USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 94
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It may truthfully be said of him: "While yet in love with life and raptured with the world, he- passed to silence and pathetic dust. Yet after all it may be the best, just in the hapiest, sunniest hour of all the voyage, while eager winds are kiss- ing every sail, to dash against the unseen rock and in an instant hear the billows roar above a sunken ship. For whether in mid-sea or 'mong the break- ers of the farther shore, a wreck at last must mark the end of each and all and every life, no matter if its every hour is rich with love, and every mo- ment jewelled with joy, will at its close become. a tragedy as sad and deep and dark as can be woven of the warp and woof of mystery and death.''' CLYDE R HOEY.
JOSEPH ADOLPHUS WILLIAMS is an educator by profession. took up school work when a young man and has steadily increased his opportunities and his abilities by experience and by attendance at. the higher institutions of learning. He is now the capable superintendent of the graded schools of Clinton.
Mr. Williams was born at Bladenboro in Bladen County, North Carolina, December 30, 1873. His people were substantial farmers of Gladen County, he being the son of Charles Wesley and Abigail (Lennon ) Williams. He grew up on a farm, attended the public schools at Bladenboro, includ- ing the high school, the Robinson Institute at Lumberton. and subsequently finished his collegiate work in Wake Forest College. from which he holds the degree A. B., and by advanced work during vacations he was granted the Master of Arts de- gree by Columbia University at New York in 1916.
Mr. Williams began as a teacher in the public schools, and since 1903 much of his work has been in high schools or as superintendent. He was principal and superintendent of Stinceon Institute, of the Spencer graded schools, of the Greensboro High School. and in 1914 was elected to his present post as superintendent of the Clinton
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graded school system. He has done much to im- prove the curriculum and raise the standards of the local schools at Clinton, and these are now among the best in the state.
Mr. Williams is a member of the North Caro- lina Teachers Assembly, and fraternally is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He is a member of the Missionary Baptist church and teacher of the Baraca class at Clinton. Mr. Williams married, June 2, 1915, Miss Florence Nightingale Page, of Morrisville, North Carolina.
WILLIAM GASSAWAY GAITHER, JR. While it would be transcending the bounds of exact reality to state that this is the young man's age, cer- tain it is that of recent times, men of the younger generation have come to occupy positions and shoulder responsibilities held and assumed before only by men many years their senior. Elizabeth City has its full quota of progressive young man- hood in business circles, and in this class one of those who stands undoubtedly among the leaders is William Gassaway Gaither, Jr., whose im- portant and varied connections make him one of the best known figures in the business world of the county seat of Pasquotank County. He is a native son of the Old North state, and was born at Hertford, December 2, 1887, his parents being William Gassaway and Elizabeth (Skinner) (Wood) Gaither.
The father of Mr. Gaither was for many years an educator well known at Hertford, and in his later life became connected with the steamboat business, but during the son's boyhood the fam- ily was in modest financial circumstances, and after the youth had received an ordinary edu- cation in the public schools he began contributing to his own support when only twelve years of age. His first employment was as a messenger, in addition to which he did odd jobs around the depot at Hertford, and as he was ambitious and obliging, and always willing to undertake any honorable task that presented itself, he was able to make noticeable and rapid advancement. From messenger he was promoted to freight clerk, and later to ticket agent and telegraph operator, which positions he held when still in his youth. He had fixed his goal far ahead, however, and when the opportunity presented itself, in his eighteenth year, he accepted the position of book- keeper with the Hertford Banking Company, for the duties of which he had prepared himself by study while working at his other employment. He rose in this institution to the position of assistant cashier, but June 10, 1909. resigned this office and came to Elizabeth City to become assistant cashier of the First National Bank. On May 1. 1912, he was elected cashier, an office in which he served until June 12, 1918, when he re- signed to enter the Virginia Military Institute Training Camp to fit himself for service in the army. He was at Camp Wadsworth, South Caro- lina, and was recommended for entrance to an Officers' Training School. On September 10th he was transferred to the Central Officers' Training School at Camp Lee, Virginia, from which camp, after the signing of the armistice, he was honor- ably discharged from the service. Upon returning home Mr. Gaither was elected a director and active vice-president of the institution with which he was formerly connected, assuming his new du- ties December 16, 1918.
