USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 82
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107
On January 4, 1877, Doctor Graham married Cora James Cromartie of Bladen County, North Carolina, daughter of P. L. and E. J. (Faison) Cromartie. One son, Neill Lafayette, who died at the age of eight months, was born of this union.
JOHN WHITMAN ZIMMERMAN, D. D. S. One of the leading representatives of the dental profes- sion of Salisbury, John W. Zimmerman, D. D. S., is actively identified with one of the important branches of surgery, its application being acquired at some period of life by almost every member of the human family. A son of Alexander Zim- merman, he was born on a farm in Arcadia Town- ship, Davidson County, North Carolina, of Ger- man ancestry. His great-grandfather, Jacob Zim- merman, came with his brother Jack from Ger- many to America at an early day, and having been a Moravian, joined a Moravian colony in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and there resided until his death.
The doctor's paternal grandfather, George Zim- merman, was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and there spent the days of his boyhood and youth. In early manhood, he came to North Carolina, locating in that part of Stokes County that is now included within the limits of Forsyth County, near Bathabara, now Old Town, and having pur- chased a large tract of land there engaged in farming with slave help the remainder of his days, dying at the age of sixty-eight years. He married Martha Link, the member of an old Mora- vian family. She outlived him a short time, dying when sixty-nine years old. Both she and her hus- band were buried in the Moravian Churchyard at Old Town.
Born on the home farm, near what is now Old Town, Forsyth County, Alexander Zimmerman was reared to agricultural pursuits, and naturally adopted farming as his occupation. Coming to Davidson County in early life, he bought a large tract of land in Arcadia Township, and imme- diately began its improvement. A man of push and energy, diligent in his labors, he has met with marked success in his undertakings, his home- stead property, with its substantial buildings and
improvements, bearing evidence of his skill and ability as a farmer. The maiden name of his wife was Amanda Jane Sink. She was born in Lexington Township, a daughter of Joseph and Susan Sink, and died on the home farm, in Ar- cadia Township, when but fifty-nine years old. She was the mother of eight children, namely :- Robert, Charles, John W., Alice Virginia, Earl, Arthur, George, and Henry Grady.
John W. Zimmerman was brought up on the home farm, and as a boy attended the rural schools. After his graduation from the Arcadia High School, he taught in the Thomason District, Arcadia Township, two years. Entering then the Southern Dental College, at Atlanta, Georgia, he was there graduated with the degree of D. D. S. in the class of 1908. Dr. Zimmerman, wishing to further perfect his knowledge of dental science, took a post graduate course at the Virginia Medi- cal College, in Richmond, after which he was engaged in the practice of dentistry at Ironton, Alabama, for two years. Coming from there to Rowan County, North Carolina, the doctor opened an office in Salisbury, where, by means of his acknowledged skill, close attention to his profes- sional duties, and his upright business dealings, he has built up a large and constantly increasing patronage.
Doctor Zimmerman married, in 1914, Ollie Mae Ripple. She was born in Arcadia Township, Dav- idson County, a daughter of J. C. and Martha (Perryman) Ripple. The doctor and Mrs. Zim- merman have one child, John W. Zimmerman, Jr. True to the religious faith in which he was reared by his parents, the doctor is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Salisbury, to which his wife also belongs. The doctor is a member of the Rowan County, the North Carolina, and the National Dental societies. Fraternally he be- longs to Rowan Lodge No. 100, Knights of Pythias; and to Salisbury Council No. 26, Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
FRANKLIN SWINDELL LOVE, president of Louis- burg College, was prior to his induction in that educational post a prominent minister, holding several pastorates in North Carolina and also for a time lived in South America.
Mr. Love was born in Union County, North Carolina, October 17, 1883, a son of Thomas Lee and Mary (Williams) Love. His father for many years has been a farmer and also employed in the internal revenue government service. Rev. Mr. Love was educated in Union Institute in his native county and graduated from Trinity College at Durham in 1908. He did post-gradu- ate work in Columbia University, and in 1909 entered upon his first pastorate in the Morehead City Methodist Episcopal Church. He was there a year and then for three years was pastor of the Queens Street Methodist Episcopal Church at Kinston, and from 1913 to 1915 was connected with the Grandery College in Brazil. On return- ing to the United States he became pastor of the Page Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church at Aberdeen, North Carolina, where he remained 11% years, and in May, 1917, was chosen president of the Louisburg College at Louisburg. He was elected president of the North Carolina Confer- ence Epworth League in June, 1917.
