USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 78
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In the half century that has elapsed since the exploits of the southern blockade-runner, Mr. Sprunt has devoted his energies to the building up of a great cotton business, at first in association with his father, and later as head of a firm com- posed of himself and his brother William H. Sprunt that maintained fifty-three agencies in for- eign countries. It was the immense volume of business handled by this firm that was responsible for Wilmington becoming the fifth cotton port in the United States.
Through it all much of his time and energies have been engaged by community and public interests. For many years he has been prominent in all the activities of the Presbyterian Church. He has served as president of the Wilmington
Friend Society, president of the Young Men's Christian Association, president of the State Literary and Historical Association of North Caro- lina, chairman of the board of commissioners of Navigation and Pilotage, secretary of the Wil- mington Lyceum and member of the city schools committee, and is a member of the board of trustees of the University of North Carolina, which honored him with the degree of LL. D. He is also a member causa honoris, of the Alpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society of the College of William and Mary in Virginia. In 1884 he suc- ceeded his father as British vice consul at Wil- mington, and served in that capacity for thirty-one years. When the Cuban war vessel "Cuba" was seized and dismantled at Wilmington by the Federal authorities, Mr. Sprunt as vice consul pre- pared for the British government a full report of the case, which was highly complimented by Lord Salisbury. In this connection it should be said that later, when Captain Maffitt took command of the Cuba, he offered Mr. Sprunt the position of executive officer.
The best review so far of Mr. Sprunt's work and character as a literary man is found in a sketch of Prof. J. G. DeRoulhac Hamilton, who says :
"What he has produced is of such character as to make those familiar with it wish that all his time might be given to writing. He writes in a style distinctively his own and with a quaint di- rectness that charms the reader. Combined with this, he is possessed of a keen historical perception, has the power of analysis coupled with a sense of proportion, always treats a subject without preju- dice, and is extremely accurate and painstaking. The Lower Cape Fear has naturally attracted most of his attention and has furnished the subject of most of his historical work.
"His first work of the kind was a large pamph- let which he published in 1883 when he retired from the presidency of the Wilmington Produce Exchange. Entitled 'Information and Statistics of Wilmington, North Carolina,' it collected and gave many facts of historical importance.
"In 1896 he published a work which was more historical in character and more literary in treat- ment, 'Tales and Traditions of the Lower Cape Fear.' The book, as its name implies, was not intended to be a critical history; its object was to awaken interest in the subject of the Cape Fear region and preserve those traditions which, handed down for many years by word of mouth, lend a charm to any locality to which they relate, and notably so, as far as concerns North Carolina, in the case of the Cape Fear country. This object has been attained, for the book has been widely read and has lent new impetus to the study of the proud history of the Lower Cape Fear. Two years later he published an interesting little pamphlet entitled 'A Colonial Apparition.' This is historical fiction of the most interesting kind.
"In 1901 he wrote in the first volume of the North Carolina booklet, 'Tales of the Blockade of the Cape Fear.' This subject he is particularly fitted to treat, and in the same year he contributed to the North Carolina Regimental History an article of considerable length on the subject, en- titled 'Blockade-running of the Cape Fear.' This account of blockade running out of Wil- mington would be valuable under any circum- stances, for it is an accurate and interesting contribution to that important part of the history of the Civil war. But as it is the only account
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we have of blockade-running in North Carolina, and one which includes much incidental history of the conditions existent at the time it is invalu- able. An interesting and valuable part of the article is a long list of blockade-runners and their pilots. This is information which could not 'be obtained even now, and Mr. Sprunt has performed a valuable service in preserving it. The article also includes a short biography of Captain Maf- fitt and of several other men prominent in the history of the blockade. It is a matter of regret that it has never been published separately. The importance of the blockade-running has never been fully appreciated, and a full history of the part Wilmington played in it would be very valu- able. No man could write it as well as Mr. Sprunt, and it is to be hoped that he may yet undertake the work.
"The same year two addresses which Mr. Sprunt had delivered before the North Carolina Society of Colonial Dames at Old Brunswick were published by the society. They were 'Old Bruns- wick' and 'Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilming- ton.' Both are accurate and scholarly and form another valuable contribution to our history.
