USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 70
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When Senator Pritchard laid aside his senatorial toga, his friends, irrespective of party affiliations felt that they would like to present him with some substantial token of their high regard and settled upon a magnificent gift, a beautiful silver service and a chest of silver, the presentation speech being made by Hon. Richmond Pearson. When Judge Pritchard resigned the position of associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Dis- trict of Columbia, the members of the bar of Washington held a meeting at which resolutions were unanimously adopted expressing appreciation of his course as a jurist, and through its chair- man, Hon. Henry Davis, he was presented with a finely engraved punch bowl.
In literature Judge Pritchard has a catholic taste, as may be learned by observing the books he reads. His library is probably one of the most complete law libraries in the country, but when judicial cares are set aside he finds enjoy- ment in Shakespeare, Scott and Dickens, while at all times the Bible affords him pleasure and instruction. He has been a member of the Baptist church for the past ten years. During his term as judge of the Supreme Court Judge - Pritchard served as a member of the faculty of Georgetown University as lecturer on law.
Judge Pritchard was married September 18, 1877, to Miss Augusta L. Ray, who was related to Thomas B. Carter and Judge Frank Carter, of
Asheville. She was survived by three sons and one daughter. The oldest son, William D., was a first lieutenant in the Thirteenth Cavalry and was killed at Camp Stotzenburg, Philippine Islands, in Novem- ber, 1904. The daughter, Ida, is the wife of Thomas S. Rollins, a prominent attorney of Ashe- ville. The son George M. was educated at the University of North Carolina, and is now a practic- ing lawyer at Marshall, North Carolina. He was a member of the Legislature of 1917, being elected by the largest majority that any republican ever received in Madison County. He married Miss Robena Redmond, daughter of J. J. Red- mond a prominent banker and business man. The son Dr. Thomas Arthur is personally and pro- fessionally well known at Asheville. After the death of his first wife Judge Pritchard married Miss Melissa Bowman, daughter of Judge J. W. Bowman, who was the mother of Judge Prit- chard's youngest son, Lieutenant J. Mckinley Pritchard, at present (1918) with the United States Army in France. Lieutenant Pritchard was married to Miss Margaret Linn on June 18, 1917. Mrs. McKinley Pritchard is the daughter of the late Doctor Linn. Judge Pitchard's present wife is Miss Lillian E. Saum, of Washington City.
After the war was declared against Germany, Judge Pritchard tendered his services to the Gov- ernment, and has spent every spare moment in delivering speeches in the various Liberty Loan movements, as well as in Red Cross and Young Men's Christian Association campaigns. During the last Liberty Loan drive, at the instance of the Secretary of the Treasury, he was the chief speaker in the Dallas, Texas, district speaking in every city of importance in that state and also delivering addresses in Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Texas in the first Liberty Loan move- ment failed to furnish her full allotment. This time, however, the district furnished 44 per cent more than her allotment called for, and Judge Pritchard is credited with being instrumental in bringing about this result.
Dr. Thomas Arthur Pritchard was born at Marshall in Madison County, North Carolina, in 1882. From the famous Horner Military School he entered the University of North Caro- lina, where he was a brilliant student, and equally so in Jefferson Medical College, from which he was graduated with honors in 1904. He opened an office at Asheville and began as a general practi- tioner but gradually restricted himself to surgery and before the call to the National Army came had already gained prominence for his scientific work as a surgeon. He is now (1918) in the United States service as a brain specialist, with the rank of captain, and is awaiting further orders in the training camp at Oglethorpe, Georgia. He is a member of many scientific bodies in Buncombe County and elsewhere, and belongs to the medical staff of the Biltmore and the Mission Hospitals. Doctor Pritchard was married to Miss Robin Kennet, of Asheville, North Carolina, whose parents were natives of Indiana.
HERIOT CLARKSON for over thirty years has been a lawyer, business man and a leader in the civic and moral life of his home City of Charlotte and the state at large. Aside from the many interesting things associated with his name, the most distinctive of all is his character as an un- compromising and outspoken citizen. Everyone knows exactly where he stands and when his sup-
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port has been enlisted in any cause his interest has seldom allowed him to be a passive specta- tor.
