USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 89
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In Elizabeth City he made friends and attracted attention by his industry, his fidelity to his clients, and his careful examination of all questions of law involved in a case. This soon found appreciation and he was appointed official attorney of Elizabeth City and an alderman. He was also made presi- dent of the Elizabeth City Improvement Company, an organization that has been of great benefit to the town and has extended its corporate limits. He also served as director in the cotton mills, knitting mills, the Savings Bank as vice president, and as attorney for the Suffolk and Carolina Rail- way Company.
Some of the qualities that have distinguished ยท him as a lawyer are reflected in the following quotations: "Richly endowed by nature with genius and talent, highly educated, fully equipped, confident of his own strength and abilities, with the tread of a giant he entered upon the battles of life, determined by honest methods to win fame, fortune and success. He is a striking ex- ample of what an honest lawyer may accomplish. Recognizing that the law is a jealous mistress, he devoted himself to its practice with diligence and assiduity, not lured from its path by the false and flickering light of political strife.
"He was leading counsel in the celebrated Wil- cox murder case which was tried a few years ago. Public sentiment and indignation were so strong against his client that it was impossible to acquit him and he was convicted of murder, but owing to the riotous proceedings in the courthouse during the delivery of Mr. Aydlett's speech. the Supreme Court granted a new trial and at the second trial he was convicted of murder in the second degree. "
A democrat of strong convictions. while never seeking office for himself, Mr. Aydlett has given gratuitous service in its campaign contests and has been tendered a candidacy to many of his partv's choicest places. judicial and political.
"In his personality." said Colonel Creecy, "Mr. Aydlett is of medium stature, of pleasant ex- pression, denoting the happy combination of firm- ness and benevolence. He is affable. genial and companionable. kind and helpful to the younger members of the profession. To his seniors he is courteous and respectful. to the court. always def- erential, but to his equals while always observing the canons of professional courtesy, is tenacious of the rights of his clients, strikes out from the
shoulder, asks no quarter and gives none. He has the ruddy glow of health and though not of robust mold in his physical constitution, is alert, active, energetic and healthy.
"As an upbuilder of the town Mr. Aydlett's public service is invaluable. He has accumulated wealth by his own wonderful business capacity, and by his professional skill, and has expended it with a liberal hand in the improvement of the town. His investments have been large and have shown by their success wisdom and wise forecast. His love for his old home has always been a marked feature of his character. He has refused liberal offers to cast his lot in other places, always saying that Elizabeth City was the best place for him.
"But the chief claim to our gratitude and esteem is the lesson of his life and character. It is an object lesson to every young man who grows up among us who wants to be something in the community, a lesson of industry, self reliance, manhood, virtue, good habits, sobriety, integrity and love of home and home people."
A number of years ago Mr. Aydlett erected a building at the Thomasville Orphanage which would accommodate thirty-three children. The Chowan Association erected a similar building. Later Mr. Aydlett proposed to the association that he would support and maintain the thirty-three children in his building if the association would do the same for the thirty-three children in its building. While this generous offer was not accepted, it stands as a conspicuous example that has come to the knowledge of the public of his manifold benevolences. He is now and from his earliest years has been an earnest working mem- ber of the Baptist Church and has stood firm in the faith in which he was reared. Success has come to him in liberal measure, but wealth has never been an end and aim, and much that has come to him has been wisely distributed and al- lotted among numerous worthy causes.
Any man might be envied who while his powers and vigor of life are still unabated can justly and worthily be made the object of such a com- mentary as is found in an issue of the Wake Forest College Howler of 1913, an issue that was dedi- cated to Mr. Aydlett. The words of the dedica- tion read as follows: "Devoted son of Wake Forest College, salutatorian of the class of 1879, surerintendent of education of Camden county, 1881, brilliant attorney, true friend to the poor, benefactor to orphans, unselfish servant of his fellow men; counting political advancement as naught beside his chosen profession; earnest worker in the cause of truth, justice and patriot- ism. and a faithful steward of the Kingdom of God, this eleventh issue of the Howler is respect- fully dedicated."