Mr. Love is a member of the Religious Educa- tional Association, a national organization, belongs to the National Geographic Society, is a Knight Templar Mason and is grand chaplain of Royal
307
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Arch Masons for North Carolina. He is also affili- ated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
June 29, 1910, he married Miss Cornelia By- num Clegg, who died September 3, 1916, leaving two children: Cornelia Clegg and Mary Harvey.
ISAAC C. WRIGHT, one of many members of this branch of the Wright family distinguished for high intellectual and professional attainments, is a successful lawyer at Wilmington, to which city he removed two years ago after making his mark in one of the smaller communities of the state. The reputation that followed him to Wilmington has been greatly enhanced by his substantial work and he is today one of the busiest lawyers in the city.
Mr. Wright was born in Sampson County, North Carolina, in 1884, a son of John C. and Bettie V. (Herring) Wright. His father is now deceased. The family has lived for several generations in the southern half of Sampson County. His great- grandfather, John Wright, lived, died and was buried at the old Wright home place where Isaac C. Wright was born. The place is five miles east of. Parkersburg at the forks of the Big and Little Coharie, and is fourteen miles south of Clinton, the county seat. A postoffice named Coharie was formerly the Wright home, but this has been dis- continued and the people of the community now get their mail by rural free delivery. Great- grandfather, John Wright, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. His kinsman was named Isaac Wright, a resident of Bladen County. Isaac Wright had a brother named Thomas Wright, who lived in Duplin County and from whom the Slo- cums of Greensboro are descended. Mr. Clem Wright of Greensboro is a desceudant of Isaac Wright. The grandfather of Isaac C. Wright was Isaac C. Wright. His father, John C. Wright, wlio was born in 1832 and died in 1898, served through- out the war in the Confederate Army and .was lieutenant of a company which was a part of the Second North Carolina Regiment, Lane's Brigade.
Bettie V. (Herring) Wright, who is still living, had a distinguished record as an educator, not ouly of her own numerous household but of other young people as well. For twenty years she con- ducted at her home a private school for boys and girls known as Mrs. B. V. Wright's School. Her father, Bryan Whitfield Herring, was born and reared near Calypso in Duplin County and rep- resented his county in the General Assembly of North Carolina. His mother was a member of the well known Whitfield family of Eastern North Carolina. Bryan W. Herring married Penelope Sims, related to the quite numerous family of that name in Wayne and Wilson counties.
Isaac C. Wright is the youngest of nine children. Brief reference to each of his brothers and sisters is made in later paragraphs. Isaac C. Wright at- tended school at Oak Ridge Institute for one year, then entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was graduated A. B. and A. M. in 1905. While in university he distinguished himself as a leader in debating. He represented that school in two intercollegiate debates with the University of Georgia in 1904 and 1905. He was a member of the Phi Society. He also acquired his legal training at the University of North Caro- lina and the University of Chicago, being licensed to practice in September, 1906. Mr. Wright earned his first legal fees at Greensboro, where he remained for a little more than a year.
Then for about eight years he handled an increase- ing general practice at Clinton, county seat of his native county. In 1916, selecting the wider field afforded by the City of Wilmington, he became associated here in the practice of law with Mr. Graham Kenan under the firm name of Kenan & Wright. The senior member of that firm is else- where referred to. They have a voluminous gen- eral practice in the various county, state and Federal courts.
Referring again to his university career, Mr. Wright was a member of the class, that of 1905, which started the Alumni Loyalty Fund for the university. Each member of this class signed a note agreeing to give a certain amount each year for ten years as a contribution to the fund, and to meet at a reunion at the university at the end of the ten years and present the contribution to the university. The agreement was faithfully carried out. The reunion was held in 1915, and at that time this class presented the university with $1,000. Each class since 1905 has followed the good example thus set, and a permanent Loyalty Fund is being built up of much use now and of increasingly greater use to the university in years to come. Mr. Wright has always taken a keen interest in the welfare of his alma mater. He is a Phi Beta Kappa, a member of Cape Fear Lodge No. 2, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church at Wil- mington.