Undoubtedly some of the qualities which have made him a hard fighting citizen and lawyer have been inherited from the distinguished Revolu- tionary ancestry. Mr. Clarkson was born at Kings- ville, Richland County, South Carolina, August 21, 1863, a son of Maj. William and Margaret (Simons) Clarkson. He is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Margaret Simons was a great- great-niece of Gen. Francis Marion, the "swamp fox" of the Revolution. Her ancestry included other personages of distinction in the history not only of the South but of New England as well.
Hardly less notable has been the record of the Clarkson male line. It is of English ancestry, but the family located in South Carolina before the Revolutionary war. Mr. Clarkson's grand- father was Thomas Boston Clarkson, a descend- ant of Thomas Boston, the famous Presbyterian divine. Thomas Boston Clarkson married Miss Heriot, of the family of George Heriot, a Scotch- man who lived in Edinburgh something more than 300 years ago. The name Heriot is one of the most familiar encountered in that Scotch city. Upon his death George Heriot left his property to the Town of Edinburgh to establish a fund for the practical education of boys. This fund today amounts to several millions of pounds, and the schools which have grown up under it constitute practically the free school system of Edinburgh. The Heriot Foundation probably provided for the first free school system in the world. The branch of the family in America first settled in George- town, South Carolina, many years before the Revolutionary war. Col, Robert Heriot, a great- great-grandfather of Heriot Clarkson, was a colonel in the continental line of the American Revolutionary troops.
Maj. William Clarkson was a successful planter, and throughout the war served in the Confederate army and was promoted to the rank of major. In 1863 he was in command of the Sharpshooters at Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, when it was being bombarded by Federal monitors. Some of the Clarkson family are still living on the plan- tation land that was granted to their ancestors by King George.
Mr. Heriot Clarkson attended the Carolina Mil- itary Institute at Charlotte. While a youth he entered the law office of Jones & Johnston of Charlotte, a firm comprising Col. Hamilton C. Jones and Gen. Robert D. Johnston. These men were distinguished lawyers and their firm was one of the strongest in the annals of the Char- lotte bar. Through the inspiration, and influ- ence of these gentlemen Mr. Clarkson was lcd to the serious study of law. He took the full law course in the University of North Carolina, where he was graduated with the first honors of his class in 1884. In the same years he returned to Char- lotte and began practice, and has been entrusted with the handling and supervision of many of the most important cases in the local or higher state courts within the last thirty years.
Besides his enviable position in the law his energies and talents have brought him various engagements in business affairs. He is a pro- gressive of the most pronounced type and al- ways a leader in ethical, educational and moral reform movements. In the present generation it is hardly necessary to recall that he was presi- dent of the Anti-Saloon League of North Caro-
lina when North Carolina went dry in 1908. But that was only the culmination of a long and per- sistently fought campaign in which Heriot Clark- son was always one of the chief personal figures and leaders. He was a pioneer prohibitionist, and openly advocated the principles of that cause in a day when it required moral courage. to express such views. Along in the '80s, when he was a member of the board of aldermen, the question was presented for vote of making Charlotte dry territory. Mr. Clarkson was one of the two mem- bers of the body who had the convictions or the courage to support that measure. Later he was chairman of the local Anti-Saloon League when the liquor traffic was voted out of Charlotte in 1904.
Mr. Clarkson represented Mecklenberg County in the Legislature in the "White Supremacy'' Legislature of 1899. He was elected and served as solicitor of the Twelfth Judicial District for seven years beginning in 1904. He has been an alderman or city attorney at different times. Other interests that are associated with his name and career was as one of the organizers of the Piedmont Fire Insurance Company, as organizer and owner of a majority of the stock of the famous summer resort "Little Switzerland" in the North Carolina mountains, as one of the or- ganizers of the company which built and owns the Law Building at Charlotte, as a member of the Park and Tree Commission for several years, and a leader in the movement to get the dona- tion to the city of fifty-two acres for Independ- ence Park. He was one of the builders of the Colonial Apartments. Mr. Clarkson is author of two codes of the City of Charlotte. He is senior warden of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, chairman of the finance committee of St. Peter's Hospital, and built as a memorial to his father St. Andrew's Chapel in Seversville.