On December 19, 1883, at Raleigh, Mr. Aydlett married Miss Ettie Hunter Briggs. Her father, Thomas H. Briggs, was a prominent business man and citizen of Raleigh. Mr. and Mrs. Aydlett became the parents of five children: Ettie Briggs, who married W. T. Minor December 5, 1911; Evelyn Lamb, who married P. G. Sawyer June 10. 1914: Edwin F. Aydlett, who died in infancy; Edwin F. Avdlett. Jr .. who married Effie Poag April 15, 1914: and Helen Byrd, who married Dr. R. L. Kendrick June 20, 1918.
THOMAS H. BATTLE. One of the foremost men of Rocky Mount, one who has been identified with and largely instrumental in founding and for- warding the leading enterprises of this city, is
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Thomas H. Battle, who is president of the Rocky Mount Savings & Trust Company and is at the head of numerous other concerns and corporations of similar importance. He also has many other claims to distinction. Mr. Battle was born at Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1860. His father, Dr. Kemp P. Battle, was formerly president of the University of North Carolina and a member sub- sequently of its faculty.
Thomas H. Battle attended school in the capital city and after completing the high school course entered the university and was graduated in law in 1882 and was licensed in the same year. In December, 1882, he opened a law office at Tarboro and two weeks later was elected solicitor of the Inferior Court. Mr. Battle remained at Tarboro for eighteen months and then came to the village of Rocky Mount, seeking a wider field for his talents, although circumstances so changed his activities that he really practiced his profession but a short time here, evincing, however, a con- ception of law that has been valuable to him per- sonally and immensely valuable to the best interests of this city, with which his life has since been so closely identified.
One of the early and important industries of Rocky Mount were the cotton mills, and when Mr. Ruffin, the treasurer of the Rocky Mount Mills, retired in 1898 Mr. Battle, who had been president of the company for years, became treas- urer with Mr. R. H. Ricks as president. They have continued in these offices to the present time. Since that time Mr. Battle's influence and busi- ness connections have grown wider and wider. In addition to the cotton mills under his direct man- agement, he is president of the Rocky Mount Savings & Trust Company, the Rocky Mount Homestead & Loan Association, and the Rocky Mount Insurance and Realty Company, and is president of the Bank of Rocky Mount.
The Bank of Rocky Mount was organized in 1889, the prime movers being Thomas H. Battle, S. E. Westray and L. F. Tillery, Mr. Westray being the first president, Mr. Battle vice president and Mr. Tillery cashier. At that time Rocky Mount was a village and the launching of so im- portant an enterprise as the founding of a bank aroused local interest and pride and the bank, well managed by Mr. Battle, prospered from the start. Five years after its organization Mr. Battle succeeded Mr. Westray as president. The capital of the bank at the beginning was $25,000 and from time to time it has been increased as its needs and the needs of the town for financial accommodation have grown until it is now The National Bank of Rocky Mount with a capital of $100,000 and undivided profits and surplus of $110,000.
This bank has to its credit the fact that it has never hesitated to back up with the necessary funds every well considered movement for the up- building of the community, and one case in point was the establishing of the Rocky Mount Tobacco Market, the first in Eastern North Carolina and by many considered a wild venture. The officers of this bank have always been men of sound, practical business sense and after thoroughly investigating conditions they were persuaded that the culture and production of tobacco in this sec- tion was certain to become a great industry if properly managed. Hence the Bank of Rocky Mount furnished the finances that established the market which has now grown to be one of the largest employers of labor and producers of wealth
in the city. It is but justice to Mr. Battle and the Bank of Rocky Mount to assert that this pros- perity has been the direct result of good judgment and business foresight on their part.
Another instance of Mr. Battle's public spirit which assisted greatly Rocky Mount's development and illustrates still another side of his noble char- acter was in connection with the Rocky Mount graded schools. At one time he gave the sum of $800 outright and assumed responsibilities that insured the completion of the school buildings of first class construction and ever since has main- tained his interest in educational advancement here and for many years served as chairman of the graded school board.
Politics as a business could never interest such a sound, wholesome man as Thomas H. Battle, but by 1886 he had grown too important to Rocky Mount to find himself able to decline election to the mayoralty and for ten consecutive years he served in that office, giving the people an admir- able administration and bringing about the mea- sures which have made it one of the pleasantest, most prosperous and sanitary little cities in Eastern North Carolina. Ou retiring as mayor he accepted a place on the board of town alder- men and ever since his influence has been used to further progress and reform.
