestors dwelt, and is said to be one of the finest conutry estates in this part of North Carolina.

Another son of John MacRae was J. W. Mac- Rae, father of John S. J. W. MacRae was born in the old MacRae community in Maxton. Upou the division of his father's estate he took his patrimony in money instead of land. His ob- ject in doing so was to invest his means in a superior education. He entered Davidson College, was gradnated, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in early manhood went to Alabama, where, beginning his professional career at Hunts- ville, and shortly before the war removing to Demopolis, he built np a practice that gave him every promise of a substantial career and for' tune. Then the war came on. He volunteered in the Confederate service, and was away fighting the battles of the South four years. He returned home to find his practice gone and his property completely destroyed, including home, farm and crops, and even his law library and other personal possessions. His life as a soldier had broken him physically, and from many successive blows of adversity he was never able to recover and re- gain his health and spirit. Soon after the war he returned to the old MacRae community in Rob- eson Connty, and died here. He married Emma J. Walpoole.

John Sumter MacRae was born at his father's home in Colombiana, Alabama, in 1861. After what has been said it is perhaps nnnecessary to review in detail the circumstances that surrounded his early boyhood. It is to his supreme credit that he could live through the blighting conditions of after war times when this part of North Car- olina had no industries, no money in circulation, no commercial enterprises, no real agriculture, and when local society was demoralized and to an extent brutalized by low saloons and unlimited whiskey traffic-that with all these obstacles he retained the fighting spirit of his ancestors and could rise superior to his environment. He was nine years old when he came here from Ala- bama with his father, and he can hardly remem- ber a time when he was uot doing some useful work. At first he was on a farm, later was clerk in the store of Col. E. F. MacRae at Maxton, and the educational advantages given him were only snch as conld be obtained from the limited school system of the day. But every year there was some progress, and finally he was able to open a modest stock of merchandise at Maxton, and this he has kept growing and has developed it to a large and profitable business. The profits of his business he judiciously invested in farms and farm lands, and has spent thousands of dollars clearing up and improving land in Robeson County which was formerly totally unproductive. He now has many hundreds of acres, lying to the south and in other directions from Maxton. His home- stead is a fine farm within and beyond the city limits of Maxton on the south. Probably his finest farm, and the one in which he takes a great deal of pride, is at Cambro in Harnett County. Thus today, long before he could be called an old man, Mr. MacRae enjoys the posi- tion of a prosperous merchant, banker, extensive planter and landlord.

Mr. MacRae was leader in the movement for organizing the Bank of Robeson at Maxton, which he served as vice president, and in which he is now a director. He has been mayor of Maxton, and is a deacon in the Maxton Presbyterian

Church. This church is an offshoot of the his- toric old Center Church at Floral College. Mr. MacRae has been constantly a leader in civic af- fairs and reform movements. He was one of the men that freed Robeson County from the whis- key evil. This was the hrst county in the state to go dry.

Mr. MacRae's first wife, now deceased, was Mand Fleming, daughter of the late Capt. J. M. Fleming, of Raleigh. By that marriage he had one daughter, Miss Maud F. MacRae. His pres- ent wife, formerly Miss Julia Wiswall, is a mem- ber of a prominent family of Washington, North Carolina. They have one son, John Sumter Mac- Rae, Jr.

E. LLOYD TILLEY. Well qualified in every way to carry into the practice of an honorable pro- fession all the requirements necessary for success, E. Lloyd Tilley has proved his ability both in public office and as a practicing lawyer at Dur- ham during the few years since he came out of the State University with his law diploma.

Mr. Tilley was born in Durham County, North Carolina, February 20, 1893, a son of Cassan and Iola (Peed) Tilley. His father has for many years been a merchant at Durham. Lloyd Tilley attended the grammar and high schools of Dnr- ham Connty and then entered the University of North Carolina, where he pursued the law course nutil gradnating in February, 1914. Instead of taking up active private practice, he accepted an unusnal opportunity for experience at home, and from May, 1914, to August 26, 1916, served as depnty clerk of the Superior Court. At the latter date he was appointed clerk of the Superior Court and filled out the remaining portion of the time until December of that year. On January 1, 1917, he entered private practice with Robert H. Sykes, under the firm name of Sykes & Tilley.

