USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 86
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On November 10, 1915, at the First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, North Carolina, Mr. Sutton was united in marriage with Miss Annie Gray Fry, who was born at Greensboro, North Carolina. Mrs. Sutton is a daughter of J. W. Fry, former general manager of the C. F. & Y. V. Railroad Company and president of the Greensboro Life Insurance Company, and now president of the Greensboro Loan and Trust Company. Her maternal grand- father was Col. Julius Gray, who was president of the C. F. & Y. V. Railroad Company and the Greensboro National Bank. Her great-grand- father was Governor John M. Morehead, and she is a direct descendant of Col. Joshua Fry, of Revolu- tionary war fame, and Meriwether Lewis, and a first cousin of Major Lewis. Mr. and Mrs. Sut- ton are the parents of one son: Frederick Isler Sutton, Jr., who was born at Greensboro Septem- ber 13, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Sutton take part in the city 's pleasant social life, but, because of his energetic nature, recreation as a means of merely passing time has never appealed to Mr. Sutton. His name may be found, however, on the list of those willingly contributing to charities and pro- moting useful and helpful organizations, and in this connection he is a member of the county board of health.
WILLIAM BARRET TAYLOR was one of the first tobacco manufacturers to recognize the possibilities of Winston and give that town its impetus in the progress which has continued until Winston- Salem is a name known all over the world.
Mr. Taylor has the traditions and inheritance of the Virginia aristocracy. He was born on a farm three miles from the City of Richmond. His paternal lineage goes back several generations to Edmund Taylor, who according to the family ac- count was one of six or seven brothers who came from England to America in colonial times. Ed- mund Taylor joined the colonists in their struggle for independence during the Revolutionary war.
Maj. Edmund Taylor, grandfather of William B. Taylor and son of the revolutionary soldier, was on the staff of Gen. Porterfield with the rank of major during the War of 1812. It is said that he was the first captain of that famous organiza- tion known as the Richmond Blues. By occupation he was a merchant and he established the first wholesale dry goods house in Richmond. Early in the last century he made a business trip to New Orleans. New Orleans was then as far away from the Atlantic seaboard as China is now in point of time and difficulty of travel, and in going to the southern metropolis he went over the moun- tains to Huntington, West Virginia, and thence by boat down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. At New Orleans he traded a cargo of sugar for 40,000 acres of land in Florida which was still a Spanish possession. While returning from the South Major Taylor was stricken with yellow fever and he died at Ronceverte, West Virginia, where his re- mains were laid to rest. Major Taylor married Frances Ann Richardson. She was born in Han- over County, Virginia, a daughter of John or Wil- liam Richardson, who was a planter and slave holder and owned a handsome estate known as Rose College. Mrs. Edmund Taylor survived her husband, was twice married after that and died a widow at the age of sixty-three. Her second hus- band was Rev. James W. Douglas and her third Doctor Wadell of Staunton, Virginia.
Prof. Henry Porterfield Taylor, father of the Winston-Salem business man, was one of the most distinguished men of his time. He was born in the City of Richmond in 1817. He was educated in Sydney College, Washington and Lee University, and Princeton College. With this training, forti- fied by his innate culture and remarkable purity of character, he entered the educational field and established a preparatory school in Richmond. He presided over that institution of learning for many years, until ill health compelled him to abandon the work. In the meantime he had bought an During the war between the states Professor Tay- lor was exempt from military duty on account of his frail health. However, he was made captain of a company of conscript guards. The best light estate three miles out of the city on the Chicka- hominy River, and that became the family home. afforded on his positive character and manhood is found in his attitude during the stormy and passionate period of the war, when partisanship and conventional conduct were most rigidly adhered to. While he believed slavery was a divine institu- tion and was not capable of being destroyed, he had some advanced views as to the methods of treating slaves and in the course of the war he wrote a very long and elaborate article in which he denounced the separation of slave families. The Confederate Government refused him permission to publish this article. Besides its main thesis it also contained some severe strictures upon the abolitionists and the republicans of the North. When the South surrendered his wife burned the manuscript fearing it would fall into the hands of the Yankees and become the basis of persecu- tion. Professor Taylor was one of the "pacifists" of his time. He abhorred war as a means of set- tlement of difficulties between individuals and na- tions, and while he was captain of the company of Conscript Guards he refused to wear a uniform. He dressed merely in citizen's clothes and went about unarmed, using moral suasion instead of a gun in making arrests. After the war he super- intended his estate and as an auctioneer he cried
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many sales in Richmond. The death of this vali- ant and sturdy character occurred November 20, 1887.