"Mr. Sprunt has written several memorial monographs on the occasions of the death of three of Wilmington's most distinguished and valued citizens, namely: Hon. George Davis, formerly attorney general of the Confederacy; David G. Worth, Esq., and Dr. A. J. DeRossett." Professor Hamilton also mentions "A Blockade- runner's Yarn, " "A Colonial Admiral of the Cape Fear," and some verse of "genuine merit and great sweetness, "' among which he ranks "The Bell Buoy" as probably the best and "The Wilderness"' for its remarkable word painting.
Since the above was written Mr. Sprunt has gratified the expectations of his friends by bring- ing out a work of first magnitude, "Chronicles of Cape Fear River, 1660-1916."' published at Raleigh in 1917. A convincing recommendation of its historical and literary quality to a host of Amer- ican readers of historical literature who have not hitherto been made acquainted with the writings of Mr. Sprunt is the following brief review which appeared in "the New Republic."
"Few community histories, except those of the upper Atlantic seaboard cities, are richer in tra- ditions and events connected with the vivid points in. American history than the history of the Cape Fear River Colony, Wilmington and North Caro- lina. This is an amusing and veracious chronicle of this particular community, documented and detailed. The author has diligently searched the records, including articles by those who have written special monographs, and his own memory takes him back beyond the Civil war. His per- sonal experiences in blockade-running, together with the experiences of his friends, furnish rather illuminating precedents for the student of inter- national law on the seas. It is with something of a start of discovery at the immutable qualities of human nature that one reads of the incident of the War of 1812 when 'A diving vessel of the Americans' made an attempt to sink a British blockade ship, commanded by Sir Thomas Hardy. The English captain promptly called this 'a most atrocious proceeding,"' threatening to bring a hundred American prisoners of war to the boat, who would certainly perish, if the second attempt proved successful. Thereupon relatives of the prisoners urged petitions which were presented to the American Government to induce its execu- tive to prohibit the use of the diving vessel and its
armament in future naval warfare.' Of course Mr. Sprunt does not pretend to give any economic interpretation of his facts, after the manner of the new embarrassing historians. He is content to set down what he knows, flavoring the hard records with the spice of stories and anecdotes. But the historian who wants a naive, unconscious account of one cross-section of American history could hardly go to a more fruitful place than to this characteris- tic community chronicle."
WILLIAM J. MCDIARMID. The plantation near Raeford in Hoke County owned by William J. Mc- Diarmid is doubly interesting, not only for the high standards of its agricultural efficiency but also for the many family associations which center around it.
The McDiarmids are fine examples of the best type of sturdy, thrifty, God-fearing Scotch people who made this section of North Carolina one of the wealthiest and in some respects the most desirable part of the state. The founder of the family was William L. McDiarmid, grandfather of the present proprietor of the plantation. He was a native of Scotland and in the early days came to what was then a part of Cumberland County, now Hoke County. He lived here the life of a prac- tical planter the rest of his days.
The McDiarmid plantation where three genera- tions of the family have lived is on Toney's Creek in Quewhiffle Township on the Pike Road three miles west of Raeford. The original home of William L. McDiarmid was on the old Lumberton and Carthage Road, near where it joins the Pike Road.
This farm was for many years the scene of the activities of David A. McDiarmid, who was born in 1840, at the same place now occupied by his son William J. He was a soldier all through the war between the states, and his four brothers were also in the service, all of whom came out unscathed by wounds from enemies. David A. McDiarmid, who died several years ago, was at one time a county commissioner of Cumberland County and for a long period of time was a local magistrate. His home and residence were always in Cumberland County, since Hoke County was not created until 1911.
David A. McDiarmid married Mary E. Bostic, who is still living. She was born in Upper Rich- mond County, daughter of the late James Bostic, founder of Bostic's Mills in that county and mem- ber of a numerous and prominent family of that name.