Mr. Battle was married in 1887 to Miss Bettie Davis, of Wilson, North Carolina, who died after the birth of one son, Kemp Davis Battle. He was born October 9, 1888, and was reared at Rocky Mount and attended the high schools of Rocky Mount and Warrenton, later the University of North Carolina and subsequently the University of Denver, Colorado, in August, 1910, being ad- mitted to the North Carolina bar, after which he went to Colorado and was there admitted to the bar and practiced law for one year in Denver. In 1913 he returned to Rocky Mount, where he is now in the enjoyment of a substantial practice.
In 1895 Mr. Battle was married to Miss Sallie Hyman, and they have three children: Hyman Llewellyn, who was born August 1, 1896, com- pleted his education in the University of North Carolina in 1916 and is a resident of Philadelphia; and Ethel Hall and Josephine, both of whom are yet in school. Mr. Battle and family are mem- bers of the Rocky Mount Episcopal Church and he is one of the unostentatious supporters of many of the church's charities and benevolences.
ROMULOS SYDENHAM FOLGER, EsQ. Noteworthy among the public officials of Surry County is Romulus Sydenham Folger, Esq., of Dobson, who has served honorably and faithfully as justice of the peace for the past twenty years, and has like- wise filled other offices of responsibility in a most satisfactory manner. A native of North Carolina, he was born November 20, 1840, in Browntown, Davidson County, of pioneer stock, being a de- scendant in the fourth generation from Latham Folger, the founder of the Folger family in North Carolina, his ancestry being thus traced: Latham Folger, Reuben Folger, Milton Young Folger, and Romulus S. Folger. The branch of the Folger family to which he belongs came to this state from New England, Latham Folger having been a lineal descendant of Peter Folger, one of the original proprietors of the Island of Nantucket, which was his birthplace.
Reuben Folger was a farmer by occupation, owning and operating a plantation in what is now Forsyth County, near Kernersville, where he spent
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the last years of his life. He married Lydia Wilson, a native of Randolph County, North Caro- lina, and they reared six sous, as follows: Cyrus, Alfred, Rufus W., Benjamiu F., Jackson, and Milton Y. Three of these sons, Benjamin, Alfred and Milton, became physicians, and all of them were expert violinists.
Milton Young Folger was born on the home plantation, in Forsyth County, near Kernersville, in 1819, and there obtained his preliminary educa- tion, attending the rural schools of his neighbor- hood. Deciding upon a professional career, he read medicine with an older brother, and after the completion of his studies located first in Kernersville, later settling in Brownville, Davidson County, where he built up an excellent patronage. Coming to Surry County in 1843, he continued in active practice in Rockford until 1867, when he settled permanently in Dobson, where he held an assured position among the best known phy- sicians of the community until his death, in 1890, at the age of seventy-two years.
Dr. Milton Y. Folger was twice married. He married first Miss Elizabeth Pegram, a native of Guilford County, North Carolina. She died Au- gust, 1850, leaving four children, namely: Romulus S., of this sketch; Eunice M .; Adrian Rush; and Fannie Leslie. He married for his second wife, in 1852, Elizabeth Gray, who was born in Davie County, North Carolina, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Kelley) Gray. She died in Dobson, leaving the following named children: Joseph, Mollie, Thomas W., Maude, Metta, Alice, Ida, and Ben- jamin F.
Romulus S. Folger attended the public schools of Rockford and Dobson in the days of his boy- hood and youth, subsequently continuing his studies at East Bend under the wise instruction of Pro- fessor Livermore. In May, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Captain Reece's Company, Twenty- eighth Regiment, North Carolina troops, but was soon commissioned as first lieutenant. He remained with his command until the following spring when he re-enlisted, and was granted a furlough of thirty days, and returned to his home for a visit. Within a very short time the commander of his regiment sent an order for all men out on a fur- lough to return at once and go to the relief of Newbern, which fell, however, into the hands of the enemy before the commands reached the men thus called upon. Mr. Folger was soon after hon- orably discharged from the service, but in Sep- tember, 1862, after a short stay at home, he re- enlisted in the same company and regiment, and as first lieutenant again went to the front. Just before the battle at Chancellorsville he was com- missioned adjutant of the regiment, and subse- quently served in that official capacity until the close of the war. Mr. Folger was at Appomattox when Lee surrendered, and being allowed to keep his horse rode home after receiving his parole.