In June, 1910, he married Miss Bertha Dalton, of Winston-Salem, daughter of D. N. Dalton, of Dalton, Stokes County, a town named for this family. Mr. and Mrs. Wright have two children, Rebecca W. and Bertha Dalton.
Friends and others familiar with their history and careers have often remarked the Wright fam- ily as one of exceptional intellectual attainmeuts, of notable high character and ambition, and all the numerous members have worked hard in their various callings and made a name iu the world. It is truly a remarkable household that grew up as children of John C. and Bettie Wright, nine in number, all growing to useful manhood and womanhood and acquiring good educations. Brief paragraphs referring to the children other than Isaac C. follow:
W. I. Wright of Ingold, Sampson County, is a successful farmer and merchant, and is well known among agricultural circles of the state for having won at the State Fair of 1916 the first prize for the Eastern Division of North Carolina on his cotton and corn, and also the blue ribbon on a general farm exhibit. He has served as a mem- ber of the Board of County Commissioners of Sampson County. He married Miss Julia Herring of Clinton, daughter of Mr. Owen F. Herring, ex-Register of Deeds of Sampson County, and they have eight children.
Robert H. Wright of Greenville, president of the Eastern Carolina Teachers Training School, is as that position indicates, one of the notable educators of the state. He is a graduate of the State University with the class of 1898. He married Miss Pearl Murphy, daughter of the late Dr. W. B. Murphy of Tomahawk, Sampson County.
Mrs. Annie F. Kent, of Lenoir, Caldwell County, is the wife of Dr. A. A. Kent, a prominent banker and capitalist of that place and ex-president of the Medical Society of North Carolina.
Dr. John B. Wright of Raleigh is member of the firm Lewis, Battle & Wright, physicians, and is a graduate of the Medical College of Richmond.
308
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
He married Miss Violet Rhodes of Lincolnton, North Carolina, and has four children.
B. V. Wright of Laurel, Mississippi, a civil engineer, is a graduate in engineering of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Raleigh in 1901, aud is now superintendeut of Maintenance of Ways for one of Mississippi's railroads. He married Miss Bessie Herring and has four children.
Mrs. Penelope Wilson, wife of Dr. L. R. Wilson of the faculty of the University of North Caro- lina, studied music in Gunston Institute at Wash- ington, D. C. Doctor and Mrs. Wilson have two children.
Mrs. Bettie C. Smith, wife of Prof. H. B. Smith, superintendent of schools at Newbern, is a gradu- ate of the State Normal School and they have two children.
Mrs. Mary Thomas is the wife of George B. Thomas, a native of Youngstown, Ohio. Mr. Thomas is professor of electrical engineering in Colorado College at Colorado Springs but at present is on leave of absence for one year in New York City on electrical engineering for a New York firm.
EDGAR HALL. Experience teaches that the man who has followed an agricultural career during the formative and active period of his life inva- riably makes a better citizen when he is ready to turn his attention to civic duties and public service. His long hours alone, following the plow or reap- ing the harvest his hands have planted and devel- oped, teach him many things not known usually to the man who has spent his life in the busy marts. Hours of contemplation of nature and study of her lessons fit the farmer for conservative, consec- utive action when he is called upon to discharge the duties of public office, or to assume command of industrial or commercial affairs. His success in the agricultural field gives him standing in his community. In this connection the career of Edgar Hall, of Raeford, is deserving of more than passing mention. Not only were his younger and formative years passed in the flelds as a developer of the soil, but he still has large interests in agriculture. He likewise is a merchant of sound ability and standing in the business world, and has been sheriff of the county of Hoke ever since the county's or- ganization, in 1911, a movement in which he took a leading part.