Mr. Clarkson married Miss Mary Osborne, of Charlotte, daughter of Col. E. A. Osborne of that city. They have five children, four sons and a daughter. One son, F. O. Clarkson, now twenty- two years of age, graduated at the University of North Carolina in the academic department, and is also a law graduate of the University of North Carolina. He had just entered upon his profes- sional career in partnership with his father when the war with Germany broke out. He promptly joined the Naval Aviation service and went to Cambridge Technical School at Boston and is now lieutenant in the Aviation Marine Corps.
THOMAS SCOTT ROLLINS, of Asheville, has done much to dignify the profession of which he is one of the most learned and successful members, and in the twenty-three years of his practice has had many interesting as well as valuable con- nections. Mr. Rollins is a former president of the North Carolina State Bar Association.
He was born at Marshall, North Carolina, June 24, 1872, a son of Maj. William Wallace and Eliza (Gudger) Rollins. His father was a man of prominence, especially as a tobacco grower, and was regarded as the most extensive tobacco raiser in the state during the decade from 1880 to 1890. For seventeen years Major Rollins filled the office of postmaster at Asheville, North Caro- lina.
Thomas S. Rollins grew up on his father's plan- tation, was educated in public schools and later in the University of North Carolina, where he graduated in 1894 and from the law department
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in 1895. In 1893 he was honored with the social distinction in the University of Chief Marshal. After leaving law school he practiced at Marshall with Judge J. C. Pritchard, who at that time was a member of the United States Senate from North Carolina. In 1903 Mr. Rollins came to Asheville and was associated in the practice of the law with Judge Charles A. Moore under the title of Moore & Rollins. This firm was dissolved in 1912 when Judge Moore, on account of ill health re- tired from practice. Mr. Rollins is now member of the firm of Martin, Rollins & Wright. This is one of the largest and most successful firms of corporation attorneys in the state.
In 1902 Mr. Rollins was appointed assistant division counsel for the Southern Railway with jurisdiction over fourteen western counties in the state. His firm are now attorneys for the Southern Railway, the Southern Express Company, the Champion Fibre Company, the Street Railway interests of Asheville, and for various other large interests.
Mr. Rollins was president of the Asheville Bar Association from 1910 to 1913, and enjoyed the signal honor of being unanimously elected presi- dent of the North Carolina Bar Association for the year 1913-14. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his family worship in the Trinity Episcopal church at Asheville.
In politics he is a staunch republican and has always taken a great interest in his party. He was chairman of the Ninth Congressional Dis- trict in 1900, and succeeded that year in thoroughly organizing the district and electing Hon. James M. Moody to Congress by over two thousand majority.
In 1903 Mr. Rollins was elected chairman of the State Republican Executive Committee, and for four years held this important position. He was one of the most active and energetic chair- men his party has ever had and as an organizer has few equals of the state.
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September 10, 1900, Mr. Rollins married Ida Evelyn Pritchard, daughter of Judge J. C. and Augusta Pritchard. The four children born to their marriage are Elizabeth Jane, Lillian, Catherine C. and Thomas Scott, Jr.
NORMAN UNDERWOOD is one of the prominent building contractors of the state, with home at Durham for the past twenty years, though his operations have not been confined to any one city or locality.
Mr. Underwood was born at Youngstown, Ohio, September 2, 1862, a son of George Wright and Mary (Jones) Underwood. His father was a farmer and on the old homestead in Ohio Norman spent his early youth. He had a public school education, and from the farm he went to Knox- ville, Tennessee, in 1884 to learn the carpenter's trade. He has been a contractor and builder ever since and in 1898 came to North Carolina, spend- ing a few months at Raleigh, but since November, 1899, his home has been at Durham. Only a few examples of his work can be noted. He erected the postoffice and the Trust Building at Durham, two of the dormitories on the campus of Trinity College, also the college library, the residences of Duke and Stagg at Durham, the Memorial Metho- dist Episcopal Church and a number of large build-
ings at Chapel Hill, the seat of the State Uni- versity.
Mr. Underwood is a member and for two terms was president of the Builders' Exchange of North Carolina. He has been quite active in public affairs of Durham, served as an alderman and is a member of the police and fire commission. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and the Knights of Pythias.