Soon after returning to his old home, Mr. Folger began the study of law at Rockford with Hon. R. M. Pearson, and there, in June, 1866, was ad- mitted to the bar. Beginning the practice of his profession in 1866, in Dobson, he met with excellent success, and continued his legal work until 1882 when he was elected county clerk of Surry County, a position that he held continuously by re-election for a period of 121/2 years. For the past twenty years Mr. Folger has served with distinction as justice of the peace, and during the time has con- ducted and won many important suits. Few have been contested, but whenever an appeal has been
made the higher courts have invariably sustained his decisions.
Mr. Folger married first, in the twenty-first year of his age, Miss Juliet Gray, who was born in Davie County, North Carolina, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Kelley) Gray. She died at the age of forty years, leaving four children, namely : Romulus Roscoe, a dentist in Dobson; Mary J .; Walter C., who achieved success as a physician, died at the age of forty-three years; and Rush G., engaged in mercantile pursuits in Dobson. Mr. Folger married for his second wife Miss America C. Booker and of their union two children have been born, Myrtle and Ruth.
Mr. Folger is prominent in public affairs, and has served as a member of the board of town commissioners and of the board of education, while in 1880 he was census enumerator. Fra- ternally he is a non-affiliating member of the An- cient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
HON. JAMES LACY MAYO is one of the promi- nent newspaper men of North Carolina and has also been an active figure in public affairs, being the present representative from Beaufort County in the State Legislature.
He was born on a farm in Beaufort County Oc- tober 28, 1878, a son of Lacy R. and Dorcas E. (Potter) Mayo. He grew up on a farm, largely educated himself, and by his own ability and resources has gained a creditable position in his native state. On August 4, 1909, Mr. Mayo es- tablished the Washington News, and his success with this paper has led to his acquiring the Belle- haven Journal, a weekly paper, while on June 15, 1917, he established the Greenville News at Greenville, North Carolina.
Mr. Mayo was appointed clerk of the Superior Court of Beaufort County in 1908. He took an active part in the Legislature during his mem- bership, and one measure which he advocated and introduced was the stock law bill. This measure passed both houses as a result of his hard work, but was finally knocked out. The bill contained the same provisions which are now being pushed by the United States Government in Eastern North Carolina to eradicate the stock tick and estab- lish laws regarding live stock. Mr. Mayo is a member of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his church is the Methodist.
He married Miss Ella D. Phillips. They are the parents of six children: Lillian Ruth, Lacy Rayfield, Ella Elizabeth, James Lacy, Jr., George Philip and Stella Catherine.
HON. J. ELWOOD Cox. Forty years ago J. Elwood Cox was interested in a small lumber manufacturing concern at High Point. Through his energies a business has been built up in the manufacture of hard wood stock for shuttles, bobbins, etc., which now has plants in operation in several other states and is one of the primary sources of production of these specialties in the country. The business has a large export as well as domestic trade. For about thirty-seven years Mr. Cox had the principal responsibilities of this business, but recently he incorporated it as the J. Elwood Cox Manufacturing Company, and has turned the management over to his nephew, Joseph D. Cox.
Large and important though this manufacturing
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company is, and one of the bulwarks of High Point's greatness as a lumber and furniture cen- ter, it by no means measures the extent and scope of Mr. Cox's interests. Though a resident of that town most of his active life, his activities have been by no means parochial in character, but have earned him a conspicuous place among the nation 's manufacturers and bankers. His associates say that Mr. Cox has achieved success largely by his capacity for tireless work and the power of con- centration upon business detail rarely excelled. For years he has been one of the prominent members of the American Bankers Association and is now president of the National Bank Section of that association. A man of wealth, he is at the same time one of the most public spirited and liberal citizens of High Point. His name and reputation have traveled far and by various ave- nues. Many North Carolina people know him as a prominent leader in the republican party of the state. In 1908 he was republican candidate for governor and materially reduced the former democratic majority.