Professor Taylor married Cornelia Storrs. She was boru at Hunslet Hall in Henrico County, Vir- ginia. Her grandfather, Joshua Storrs, was a na- tive of Hunslet Hall, England, and of Quaker par- ents. His marriage out of church forfeited his birthright membership as a Quaker. Coming to America in colonial times he located in Henrico County, where he acquired a large estate and built a mansion of baronial pretensions, surrounded by ample grounds. This place is located about five miles from Richmond. After his death his son, Gervas, succeeded to the ownership, spent his lifetime there, and descendants of Gervas still own and occupy the place. Gervas Storrs, father of Cornelia Storrs Taylor, was born in Henrico County and married Martha Truehart of Hanover County, Virginia. Coruelia Taylor died at the age of eighty-three, having reared nine children: Pauline, Emily Morris, Frances Douglas, Cornelia, Mary Bolling, William Barret, Sidney, Jacquelin P., and Henry P., Jr.
William B. Taylor spent his early life on the family estate near Richmond and his early char- acter was molded by the example of his honored father and by the stormy environment of war times. Most of his early education was given him by his father. When he was only eleven years of age and while his father was in the service of the Confederate Government he had to assume many of the responsibilities of the home farm and he spent nearly every day in the fields with the slaves. The intermediate fortifications for the de- fense of Richmond were built only half a mile from the Taylor home, and during the four years of the war, while the Union forces were constantly battering at the approaches and gates of Richmond, he witnessed many scenes of carnage.
In 1868 Mr. Taylor went to work in a tobacco factory at Richmond, and there acquired a thor- ough technical knowledge of the details of the business. He was in the tobacco business at Rich- mond until 1879, when he went half way around the globe to Australia, touching at Honolulu and New Zealand on the outbound voyage. He landed at Sydney, and there became manager of the tobacco factory of Thomas Saywell. After one year on that island continent Mr. Taylor returned home, and at Liberty, now Bedford, Virginia, he accepted a tempting offer made him by Col. William Graves, a tobacco manufacturer, and was in his service for three years. His next removal was to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he entered the tobacco business under the firm name of Taylor & Gish. A year later the factory was burned. About that time Mr. Taylor visited Winston, North Carolina, which was then a small but flourishing town. He im- mediately recognized the wonderful possibilities of the Piedmont District for tobacco culture and the advantages of Winston as a point of manufacture, and coming to the conclusion that its advantages outweighed those of any other place he determined to locate there. Being unable to convince his partner, he purchased a release from the contract, and in 1884, with his brother, Jacquelin, estab- lished the tobacco factory at Winston which for so many years was conducted under the name Taylor Brothers.
In 1879 Mr. Taylor married Elizabeth McCaw Boggs, a daughter of Gen. William R. and Mary (Symington) Boggs. Her father was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West
Point and was an officer in the regular army. At the outbreak of hostilities between the North and South he resigned his commission and returned to the service of his beloved Southland and rose to the rank of general in the Confederate army.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have five children: Mary Symnington, Henry Porterfield, William Barret, Jr., Archibald Boggs, Cornelia Storrs. The daughter Mary is the wife of John L. Dillard and has one daughter, Elizabeth McCaw. Henry P. married Rosamond Straus. William B., Jr., married Frances Swain. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are active members of the First Presbyterian Church of Win- ston-Salem. Politically he is now aligned as a christian socialist. Mr. Taylor is a well read man, has studied economic and social problems and has the courage of his convictions which distinguished his father. He is also a ready writer.