William J. McDiarmid was born in 1872. At the time of his birth his parents were living tem- porarily on a farm a few miles below Raeford. However, he grew up and has made his home since childhood on the old McDiarmid plantation above described. His father at one time owned about 1,300 acres, but the present plantation consists of about 500 acres. A portion of William J. McDiarmid's youth was within the period known as the Reconstruction era, while the South was struggling to rehabilitate itself after the ravages of war. For that reason he had more limited opportunities than the position of his family socially would have otherwise justified. Then when . he was nineteen years of age his father died and that threw upon him responsibilities practic- ally equivalent to necessitating a complete new start. When he took the management of the plantation he found many of its resources depleted and the wealth of the land ineffective and un-
DAVID A. McDIARMID
I. S. Mc Diarmid
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productive because of long years of neglect. It has been his task to revive and rebuild the old farm, and today there is not a better farm in all Hoke County. Mr. McDiarmid well sustains the reputation throughout this section as a modern and up to date agriculturist, one who makes a busi- uess and a very successful one out of crop grow- ing. His staple crop is cotton.
Mr. McDiarmid is an elder in Bethel Presby- terian Church. This church is only a short dis- tance from his home. Both his father and grand- father before him were elders. Much valuable history pertaining to this part of North Carolina centers around Bethel Church. It was founded by the Scotch Presbyterians during their early settlement in North Carolina, and the story of the church goes back as far as the year 1797.
William J. McDiarmid married Miss Carrie Thomas, a granddaughter of James and Charlotte (Roper) Thomas, and a daughter of William Jack- son and Mary Jane (Covington) Thomas. These family names have long been prominent in North Carolina, and other information concerning the Thomas family will be found on other pages of this publication.
JOSEPHUS DANIELS. From editor of a country paper in North Carolina at the age of eighteen, Josephus Daniels has become one of conspicuous figures in American political life, though he is still a North Carolina publisher and one of the most loyal and devoted citizens of that state.
He was born at Washington, North Carolina, May 18, 1862, a son of Josephus and Mary (Cleves) Daniels. His education was completed in the Wil- son Collegiate Institute of this state, and at the age of eighteen he was publishing at Wilson his first paper, The Cornucopia. Since then for thirty- five years he has been closely identified with journalism in his native state. With a genius for this profession, he is one of the few who have kept their profession standard inviolate. His work as a journalist and editor has been distinguished by a certain fearlessness and a depth of moral conviction on every issue which he has espoused or opposed. In 1885 Mr. Daniels was admitted to the bar, but has uever used his legal knowledge to practice. In the same year he became editor of the Raleigh State Chronicle, and in 1894 con- solidated the State Chronicle and the North Caro- linian with the News and Observer, and has since been its editor.
From 1887 to 1893, Mr. Daniels was state printer for North Carolina. He served as chief clerk in the Department of the Interior at Washington, from 1893 to 1895. In the democratic party he has been a member of the Democratic National Com- mittee for twenty years, longer it is said, than any other national committeeman except one. In the campaign of 1908 he was chairman of the Literary Bureau and in the campaign of 1912, was chairman of the Press Committee at Baltimore and chairman of the Publicity Committee in the subsequent campaign. On March 5, 1913, he be- came Secretary of the Navy in President Wilson 's cabinet and since then has been a constant figure in national affairs.
He has been a member of several democratic national conventions, has served as a trustee of the University of North Carolina, was at one time president of the North Carolina Editorial Asso- ciation.
On May 2, 1888, he married Addie Bagley,
daughter of Major W. H. Bagley and a sister of Ensign Walter Bagley, the first American and the only officer killed in the Spanish-American war. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels have four sons.
ROMULUS ARMISTEAD NUNN. During nearly twenty years of active membership in the New- bern bar Mr. Nunn has gained many euviable distinctions in his profession, and along with these have gone numerous services in behalf of the gen- eral welfare of his state and community. He is an able lawyer and a conscientious and duty-per- forming citizen.
He was born in Jones County, North Carolina, June 22, 1876, a son of Henry S. and Nancy F. (Koonce) Nunn. From 1885 to 1891 Mr. Nunn attended the public schools of Newbern, was a student in Davidson College duriug 1894-95, and following that was enrolled in the University of North Carolina until 1897. He studied law in private offices and was admitted to the bar in 1898.