While his achievements have been to a large degree the expression of his rich and varied char- acter and energy, Mr. Cox undoubtedly owes much to the wholesome ancestry that preceded him. He comes of a long line of sterling Quakers. His great-grandparents were John and Miriam Cox. Little is known of John Cox beyond the fact that he lived and died in Perquimans County. His will filed with the records of that county was pro- hated in February, 1813. Joseph Cox, grand- father of J. Elwood, was born in 1783, in Perqui- mans County, and owned and occupied a farm of 300 acres between Hertford and Woodville in that county. He was a man of good education, a teacher, and also a Quaker preacher. He died at the early age of thirty-five. Margaret Roger- son, his wife, was a daughter of William Roger- son, who was with the colonists in their struggle for independence. He participated in Arnold's expedition to Quebec. In one battle he was severely wounded. His skull was fractured by a piece of shell and it was trepanned with a silver dollar. It was a rare piece of surgery for that time and he lived many years afterward. His daughter Dolly married Henry Copeland, and became a famous Quakeress and abolitionist. Her home in Eastern North Carolina was a station on the underground railway through which many a slave passed on his way to freedom. Margaret Roger- son Cox married for her second husband Thomas Elliott. She reared two sons, Joseph and Jona- than Elliott.
Jonathan Elliott Cox, father of J. Elwood, was born in Perquimans County January 21, 1818. He was educated in the New Garden Boarding School, now Guilford College, in Guilford County, having entered that school the first year it was founded, in 1837. While there he met a fellow student, Elizabeth Hare, whom he afterwards married. For a time he taught school, but after his marriage located on a farm in Northampton County and lived there until the breaking out of the war. He then returned to New Garden to take charge of the boarding school property, and while he was master his wife was matron. He lived in that community a number of years, but finally retired to High Point, where he died June 16, 1895. He always held to the faith of the Friends and was a church official.
Elizabeth Hare, his wife, was born September 29, 1817, daughter of John and Edna (Porter)
Hare, a granddaughter of Henry and Jane (John- son) Hare, and great-granddaughter of John Hare, who was a native of England but came to America and settled at Suffolk in the southeastern part of Virginia. Edna Porter, mother of Elizabeth Hare, was a daughter of William Porter and grand- daughter of John Porter. All these were mem- bers of the Society of Friends. Elizabeth Hare Cox died October 5, 1891. Jonathan and Eliza- beth Cox reared four children, named Margaret, Dr. Joseph J., Mary E. and J. Elwood.
J. Elwood Cox was born on a farm in Rich Square in Northampton County, North Carolina, November 1, 1856. Like his father, he was edu- cated in the New Garden Boarding School and afterwards was sent west to a noted Quaker insti- tution of higher learning known as Earlham Col- lege at Richmond, Indiana. He also had a business course in a college at Baltimore. Among his early experiences was teaching a rural school and selling fruit trees as a traveling salesman.
Some time after his marriage Mr. Cox entered business with his wife's father. The business might be described generally as lumber manufac- turing, but its specialty from the first was the manufacture of shuttles for cotton mills. Soon thereafter his father-in-law retiring, he succeeded to the business, and it was under his able personal management and control that by successive stages it has reached the highly substantial position al- ready described. Mr. Cox is still president of the company, though as noted the active management devolves upon his nephew.
Mr. Cox is probably more widely known as a banker than as a manufacturer. When the Com- mercial National Bank of High Point was organ- ized in March, 1891, he was chosen its first presi- dent, and has continued to fill that office now for over a quarter of a century. Under his manage- ment this bank has grown to a point where it may properly be named with the larger banks of any state. Its showing is particularly admirable in the fact that its surplus and profits now exceed its capital stock of $150,000. The bank had total resources in the summer of 1918 of more than $3,000,000, its deposits aggregating nearly $2,500,- 000. The institution has never failed to pay a semi-annual dividend of from four to six per cent. Mr. Cox is also president of the High Point Savings and Trust Company and is a director of the First National Bank of Thomasville, North Carolina, the Greensboro Loan and Trust Com- pany, the Virginia Trust Company, and the Jef- ferson Standard Life Insurance Company.
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