Mr. Tilley is a member of the Board of Alder men of Durham, and has fraternal affiliations with the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Junior Order of United Ameri- can Mechanics, Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. Jannary 14, 1914, at Hnstou, Virginia, he married Elizabeth Estelle Bnrton. They have one daughter, Pauline Elizabeth.

HON. HIRAM HAMILTON HARTLEY. A venerable and wealthy agriculturist of Davidson County, and a citizen of prominence, Hon. Hiram H. Hartley is justly regarded as a man of integrity and worth, and is held in high respect throughout the com- munity in which he resides, and in the advancement of which he takes an intelligent interest, being ever ready to lend a helping hand in promoting its prosperity. A son of John Hartley, he was boru, September 14, 1839, in Tyro Township, on the farm he now owns and occupies. He comes of pioneer stock, his paternal grandfather, Thomas Hartley, having been one of the early settlers of Davidson County.

Reared to agricultural pursuits, John Hartley succeeded to the ownership of the parental home- stead, which he managed successfully with the aid of slaves, and there spent his entire life of sixty years. He married Elizabeth Swaim, whose father, Michael Swaim, was, it is thought, a native of Guilford County, this state, although the greater part of his life was spent on a farm in Davidson County. He married a Miss Sherwood, and of their union several children were born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. John Hartley reared five children,

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as follows: Thomas Washington, Malinda, Daniel, Hiram Hamilton, aud Wesley. The mother died ou the home farm, in Tyro Towuship, at the age of three score and ten years.

Brought up on the home farm, Hiram H. Hart- ley made the best of his limited opportunities for obtaining an education, aud while assisting his father acquired a thorough knowledge of the agri- cultural arts, aud naturally adopted farming as his chief occupation, being thus busily employed when the Civil war occurred.

In 1862 Mr. Hartley entered the Confederate service, enlisting in Company K, Fifteenth Regi- ment, North Carolina troops, and subsequently, with his command, participated in many important engagements. At the Battle of South Mouutain, he was captured, and confined as a prisoner of war at Fort Delaware for a few months before being exchanged. . In May, 1864, Mr. Hartley was agaiu taken prisoner, and remained in confinement at Elmira, New York, until March, 1865, when he was paroled for thirty days in order that he might take convalescent prisoners South. Before the expiration of his parole, Lee surrendered and Mr. Hartley returned home, and resumed his agricul- tural labors. Succeeding to the ownership of the ancestral homestead, on which his birth occurred, he still owns and occupies it, having since, by im- provement, added materially to its value and at- tractiveness. Successful in his undertakings, Mr. Hartley has purchased other tracts of land at different times, and is now among the largest real estate owners in Davidson County, having title to valuable land in Davidson, Rowan and Davie counties. His remarkable success has been brought about by persistent energy, well-directed toil, and exceptional business ability on his part; and he is well deserving of the respect and confidence in which he is everywhere held.

Mr. Hartley has been three times married. He married first, in 1860, Alice Wilson, who was born in Tyro Township, a daughter of Henderson and Sallie (Gobble) Wilson. She died in 1874. Mr. Hartley married second Ellen T. Davis, a daughter of Henry and Phoebe (Farrabee) Davis, of Tyro Township, and she died a few years later, in 1889. Mr. Hartley subsequently married for his third wife, in 1892, Lou H. Creath. She was born in Sussex County, Virginia. Her father, Rev. Thomas B. Creath, a native of Mecklenburg County, Vir- ginia, spent his entire life of ninety-one years in his native state, dying in Sussex County. A preacher in the Missionary Baptist Church, he held pastorates in many different places. He married Mary Atkinson, and they reared thirteen children, namely: William J., who died while in the Confederate service; Thomas, who also lost his life while serving in the Confederate army; Lewis L .; Lou H .; Andrew F .; Emma; Luther M .; Cora L .; Hannah A .; William T., a Baptist minister; Addie B .; Sallie; and Henrietta.