Sheriff Edgar Hall was born on a farm near Hope Mills, Cumberland County, North Carolina, in 1874, being a son of Nathan and Josephine (Fort) Hall, both of whom are deceased. His father was a native of Bladen County, North Carolina, and moved from that county to Robeson County in 1874, a short time before the birth of his son. He became well known in this section of North Carolina, and when he died, in 1916, at the age of seventy-seven years, his community lost a good and public-spirited citizen and a substantial and industrious agriculturist. Mr. Hall had served throughout the war between the states as a private in the Confederate service, and during the greater part of the time was stationed at the Confederate" arsenal at Fayetteville, and was there when Fayette- ville was captured and the arsenal burned by General Sherman, whose forces took Mr. Hall prisoner. He had an excellent record as a soldier and this was continued in his life as a civilian.
Edgar Hall was brought up amid agricultural surroundings, being reared on a farm in the vicin- ity of Lumber Bridge, where his education came from the rural schools. He was brought up to
the pursuits of farming and remained in his native viciuity until 1896, in which year he settled at Dundarrach, about six miles southeast of Raeford, at that time a part of Robeson County, but now a portiou of the new county of Hoke. His early efforts were confined to farming, but subsequently he recognized and grasped an opportunity to euter mercantile affairs, and became the founder of the Duudarrach Trading Company, a large country store enterprise, of which he is still presideut. Under his able management this enterprise has grown and developed until at this time it occupies au important place in commercial affairs and car- ries on a prosperous general merchandising busi- ness with a trade that extends over a radius of some miles. Mr. Hall has also been interested in other business undertakings, having been for five or six years the proprietor of a lumber yard aud mill at Dundarrach, but has sold his interests there- in. He still continues as a farmer, having a good property of 250 acres in the Dundarrach com- munity, where he carries on general operations, and on which he has placed substantial buildings and modern improvements. Among his associates in business and in agriculture he is recognized as a shrewd, capable man of affairs, who is faith- ful to his engagements and straightforward in his dealings.
Mr. Hall has for a number of years been inter- ested in public affairs, and when the movement was promulgated for the forming of a new coun- ty from parts of Cumberland and Robeson coun- ties, in 1911, he was one of the first to come for- ward with his support and co-operation. This work resulted in the organization of the County of Hoke, and Governor Kitchen, after careful consideration, chose Mr. Hall for the office of sheriff, an ap- pointment that met with the hearty approval by the people as has been shown by his retention in office by successive elections. He has shown him- self a capable official and the law and order pre- vailing in the county speaks well for his capacity. Shortly after his appointment Mr. Hall established his home at Raeford, the county seat, in a modern residence, where he has a fine library. Fraternally Sheriff Hall is a Mason. He has an excellent military record, having been a member of the National Guard of North Carolina for several years, achieving the rank of captain. He was first lieutenant of Company F, Second North Carolina Infantry, during the Spanish-American war, and in later years was elected captain of a company organized at Raeford, attached to the Second Regi- ment, and which went into service on the Mexican border in the summer of 1916.
Mrs. Hall was formerly Miss Katie MacMillan, of Saint Pauls, Robeson County, where she was born. There are four children: Raymond, Joseph- ine, Lulu and Thelma.
ROBERT MELVIN GANTT is a member of the bar of Durham. While his record is not a long one, it is exceedingly creditable and shows that he has achieved definite success and distinction in his chosen vocation.
He was born in Cleveland County, North Caro- lina, February 10, 1886, a son of Melvin Puckett and Georgiana (Jones) Gantt. His father pros- pered as a manufacturer, farmer and merchant. The son was liberally educated, attended Belwood Institute, was a member of the class of 1909 in the literary department of Trinity College, and in 1911 graduated LL. B. from the law school. The next four years he spent in practice at Bry-
Edgar Stall
309
HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
son City, North Carolina, but since 1915 has been winning recognition among the lawyers of the old university town of Durham. He is a member in high standing of the North Carolina Bar Asso- ciation, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
December 16, 1914, Mr. Gantt married Kath- erine Claywell of Morganton, North Carolina, daughter of Robert Turner and Katherine (New- land) Claywell. Her father is a merchant.
DAVID ALLEN GARRISON, M. D. The entire tendency of modern reform and progress, scien- tific, moral and religious, is based on that thread- bare pronouncement, "Prevention is better than Cure." Vaccination as a safeguard against small- pox, free drainage, a pure water supply, the im- provement of the sanitary conditions of industrial workers, proper ventilation in homes, the paying of better wages to encourage personal morality, the classification of juvenile offenders in refor- matory and penal institutions, and the religious instruction and training of youth in countless ways, are all evidence of the value which the best minds and souls of the times place upon pre- vention.