On various occasions Mr. Gaither has con-
nected himself with enterprises with names of importance in the business world, and is inter- ested in a number of prominent concerns, in several fields, being president of the Albemarle Motor Company, a partner in the Automobile and Gas Engine Works, treasurer of the Highland Park Residential Company, and a director in the Elizabeth City Cotton Mills, the Culpepper, Griffin, Old & Grice Company, fire insurance and bonds, and the D. M. Jones Company, a hard- ware concern. Aside from business life, he has played no inactive part in progressive advance- ment of the city of his adoption, being a director of the Young Men's Christian Association, and a member of the Pasquotank County Council of National Defense. His religious faith makes Mr. Gaither an Episcopalian, and he was a vestry- man and also served in the capacity of church treasurer. He also served as a member of the board of aldermen of Elizabeth City, and the justly high esteem in which he is held by his business associates and others is shown in the fact that on two occasions he has been elected president of the Chamber of Commerce. As a fraternalist, Mr. Gaither is past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On November 7, 1917, he was married to Miss Helen Virgilia Robinson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Robinson, of Elizabeth City.
ROBERT R. RAGAN probably sustains more active and responsible relations with the larger business affairs in High Point and that section of the state than any other individual. A dozen or more manu- facturing and business enterprises and banks value him as one of their directors, and in several of these concerns he is one of the chief executive officials.
Mr. Ragan was born at High Point, son of Amos and Martha (English) Ragan. His paternal grand- parents were Joseph and Elizabeth (Paine) Ragan, while his maternal grandparents were Thomas and Mildred (Tomlinson) English. His father, a native of Davidson County, moved to Guilford County when a young man and bought a farm. During the war between the states he carried the mail between Bennettsville and Winston-Salem. He was a very alert and pro- gressive business man, carried on a large enter- prise as a farmer and stock raiser and stood high in the esteem of a large community. He lived on his farm until his death. His widow is still living on the old homestead. They had a family of thir- teen children, named Susan, Minnie, Walter, Ed- ward, Joseph, William, Robert R., James L., Hor- ace S., Annie, Homer, Catherine and Martha. Martha died at the age of seven years, Joseph at twenty-five, and Minnie aged twenty-two.
Robert R. Ragan grew up on a farm and in a rural environment. From the district schools he entered Trinity High School, and from there car- ried his studies to the medical department of the University of North Carolina. He had been in medical school two years when an opportunity to take an active part in business at High Point ap- pealed to him and he gave up altogether the idea of becoming a physician.
This opportunity was presented through the pur- chase by his father and O. E. Kearns of the stock and good will of the Beeson Hardware Company at High Point. Mr. Ragan was given an interest in the business, and that is his oldest active busi- ness relationship with High Point. He finally bought the interests of Mr. Kearns and later those
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of his father, and is now proprietor of this large and well known hardware establishment.
He is also president of the Consolidated Veneer and Panel Company, president of the North Caro- lina Wheel Company, and is a director of the fol- lowing industries and business organizations : Highland Cotton Mills, Pickett Cotton Mills, High Point Buggy Company, High Point Hosiery Com- pany, Crown Hosiery Company, Hill Veneer Com- pany, Union Furniture Company, Giant Furniture Company, the Commercial National Bank and the High Point Savings and Trust Company. At the present time Mr. Ragan is building a mill at Thomasville to be operated as the Ragan Knitting Mill.
He was reared in the Friends church and still holds to that faith. Fraternally he is affiliated with Guilford Council No. 23, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and High Point Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Polit- ically he is a republican.
NELSON WHITFORD TAYLOR. The character of an able business man and man of large affairs has been ably sustained by Nelson W. Taylor at Beau- fort for a number of years. Mr. Taylor practically grew up in the atmosphere of business, since his father was a merchant at Beaufort and in his ma- ture experience has reached out and acquired in- terests that place him readily among the leading men of the state.
Mr. Taylor was born in Beaufort, North Caro- lina, September 7, 1856, a son of George Washing- ton and Sidney Ann (Bragg) Taylor. His father was quite a successful man, owned and operated farm lands and was also a hotel proprietor and merchant. The son after attending the public schools at Beaufort entered his father's general merchandise store and his experience there enabled him to start in business for himself.
After some years he left the retail grocery busi- ness to become a wholesale merchant, and success in one line has brought him rapidly accumulating interests in others. For a number of years he was in the fish and oyster canning business.