Of Mr. Hartley's first marriage, seven children were born, namely: Jennie; Thomas W .; Baxter; Ida M .; Alice; William B., deceased; and James Karr, deceased. By his second marriage there were six children, Harold, Eugene, Jerome, Ernest O., Clarence, and Ellen F. Leonard. Mr. Hartley is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mrs. Hartley belongs to the Baptist Church. Mr. Hartley is interested in various industrial con- cerns, and is a director of the Bank of Lexington. He has been active and influential in public affairs, and in addition to representing his county in the

State Legislature has served as county commis- siouer, aud for forty years was magistrate.

JAMES LAFAYETTE LITTLE, president of the Na- tional Bank of Greeuville, has been a banker in that city over twenty years, and through his finan- cial and other activities is widely known over the entire state.

Mr. Little was born in Pitt County, North Caro- lina, October 9, 1863, a son of William Gray and Nicey (House) Little. His father was a prominent farmer of Pitt County, and for many years served as chairman of the county board of commissioners. James L. Little was educated in the country schools in the Greenville Academy and the University of North Carolina. His first business experience was as clerk in a general store, and in 1883, at the age of twenty, he engaged in general merchandising at Greenville for himself. In 1889 he sold his store, following which he was employed as a bookkeeper in a local business establishment for a year, and then again for two years sold goods on his own responsibility.

Leaving the merchandise business, Mr. Little en- tered the private bank known as the Bank of Greenville, owned by the firm of Tyson & Rawls, as assistant cashier. In 1896 he became cashier of the newly organized Bank of Greenville, and on May 1, 1913, this was merged with the National Bank of Greenville and Mr. Little was made presi- dent of the consolidated institution. For a num- ber of years he has had a prominent work in the North Carolina Bankers Association, was on its executive committee two years, and is president of group one of that association.

Mr. Little is secretary and treasurer of the Pitt County branch of the Mutual Fire Insurance Asso- ciation of North Carolina, and in 1895-96 he served as treasurer of Pitt County, by. appointment. When he took the office the county treasury had only $284.91 in net assets, and he was active in rehabilitating the financial resources of the county. Mr. Little has been a member since its organiza- tion and is now vice president of the board of trustees of the Greenville graded schools. He is one of the prominent working members of the Jarvis Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, was for many years chairman of the board of stewards and is also a trustee of the church. He is treasurer for Greenville of the firemen's relief fund of the North Carolina Firemen's Association.

November 22, 1899, Mr. Little married Miss Mary Thomas, of Nashville, Tennessee. They have two sons: James Thomas, born May 7, 1901, and Robert Gray, born May 23, 1904. Mrs. Little is a daughter of James Washington and Mary Emma (DeJarnette) Thomas. Her father was a promi- nent Tennesseean, was born at Nashville in 1838, and died in 1889. At the outbreak of the war be- tween the states he enlisted as a private in Com- pany C of the Twentieth Tennessee Infantry, and upon the reorganization of the regiment was made adjutant. At the battle of Hoover's Gap he rushed ahead of the men of his company to the colors, and was shot down. Lying helpless on the field, he called out to his comrades "Go on, boys, don't mind me." For a long time his life was despaired of, but he finally recovered and after the war became prominent in Tennessee and served as state treasurer during Governor Bates' administration, and died while in office.

COL. JEROME C. HORNER. Prominent among the educational institutions of the South, and

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more particularly of North Carolina, is the Hor- ner Military School, located at Charlotte. This institution, which is now more than sixty-seven years old, has become known as one of the fore- most of the schools of its class, and its graduates are yearly sent forth to take positions of honor and importance in business, in the professions and in public life, fully equipped mentally and physically for competition with their fellows. The principal of this excellent military school, Col. Jerome C. Horner, has been engaged in educa- tional work and connected with this institution all his life, and is justly accounted one of the leading military teachers of the state. He was born at Oxford, Granville County, North Caro- lina, in 1853, and is a son of James H. and So- phronia (Moore) Horner.