Mr. Nunn is attorney for and was one of the first stockholders of the Newbern Building & Loau Association. For nine years he has been city attorney. Educational movements have always taken a strong hold upon his interests, and he has done much for the benefit of the local schools. For ten years he served as chairman of the Board of Education of Craven County, is a trustee of the graded schools, and is also a member of the township school board. Other strong interests are in behalf of good roads, the State Sanitarium for Consumptives, and he is now a director of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society. Mr. Nunn was elected and served as a member of the Legislature of 1911. He is active in the chamber of commerce, and is chairman of the relief fund for volunteer firemen at Newbern.
Mr. Nunn was married April 28, 1903, to Eliza- beth Guion Nicholls, of New Orleans, Louisiana, daughter of Gen. Francis T. Nicholls, twice gov- ernor and long chief justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. They have two children: Elizabeth Nicholls and Eleanor Drake.
Mr. Nunn is a member of the college fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the United Sons of Confederate Veterans.
WALTER EUGENE DANIEL has had a brilliant career as a lawyer in Halifax County, where he began practice over thirty-five years ago and where he has enjoyed every form of success and honor which the trne and able lawyer values most highly.
Mr. Daniel was born August 14, 1859, at Wel- don, where his own active career has been spent as a "prophet not without honor in his own country. "' His parents were Rufus Whitfield and Narcissa (Allen) Daniel. His father was a merchant. Walter E. Daniel received his first advantages in private schools. In 1878, before he was nineteen years of age, he graduated from Wake Forest College, valedictorian of his class, and with the degree Master of Arts. He studied law with Judge Strong at Raleigh and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1880, and was thus prepared to take up his professional career at the time he reached his legal majority. He begau build- ing up a practice at Weldon on January 1, 1881, and has been steadily at work there ever since. For four years while gaining his first honors as
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a lawyer he served as solicitor of the Inferior Court and for twelve years occupied the more responsible positon as solicitor for the Second Judicial District. Mr. Daniel served as a member of the State Senate of North Carolina in 1907 and again in 1913, he is a trustee of the State College of Agricultural and Engineering Arts of Raleigh, a trustee of Wake Forest College, presi- dent of the Bank of Weldon, director of the Weldon Manufacturing Company and of the Shaw Cotton Mill, deacon of the Baptist Church and member in high standing of the North Carolina and American Bar associations.
June 6, 1888, Mr. Daniel married Jeannette E. Snead, of Fluvanna County, Virginia. They have become the parents of a family of eight children: Jeannette is the wife of Ashby W. Dunn, an at- torney at Scotland Neck, North Carolina; Eugene Allen is in the banking business at Weldon, North Carolina; Lieut. Charles Rufus is serving his country in the National Army; Donald Snead was a student in the University of North Carolina until he enlisted in the aviation service; Louis Broaddus is in the Agricutural and Engineer- ing College at Raleigh; and the younger children are Narcissa Bruce, a high school student, and Walter Eugene, Jr., and John Wallace in gram- mar school.
JOSEPH FLORENCE LEITNER. Among the labors which enlist the activities of mankind there are none which have a more important bearing upon the growth and development of a community than those which have to do with the building and architecture and their allied interests. The pro- fessions which fashion and erect the homes of citizens and the buildings which house large enterprises are among the oldest and most honored, and in their ranks are found men who have risen to high positions in the world. The communities in which are found men of enterprise and energy in these fields seldom lack civic zeal and progress, and in this direction Wilmington has been singu- larly fortunate. In the ranks of the leading architects of this part of North Carolina, one of the most prominent is Joseph Florence Leitner, whose operations have covered practically all of this state, and have extended to adjoining com- monwealths of the South.
where he designed many of the largest buildings, notably the Union Station and the office building of the Atlantic Coast Line, the Wilmington Sav- ings and Trust Company and the American Bank and Trust Company. That his standing is high in his profession is shown in the fact that he has twice been president of the North Carolina Archi- tectural Association, and that he belongs to the North Carolina State Board of Architecture, which has charge of the examinations and registrations of all architects practicing in
the state. He stands high in Masonry, having reached the thirty-second degree and the Shrine. Since com- ing to Wilmington he has been deeply interested in the city's welfare, and no citizen has been more active in the promotion of progress and advance- ment and none enjoys a higher standing, either in business or social circles.