JACQUELIN PLUMMER TAYLOR was the type of citizen whom Winston-Salem or any other com- munity could ill afford to lose, even though his life work had been well done before his death. He was for many years actively associated with his brother, William B. Taylor, in the manufacture of tobacco at Winston-Salem, and he was one of the pioneers in founding the great tobacco industry at that point.
He was born on a farm three miles from Rich- mond, Virginia, September 21, 1856, a son of Henry Porterfield and Cornelia (Storrs) Taylor. Of his family and his early environment reference is made in the sketch of his brother, William B. Taylor, on other pages.
He was educated both in the neighborhood schools and under his father's direction, and he started his business career as clerk in a store at Richmond. In 1884 he came to Winston and ac- cepted a position with the firm of which his brother, William B., was a member, and subse- quently the brothers formed a partnership so long known as Taylor Brothers.
Mr. J. P. Taylor was married in 1887 to Miss Sarah Dewees. She was born in Fleming County, Kentucky. There were five children: Charles Mar- shall, Edward Douglas, Jane Marshall, Pauline Wharton, and Jacquelin Plummer, Jr.
Jacquelin P. Taylor died at Winston-Salem De- cember 9, 1916. He was much more than a prac- tical and successful business man. Much study and observation had convinced him of many ad- vanced truths and he applied them in practice so that he could properly be denominated a christian socialist. At one time he was candidate of the so- cialist party in North Carolina for governor.
His interests and his character were well sum- marized in an editorial in the Winston-Salem Jour- nal following his death. The Journal said: "Mr. Taylor was one of the most highly respected and dearly loved Christian men in Winston-Salem, his endeavors always having been to advance the in- terests and help the conditions of the working people. He has been a faithful and consistent member of the First Presbyterian church in this city since moving here, and has always contributed liberally of his splendid means to his church and to others in the city as well as to all charitable and benevolent causes. One of the most dis- tinguishing marks of this noble and admirable man was his prominence and enthusiasm as a socialist. Not of the extreme or abnormally radical type but of a conscientious and workable socialism, which he thought would benefit the working man. It was this spirit that prompted him and his
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brother to increase the wages in their factory and shorten the hours of the workers."
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JAMES ALDERMAN POWERS, a member of the North Carolina bar, is known professionally and as a citizen both at Jonesboro and at Kinston, and has been in active practice at the latter city for the past eight years.
Mr. Powers was born on a farm in Pender County, North Carolina, May 11, 1882, a son of Leonidas Clifton and Ella (Alderman) Powers. His father was a farmer and his son grew up in a rural atmosphere and imbibed much of the wholesome spirit of country life while he was a boy. He acquired a liberal education, at first in the public schools and later in Wake Forest Col- lege, which he attended four years. Two years of this time were spent in the law department and in February, 1908, he gained admission to the bar. Mr. Powers practiced at Jonesboro, but in March, 1909, removed to Kinston, where he has built up a large and successful practice. While living at Jonesboro he served as mayor. He is one of the leading men in the democratic party in his county.
ROBERT L. GIBBON, M. D. One of the most in- teresting names in the medical profession of Char- lotte is that of Gibbon, there having been five generations of physicians in this family. For more than eighty years the Gibbon family has been identified with the history of Charlotte, not only in professional but in civic and official life, and its members have always contributed materially to the progress and welfare of this city. A worthy representative of the name is found in Dr. Robert L. Gibbon, one of the leading surgeons of the city, where his entire professional career has been passed. He is a native of Charlotte, and was born in 1866, being a son of Dr. Robert and Mary A. (Rogers) Gibbon, both of whom are now de- ceased.