March 6, 1883, Mr. Underwood married Elsie E. Ward of Bowling Green, Ohio. They are the par- ents of five children: Mary Almira, the oldest, is the wife of C. D. Rigsbee of Durham; Bruce Nor- man, who is sales manager with the U. S. Rubber Company, married Nellie Gager of Fostoria, Ohio; Harrison Aubrey, who is in the engineering serv- ice of the United States Government, married Rose Turner; Daniel Morse, associated with his father in business at Durham, married Lessie King of Durham; Robert Ward is still a student, being in the Bingham Military School, where he has the rank of first lieutenant.
GEORGE ALEXANDER NORWOOD. The commercial prosperity of city, state and nation rests on sound banking as its foundation. Money is as necessary to further the pursuits of peace as it is indis- pensable in the carrying on of war, and it is to bankers, whose foresight and business experience have prepared them to handle and conserve finan- cial resources, that the people. must turn in any crisis. Their responsibilities are great and for that reason they must be men of affairs in order to secure and maintain the confidence on which their own success and continuance depends. In this connection, because of his unusual business prominence, attention may be called to George Alexander Norwood, whose interests are numerous at Goldsboro, North Carolina.
George Alexander Norwood was born at Harts- ville, Darlington County, South Carolina, January 7, 1863. His parents were George Alexander and Mary Louisa (Wilkins) Norwood. The father was prominent for many years at Greensville, South Carolina, as a merchant and banker. After leav- ing the local schools George A. Norwood attended the high school at Charleston and from there entered Wake Forest College, North Carolina. He then embarked in business at Charleston and for thirteen years bought and sold cotton as a factor.
In 1896 Mr. Norwood came to Goldsboro and in that year established the National Bank of Golds- boro, North Carolina, of which he has been presi- dent ever since. In 1906 he still further expanded his interests in the financial field by organizing the Goldsboro Savings and Trust Company, of which he has been the only president. These insti- tutions are among the best capitalized in the state and their officials and directors are all men of large means and of trustworthy character. Mr. Nor- wood's business faculties are engaged in numer- ous other prominent and important concerns, in all of which his name is one of the greatest assets. He is president of the Wayne Red Brick Company, an exceedingly important enterprise; is ยท president likewise of the Carolina Warehouse Com- pany ; is vice president of the Goldsboro Wholesale Grocery Company; is president and treasurer of the Goldsboro Construction Company; and is vice president and treasurer of the Planters' Ware- house Company. In attending to the many duties pertaining to each and every one of these enter- prises Mr. Norwood displays remarkable business
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acumen, but in association with others in the business world he has always shown a maintenance of honorable business ethics, and his keenest com- petitors have never had cause to question his methods. Few men in this city have had at one time so many important interests to guard, and none have ever shown a better comprehension of responsibility or had a firmer grasp on business potentialities. Iu large measure his attitude in regard to public affairs has been the same. Civic pride is a characteristic and Goldsboro has profited thereby in public improvements. He has been interested with others in developing the city in many directions, in furthering installation of superior public utilities and in making improve- ments which will be lasting. He has served in numerous public capacities in the city and was chairman of the board of public works and was the first chairman of the public library board.
Mr. Norwood was married June 10, 1887, to Miss Louisa Stevens Hart, of Hartsville, South Caro- lina and they have the following children: Lou Wilkins, Thomas Hart, Evan Wilkins, George McIntosh, Mary Law, John Louie Hart and Charles Stevens. Mr. Norwood and family are members of the First Baptist Church and are in- terested in its various avenues of benevolence. They are pleasantly known in the city 's social life and Mr. Norwood belongs to the Goldsboro Coun- try Club. He retains membership in his old college society, the Kappa Alpha, and he belongs also to the Knights of Pythias.
FRANK WOOD. Eastern Carolina owes much to such sturdy old families as the one bearing the name of Wood, a name that has been held in honor and respect in Chowan County for genera- tions. Attracted to this region because of its accessibility and its evident great natural re- sources, the Wood family became largely inter- ested in agriculture and fishing, and in the de- velopment of these industries laid the foundation of both family and community wealth. They still form a firm base on which to build, and the name is still prominently associated . with these interests in Chowan County.