At the present time Mr. Taylor owns the Beau- fort Grocery Company; is president of the Beau- fort Banking and Trust Company; president of the Davis Canning Company; is president of the Armstrong Grocery Company of Newbern, North Carolina; is director in various other commercial organizations and was formerly president of the Scott Register Company. He is vice president of the Morehead City Ice and Transportation Com- pany.
He has given much of his time to the duties and burdens of public office. From 1888 to 1900 he served continuously, a period of twelve years, as county treasurer of Carteret County. In 1901-02 he was a member of the Legislature from this county. He has also served as mayor of Beaufort and as a member of the City Council. Mr. Taylor is senior warden of the St. Paul's Episcopal Church and for twenty-five years was superinten- dent of its Sunday school. He also belongs to the Knights of Harmony.
In 1880 he married Miss Mary C. Buckman, of Beaufort. They have six children, most of whom are grown and several are acquitting themselves with credit in business lines. Cecil B., the oldest, is now assistant auditor of the United Fruit Com- pany of Boston, Massachusetts; Bayard is a busi- ness associate of his father; Sidney Elizabeth is Mrs. A. D. O'Bryan, of Beaufort; Nannie Davis is Mrs. W. K. Hinnant, of Beaufort; Nelson
Whitford, Jr., and George Edward are both students in the University of North Carolina.
MICHAEL PENN CUMMINGS, M. D. While he has been a very busy man professionally since enter- ing upon the active practice of medicine and surgery at Reidsville, Dr. Cummings has not neglected those broader social and community interests that are dependent upon the exercise of individual public spirit, and among other responsi- bilities is now serving his fourth consecutive year as mayor of Reidsville.
Doctor Cummings was born on a farm in New Bethel Township of Rockingham County, March 14, 1887. He is a son of Michael P. Cummings, Sr. His early life was spent on a farm and his early education was acquired in rural schools under private tutors and from Oak Ridge Insti- tute. In 1903 he entered the University of North Carolina, graduated Ph. B. in 1907, and then con- tinued for two years a student in the Medical Department. His final courses in medicine were carried in the Jefferson Medical College of Phila- delphia, where he was graduated M. D. in 1911. The following year he supplemented his university training by service in the Jefferson Hospital. It was with this training as a ground work that he entered upon his active career at Reidsville.
In 1913 Dr. Cummings married Besse Grove. She was born in Center County, Pennsylvania. Doctor and Mrs. Cummings have one son, Michael Penn, Jr.
Doctor Cummings is a member in good standing of the Rockingham County and North Carolina State Medical Societies. He is affiliated with Reidsville Lodge No. 384, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Chapter No. 13, Royal Arch Masons, Ivanhoe Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar, Oasis Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and is also affiliated with Reidsville Lodge No. 49, Knights of Pythias, Loyal Order of Moose, Reids- ville Council, Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and the Dramatic Order of Knights of Khorassan.
HERBERT PENNEL MOSELEY, M. D. The great war has already called into its ranks some of the brightest young men in the medical profession, and among them was Dr. Herbert Pennel Moseley, who accepted a commission with the rank of first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps and gave up a very promising general practice as a physician and surgeon after less than three years of residence at Farmville, with which community he had become identified in a way that already made him accounted one of the prominent younger members of the profession in Pitt County.
Doctor Moseley was born in Lenoir County, North Carolina, November 12, 1888, a son of William Octavius and Fannie D. (Wooten) Moseley. His father is a farmer and merchant. Doctor Mosely was educated in the public schools of Kinston, attended the Agricultural and Me- chanical College at Raleigh, and from there en- tered the University College of Medicine at Richmond, Virginia, where he received his Doc- tor of Medicine degree in June, 1912. The next year and a half he spent in further equipping himself for private practice as house physician and surgeon of St. Vincent's Hospital at Nor- folk, Virginia. Then, in 1914, he located at Farmville and while engaged in a general prac- tice was specializing in surgery. He served as local surgeon of the Norfolk & Southern Rail- way.
Was. It Warsow
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Doctor Moseley is a member of the County, State, Seaboard and Tri-State Medical societies and the American Medical Association. Fra- ternally he is a York Rite Mason and Shriner and also a Knight of Pythias.