The great-grandfather of Dr. Robert L. Gibbon was Dr. John Gibbon, a medical and surgical prac-' titioner of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in which city he carried on professional work for many years. His son, Dr. John H. Gibbon, grandfather of Robert L., was born in that city and early ex- pressed a predilection for his father's profes- sion and studied under the elder man's preceptor- ship, in addition to attending several noted insti- tutions. He rose to a high place in his calling and also became one of the distinguished men of his day, and finally, in 1835, was appointed by the secretary of the treasury to the post of superin -. tendent of the United States Mint at Charlotte. Immediately upon reaching this city he entered upon the duties of his office and remained in that capacity up to the time of the outbreak of the war between the South and the North. During those years the mint at Charlotte and the one at Philadelphia were the only one where the mintage of gold coins was carried on, and before the dis- covery of gold in California Charlotte was in fact a very important center of the gold mining in- dustry, gold mining being quite extensively car- ried on in North and South Carolina and in North- ern Georgia. After the war, and up to about the year 1913, the famous old mint at Charlotte was used as a government assay office, the coinage of gold having been discontinued. Many interesting incidents in the history of Charlotte are con- nected with the mint. Dr. John H. Gibbon, after taking up his position at Charlotte, devoted his time exclusively to the duties in connection there-
with and never resumed the practice of his pro- fession. He died in Baltimore, where he had been invited to deliver an address, and was one of the most highly respected men of his community.
Dr. Robert Gibbon, the father of Dr. Robert L. Gibbon, was born at Holmesburg, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1822, and was twelve years of age when he accompanied his par- ents to Charlotte. He inherited the family lean- ing toward medicine and after some preparation entered the Jefferson Medical College, from which he was graduated about 1848, and, returning from Philadelphia, began the practice of his calling at Charlotte. He rose rapidly in the profession, and had attained a distinguished place among medical men by the time the war between the states had come on, and was appointed chief surgeon of Lane's Brigade from North Carolina in the Con- federate Army, serving with distinction as such during the entire period of the war. When peace was declared he returned to Charlotte, where he continued to be engaged in practice during the re- mainder of his life, and here his death occurred in 1898. Some time after the close of the war his father, Dr. John H. Gibbon, established what was then a country home, now the property and a part of the grounds of the Charlotte Country Club, adjoining the city on the east. The Gibbon home remained there for many years. Dr. Robert L. Gibbon was widely and favorably known in the medical profession, a man of distinguished attain- ments and comprehensive learning, who was de- voted to his profession and an upholder of its highest ethics. As a citizen he contributed of his abilities to the securing and maintenance of good government, and in his relations with his fellow men he was honorable and straightforward in his dealings. Just after the close of the war between the states Doctor Gibbon was married to Miss Mary A. Rogers, of Charleston, South Carolina, who at that time was among the refugees from that city living in Mecklenburg County, where she was stay- ing with friends at Davidson College. She died in 1876, among her children being Robert L. and John H., the latter being a professor of surgery at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, where he has spent most of his time since his graduatiou from that institution. Dr. Robert Gibbon, after the death of his first wife, married Mrs. C. M. Harris, of Laurens, South Carolina, who survives him.
Robert L. Gibbon prepared for college in the Carolina Military College, which was then con- ducted at Charlotte by Col. J. P. Thomas, who afterward went to Citadel, at Charleston, Doctor Gibbon studied medicine at Jefferson Medical Col- lege of Philadelphia, and progressed iu his studies so rapidly that he was graduated from that in- stitution before he was twenty-one years of age and had to wait until he attained his majority in order to receive his diploma allowing him to begin the practice of his calling. He was engaged in general practice until 1910, since which time his. work has been confined to surgery, a field in which he has gained a reputation that extends far beyond the limits of his native city. Besides his office practice in this branch of the profession he is surgeon on the staffs of the Presbyterian Hospital, the Charlotte Sanitarium and Saint Peter's Hos- pital. He holds a high place in the esteem and friendship of his fellow practitioners, and is a valued member of the Mecklenburg County Medical Society, the North Carolina Medical Society, the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association,
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the American Medical Association and the Ameri- can College of Surgeons.
Doctor Gibbon married Miss Louise Erwin Wil- son, of Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina, daughter of the late Maj. James W. Wilson, who was a Confederate officer during the war between the states and later a railroad civil engineer and builder of eminence, having constructed, among other enterprises of like importance, the Western North Carolina Railroad from Salisbury to Ashe- ville. Doctor and Mrs Gibbon are the parents of five children, the eldest of whom is James Wilson Gibbon, who is a student at Jefferson Medical College, and who, when he receives his degree, will be the fifth generation of the family to be repre- sented in the medical profession.