Frank Wood, one of Edenton 's representative men, was born at Edenton, North Carolina, June 7, 1858. His parents were Edward and Caroline (Gilliam) Wood, the former of whom died No- vember 28, 1872. He had been a planter and oc- cupied a prominent place in the affairs of this city and was a liberal supporter of the Episcopal Church.
During the early boyhood Mr. Wood was in- structed at home, but after the cloud of war had been lifted, entered Edenton Academy, which has always been admirably conducted, and after com- pleting a course there entered the University of North Carolina. Upon the death of his father he succeeded to his interests and continues the same, as a keen business man carrying on his in- dustries in a modern, systematic and efficient manner. When the project was first considered of founding the industry now represented by the Edenton Cotton Mill Company, Mr. Wood was one of the far-sighted business men first inter- ested and became the president of the company and has directed its business policy ever since. He has also greatly assisted other local organi- zations, through both capital and encouragement, to secure a sound foundation, this being particu- larly true of the Edenton Peanut Company and the Chowan Cotton Oil & Fertilizer Company. He
is one of the directors of the Bank of Eden- ton.
Mr. Wood was married November 11, 1886, to Miss Rebecca Anderson Collins, of Hillsboro, North Carolina, who is a daughter of Maj. George Pompelli and Anne Raffi 1 (Cameron) Collins. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have two children: George Col- lins, who became a farmer, volunteered in the aviation service in 1917 and is now in training at Austin, Texas, and Rebecca Bennchan, who resides with her parents. The family is promi- nent socially. They belong to the Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Wood fills the office of sen- ior warden.
In public affairs as well as in business Mr. Wood has taken an active and honorable part, serving for many years as a county commissioner and as chairman of the board since 1892. He was a member of the North Carolina State Board of Agriculture and demonstrates his interest in many ways. For six years Mr. Wood was a member of the board of trustees of A. & M. College, and for the past fifteen years has been a trustee of St. Mary's School, Raleigh, North Carolina.
JULIAN WOOD. Banking, farming and fishing largely engage the attention of one of Edenton's best known and most substantial citizens, Julian Wood, who is president of the Bank of Edenton, and whose additional interests identify him with many of the important enterprises of Chowan County.
Julian Wood was born at Edenton, North Caro- lina, June 27, 1863. His parents were Edward and Caroline Moore (Gilliam) Wood. His father, who died in November, 1872, had owned much productive land in this section and valuable fish- ing rights.
From the local schools Mr. Wood entered the University of North Carolina, from which insti- tution he was graduated in 1884, afterward at- tending Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. He completed his law course in the University of Vir- ginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1886. He engaged in the practice of his profession for two years at Edenton, and had not other opportunities for a more active business career opened his thor- ough education and natural gifts would undoubt- edly have won him substantial professional honors.
Mr. Wood, however, turned his talents in an- other direction, taking over fishing interests that had become of great value, and farms that needed intelligent, scientific management to bring them to their extreme of production. In some sections of the United States an owner will be proud of a "farm" that he can traverse on foot in a comparatively short time. On the other hand, Mr. Wood merely considers his cultivated estate of 700 acres as but one of his numerous inter- ests.
In 1894 Mr. Wood organized the Bank of Eden- ton and has been its president ever since, a care- ful, conservative banker who has the confidence of city and county. The prosperity of this bank attests this feeling of security.
Mr. Wood was married December 17, 1890, to Miss Elizabeth Benbury Badham, a daughter of Thomas C. and Sarah (Paxton) Badham, of Eden- ton, where Mr. Badham is a merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have seven children, namely: Julian, Thomas Badham, Sarah Louise, James Edward, Frank, Elizabeth Benbury and Mary Badham. The oldest son, Lieut. Julian Wood, is a member of Company L, One Hundred Nineteenth United
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John 9 8hour
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States Infantry, one of the brave American youths upon whom rests the winning of the World war.
As a prominent man Mr. Wood has 100 calls made continually on his time and thus finds com- paratively little leisure for either recreation or social life, but he has never failed to recog- nize his responsibilities in the line of philan- thropy and not only as a faithful member of the Episcopal Church but otherwise has been con- sistently and continuously helpful ever since he reached manhood.
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