On February 1, 1895, Mr. Leitner was married to Miss Mavie Zachary, of Augusta, Georgia, daughter of William N. and Harriet (Griffin) Zachary.
WILLIAM J. OLIVE. North Carolina rivals any state in the Union in the wealth of illustrative material it can furnish depicting the development of factories, the building up of communities and the fascinating processes involved in hundreds of individual fortunes. The important fact of it all is how in so many cases individual men or women have exercised their efforts with such effective purpose as to practically create these factories, communities and personal fortunes. Such men have not been overwhelmed by the destiny of events, but have ordered that destiny according to their own desires.
All of this is a preface to a little story which centers in the extreme western part of Harnett County, in Barbecue Township, on the Sanford branch of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway. In former years something resembling a village or- ganization existed known as Rock Branch. About half a dozen years ago, in October, 1912, William J. Olive, who had found some profit and had derived a great deal of enthusiasm and interest in the culture of tobacco along the Dan River in Rockingham County, came to Rock Branch, seeking a new location. Tobacco had been grown at Rock Branch but never on a commercial or con- centrated scale. It was Mr. Olive's hope and in- tention to make this country an important source of the leaf tobacco of North Carolina.
Mr. Leitner was born in Columbia County, Georgia, June 13, 1871, and is a son of Henry Daniel and Annie (Jackson) Leitner. His father was a well known wholesale druggist of Augusta, Many men have splendid visions, but cannot contrive to utilize their limited means in realizing them. Mr. Olive brought with him less than five hundred dollars cash capital. He applied some of it on the purchase price of $5,200 for 600 acres. As soon as he gained possession he began clearing and preparing the land for tobacco culture. His own labor was only a small part of a general plan, which involved the interesting of a number Georgia, where the youth secured his early edu- cation, following which he entered Emory College School of Technology, now the Georgia School of Technology. He secured his initial experience in the offices of various architects in the East and West, and in 1890 began the practice of his profession at Augusta, Georgia, in partnership with A. W. Todd, under the firm style of Todd & Leitner." This association continued until 1893, . of tobacco farmers to become tenants and operators when the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Leit- on his land. ner continued alone at Augusta until 1905, when About that time Mr. Olive made the acquaint- ance of Mr. J. A. Harps, who had become a large landowner in this vicinity and had established a profitable specialty in the growing of peaches. Mr. Harps was a capitalist from Greenville, Ohio, one of the important centers of the Ohio tobacco production, and was therefore open to the argu- ments advanced by Mr. Olive that he use some of his land and facilities for growing tobacco. To- day the Harps tobacco farm, adjoining that of he came to Wilmington and opened an office for business as J. F. Leitner. In January, 1917, he opened a branch office at Atlanta, Georgia. His operations have covered the states of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama, and have included the designing of courthouses, libraries, office buildings, bank buildings, schools and private residences. Some of his finest and most artistic work may be seen at Wilmington,
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Mr. Olive on the south, is said to be the largest and one of the best tobacco plantations in the South.
In 1918 Mr. Olive put in an individual crop of fifty acres in tobacco. But within a very small radius surrounding his own property, on tracts that have been sold to tobacco farmers, an acre- age of fully a thousand has been planted to the weed. During the last two months of 1917 Mr. Olive sold over $40,000 worth of small farms within two miles of Olivia, all devoted to to- bacco planting. He has thus become the founder of the tobacco industry in Harnett County, and the citizens of the old community of Rock Branch, recognizing the value of what he has done, changed the name of the village to Olivia. With the influx of numerous families many substantial homes have been built, and a back- woods, unprogressive district has been transformed into one of the livest and most forward-looking sections of the state.
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