WALKER TAYLOR the quiet and efficient business man and citizen is the most apt characterization 01 Walker Taylor of Wilmington. In the course of his active career he has done a great many things well, and such a service means more to the welfare of the community and state than individual achievement by other men which bring them more fame.
The core of his activities since early boyhood has been the insurance business. When he left the public schools at the age of thirteen he was clerk in stores for several years, and then accepted a clerkship in an insurance office. Since 1893 Mr. Taylor has been in the insurance business under his individual name at Wilmington, and represents and is a director in some of the strongest fire insurance organizations of the South. He is a director of the North Carolina Home Insurance Company of Raleigh; director of the Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, vice president of the National Fire Insurance Association, and again and again has appeared before committees of Congress in behalf of insurance legislation. His success as an insurance man by no means limits .his varied activities. He is secretary of the Wilmington, Brunswick & Southern Railway Company; president of the Mechanics Home Asso- ciation; director of the Murchison National Bank ; director of People's Savings Bank; director Wilmington Stamp and Printing Company. He is on the retired list of the North Carolina National Guard with the rank of brigadier general. He served with that organization for many years, rising from the ranks to colonel, and Governor Aycock during his administration called him back into active service as paymaster of the State Militia.
In May, 1914, Mr. Taylor was appointed United States Collector of Customs for the District of North Carolina. That office he still holds and its duties take the greater part of his time and atten- tion.
In 1896 he organized the "Boys Brigade" at Wilmington and his individual service has vitalized that organization throughout the twenty years of its successful existence. The brigade is largely made up of poor boys and these young men come together every Monday night for the purpose of social times and for such inspiration as they derive from association with and the talks given by prominent men of the city and state. Mr. Taylor himself has been on hand almost every meeting night. The organization has helped many a poor boy to secure a position and earn an honest livelihood, and it has also tended to develop manhood and a worthy purpose in life.
Mr. Walker Taylor was born in South Carolina October 26, 1864. His parents, John Douglas aud Sarah Elizabeth (Walker) Taylor, were both na- tives of North Carolina but were in South Carolina in 1864 on account of the yellow fever epidemic. The family returned to the plantation in North Carolina in 1865, and on the old farm Walker Taylor spent the first ten years of his life.
He is a member of the Cape Fear Club, and is ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington. He is an ex-director of the State Normal School at Greensboro. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is past grand chancellor of the North Carolina Knights of Pythias, is past sachem of the Improved Order of Red Men.
April 19, 1893, he married Miss Rosa Lilly Cumming, of Wilmington, daughter of Preston and Virginia (Lilly) Cumming. They have three children : Virginia is Mrs. D. S. Oliver, of Wil- mington, Mr. Oliver being associated in business with Mr. Taylor; Walker, Jr., formerly a student in Princeton University; and Katherine Grandi- son, who is a student in Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. The son and son-in-law are both now serving the country as officers in the United States Army, both being in France.
KERR CRAIGE. Keen of comprehension, and pos- sessing a broad knowledge of law, Kerr Craige, of Salisbury, Rowan County, is numbered among the leading attorneys of his community. A native of Salisbury, he comes of distinguished pioneer stock, being a descendant in the sixth generation from Archibald and Mary Craige who were among the earlier settlers in that part of the Yadkin Valley which subsequently became and is now Rowan County.
The next in line of descent was David Craige, Sr., who was an officer in the Revolutionary war and who was distinguished for his bravery and . patriotic daring. He married Polly Foster and their son, David Craige, Jr., married Mary Foster, and they were the parents of Burton Craige, who was one of the foremost lawyers of his day and who was the grandfather of Kerr Craige, of whom we write. Burton Craige married Elizabeth Erwin, who was a daughter of Col. James Erwin, of Burke County, North Carolina, and a great-granddaughter of Gen. Matthew Locke, a distinguished Revolu- tionary patriot of Rowan. County. Their son, Hon. Kerr Craige, who was also a distinguished lawyer and soldier, was the father of Kerr Craige, of this sketch.
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