-
Dr. David A. Garrison, the physician and re- former of Gastonia, Gaston County, is enrolled in the class imperfectly described in the foregoing paragraph. The story of his life is proof of the assertion. He was born on his father's farm in Millard Creek Township, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1865, son of Samuel A. and Jane (Hunter) Garrison, deceased. His early ancestors were English farmers who, after they came to Mecklenburg County, became planters and owners of many slaves. The first American forefather was the great-great-grandfather of the doctor, James Garrison, who was born in Eng- land and became a resident of Brooklyn. After spending a year in that city he located in Meck- lenburg County and entered 800 acres of land near the junction of Mallard Creek and Rocky River, not far from the line of Cabarrus County. He married into the Alexander family, who were among the founders of Mecklenburg County and numerous members of which still reside within it. Doctor Garrison's father was born near New- ell, Crab Orchard Township, Mecklenburg County, in 1819, and spent 21/2 years in active Confederate service. In 1862 he went out as first lieutenant of a company raised in Mecklenburg County and returned as its captain.
The mother was a member of another historic family in Mecklenburg, of Scotch-Irish origin. Her father was Silas Hunter, and her grandfather, Henry Hunter, a Scotchman who came from the North of Ireland about the time of the Revolu- tionary war and settled on the banks of Rocky River in what became known as Poplar Tent com- munity, his land lying in Cabarrus County ad- joining Mecklenburg. Henry Hunter was one of the founders of old Poplar Tent Presbyterian Church in Cabarrus County, which is still in ex- istence and is one of the historic congregations of that denomination. He was a large man intel- lectually and physically. It is said that he had to send to England for his hats, there being none to be obtained in his neighborhood large enough for him. The father of Mrs. Samuel A. Garri- son, Silas Hunter, married Jennie McCaleb, who was also from the North of Ireland. He had a
large plantation on Stony Creek, near Millard Creek Church, Mecklenburg County, reared a family of nine children, and, for a planter of those days, prospered exceedingly.
On account of the breaking of fortunes by the war and the general disarrangement of all plans based on the peaceful development of the South, David A. Garrison, as a boy, was deprived of even the most meager school privileges. He prac- tically had no schooling until he was more than twenty-one years of age, and all that he finally acquired was obtained, through his work on the farm and the money he saved from his small sal- ary as a clerk. As soon as qualified, he also taught school and applied every dollar he could save to further his medical education. In 1893 he had the satisfaction of entering the old Louisville Medical College and graduating from it with his professional degree three years later.
During his first vacation the young man ob- tained a certificate from the college authorities permitting him to practice, and thereby he earned enough money to materially further his studies. On his graduation in 1896, Doctor Garrison lo- cated at Bessemer City, Gaston County, where he practiced for twelve years, and in 1908 be- came a resident of Gastonia. Having been de- nied the benefits of education during his earlier years, even after he had commenced active prac- tice he was an eager reader and a constant stu- dent. In his professional development he has pur- sued a number of important post-graduate courses, those of recent years being mostly in the line of surgery. He has enjoyed extensive operative and clinical experience in the New York Polyclinic, under the Mayo brothers at Rochester, Minne- sota, and in various institutions at Boston, Phila- delphia, Cleveland and Baltimore (Johns Hopkins Hospital and University). In addition to his training in the science and practice of surgery, he has made special study and research in mat- ters connected with sanitation and public health. The knowledge he has gained in the latter branches has been freely applied to the local prob- lems, the solution of which was designed for the benefit of the health of the home people. In con- nection with the community work and betterment associations which he has been instrumental in organizing throughout the county in co-operation with the city and the County Chamber of Com- merce, he has lectured for several years on sani- tation, preventive medicine and the conservation of the public health generally. The result has been that there has been a remarkable improve- ment throughout the county in cleanliness, the preparation of pure food and its protection from possible infection, the adoption of vaccination, and other measures consistent with advanced pub- lic hygiene.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.