James H. Horner, M. A., LL. D., the founder of Horner Military School, was born in Orange County, North Carolina, to which locality his fa- ther, William Horner, a native of Pennsylvania, had come in the early part of the nineteenth century. James H. Horner became one of the state's most distinguished citizens and a life- long educator of wide renown, and died at Ox- ford, North Carolina, in 1892, at which time a very fine appreciation of him was written by Dr. George T. Winston, who was then president of the University of North Carolina. By those who knew him best Doctor Horner was described as an extraordinary man, a physical, intellectual and moral giant, possessing all the sterling qualities of real manhood and being a teacher of unusual ability and success. He graduated with the high- est honors from the University of North Caro- lina in 1844, and after teaching for a few years in Florida and Eastern North Carolina established the Horner School at Oxford in 1851, and very soon made the institution a potent factor in the educational life of the Old North State. Through the perils of war and the uncertainties of the period of reconstruction, the school continued its career of usefulness in making men who became governors, judges, preachers, cantains of industry and loyal citizens. Doctor Horner married So- phronia Moore, granddaughter of Gen. Stephen Moore. a distinguished officer of the American Revolution, who served throughout that conflict with great distinction. He was descended from Sir John Moore, members of the family coming from England in colonial days and settling in New York. Gen. Stephen Moore was born in 1734 and died in 1799. Before the Revolution he had fought in the colonial wars, and during the progress of that struggle removed from New York to Mount Tirza. North Carolina. continuing his services as a Continental officer after removing to this state. His home in New York State was known as "Moore's Folly-on-the-Hudson," and this, after the war closed. he sold to the United States Government and it became the site of West Point Miiltary Academy.

Jerome C. Horner, present principal of Horner Military School, is a graduate of Davidson Col- lege, where he received the degrees of B. A. and M. A .. and after two years' experience as prin- cipal of Albemarle Academy at Edenton, North Carolina' hecame associate principal with his fa- ther in 1877. Bishop J. M. Horner also devoted a considerable part of his early manhood to the school. After graduating from the University of Virginia and the General Theological Seminary, New York, he became associated with his brother, Col. J. C. Horner, and remained steadfast in the

development of boys into Christian manhood until he was made bishop in 1898. Since then Col. J. C. Horner has been in direct charge of the school. The military feature was introduced in 1880, and year by year the school has sent forth its students, strong and soldierly in body, with disciplined minds and high ideals of life. In October, 1913, the barracks were totally destroyed by fire, but temporary quarters were secured and the school continued for the scholastic year. It was then decided to build at Charlotte, a city which as a religious, social and educational center has no su- perior in the state, a community noted for its character for cleanliness, purity, sanitation and religion, yet one where the best in public enter- tainment could be found. In addition to its many admirable features as a center of religion, edu- cation and morality, Charlotte has excellent rail- road facilities, is the second lowest city in the United States in regard to death rate, and has a wonderfully pleasing climate.

The Horner Military School is located three miles from Charlotte, in the beautiful residential section known as Myers Park, no school having a better site. The campus, the ball fields, the woods, Briar Creek and the adjacent open coun- try all combine to make the location an ideal spot for a boys' school. The barracks, located on the highest point of Myers Park, is a modern, fireproof, three-story structure, 132 by 64 feet, of reinforced concrete, and outside walls finished in red tapestry bricks, with an open central court and galleries running around on the inside of the second and third stories. It contains recita- . tion rooms, society halls, bedrooms, teachers' apartments and principal's office, and every room has two outside exposures, all doors opening on the side towards the central court. An officer in the central court has a full view of all doors, and maintains order during study hours. The administration building is a large separate struc- ture, 142 by 64 feet, and contains the auditorium, dining-hall, quarters for matron and housekeeper, and, in the left wing, next to the principal's residence, quarters for the lower school. The appointments in the students' rooms are perfect, and throughout the school's buildings the heating, lighting, plumbing and water supply are excel- lent.

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History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V, Part 67

Author: Connor, R. D. W. (Robert Digges Wimberly), 1878-1950; Boyd, William Kenneth, 1879-1938. dn; Hamilton, Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac, 1878- Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Chicago : New York : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 730

Author: Connor, R. D. W. (Robert Digges Wimberly), 1878-1950; Boyd, William Kenneth, 1879-1938. dn; Hamilton, Joseph Gregoire de Roulhac, 1878-
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Chicago : New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 730