WILLIAM EATON FENNER. What corn is to Illinois, tobacco is to North Carolina. The growing of this aromatic plant and its subsequent handling until ready to be offered to the consumer forms one of the great industries of the South and is a source of untold wealth. Nevertheless, it is a ca- pricious weed and conditions must be just right and its curing carried on in a certain careful way, or it neither grows abundantly or repays the leaf tobacco men for their work. The history of to- bacco in the past proves that prior to the great World war the United States produced two-thirds of all the tobacco used in the world, and there is reason to suppose, because of agricultural neglect for several years in Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany, that this country will ultimately pro- duce all, at least for a time. One of the leading tobacco men at Rocky Mount is William Eaton Fenner, who is in the tobacco leaf business and carries on extensive operations.
Wil iam Eaton Fenner was born at Halifax, North Carolina, November 30, 1878. He is a son of John H. and Clara (Ferebee) Fenner, the form- er of whom is a farmer in Chatham County. Wil- liam E. Fenner attended the public schools, Wake Forest College and the Agricultural and Mechan- ical College at Raleigh. His whole business career has been connected with the tobacco industry. After three years experience as a clerk at Tarboro, Mr. Fenner was a tobacco auctioneer for one year and then spent two years as tobacco buyer at En- field, North Carolina, acting there for the Imperial Tobacco Company (Limited) of Great Britain and Ireland.
In 1904 Mr. Fenner came to Rocky Mount and for the following five years was a partner in the firm of E. H. Evens & Company, and then estab- lished the W. E. Fenner Warehouse. Mr. Fenner has developed a great business. His first ware- house has dimensions of 130x230 feet and he se- cured also a house next door and in one year pur- chased the Leas house, this giving him an area of 234x480 feet. He also owns a stemmery with dimensions of 70x100 feet. The entire plant is operated by steam and the most modern methods are made use of. In one year alone Mr. Fenner purchased seven million pounds of leaf tobacco. He is probably one of the best judges of growing leaf in the state.
Mr. Fenner was married June 1, 1904, to Miss Anna Howard Baker, who is a daughter of Dr. Julian Baker, and they have one son, Julian Baker Fenner.
Mr. Fenner is a public spirited citizen but is not exceedingly active in politics. He is a thirty-sec- ond degree Mason and belongs also to the Mystic Shrine and additionally is identified with the Ben- evolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the United States Tobacco Association. He is a man of pleasant address and of social instincts and finds agreeable companionship in his membership in the Sagamore and Country Clubs and in the Wilson Country Club.
JAMES HARVEY CARSON. As a noteworthy addi- tion to the personal and family memoirs in this work, the editors deem it a privilege to include the following autobiography prepared by the late
James Harvey Carson for the benefit and instruc- tion of his boys, and containing much of historical interest for others outside the family.
Introduction: I have thought it might not prove altogether uninteresting to my wife and boys to read something I had written about my- self-especially, when I am dead and gone.
As these memoirs are only intended for the eyes of those who love me, I know they will bring no charge of egotism against one who has never shown it in his actions.
Having some idle time in this year of grace 1875, and believing that some employment, how- ever trivial, is better than doing nothing, I have concluded to spend some of these idle moments in giving a short account of myself.
I do not propose to make any startling dis- closures, or write a romance, as indeed I could do neither, did I confine myself to the truth, and that it is my purpose to do; and if what I suc- ceed in writing turns out to be dull and monot- onous, it will still have one redeeming trait- making it of sufficient interest, I hope (to my fam- ily at least) to repay a perusal.
If in reading these pages my boys should find in them anything to make them better citizens or more zealous Christians, my task will surely not have been in vain; and with the hope that an unseeu hand may constrain them to choose the ways that are ways of pleasantness, and the paths that are paths of peace, I will conclude this preface, asking indulgence for any errors that may appear, as it will be written altogether without notes :
Charlotte, N. C., June 10, 1875. I was born in Ashe (now Allegheny) County, North Carolina, on the 28th of April, 1830.
My parents were poor but honest and indus- trious, and raised a family of eleven children- nine boys and two girls. Their names include Margaret, John, Robert, William and Thomas (twins), Smith, James Harvey, Edwin, Andrew and Edwin.
It will be noticed that out of the eleven only one was honored with a double name (which is my own) and two of the children have the same name-the older having died in infancy.
The house in which I was born was primitive in style and unpretentious in appearance. If my memory is right, it did not possess a single pane of glass, and I do not think there was a nail in the roof; and as it was built of logs, there was not, perhaps, one pound of nails, or one dollar's worth of hardware used in its construction, and yet my recollection of it is that it was comfort- able, aud as it was in keeping with the style of the neighborhood there was no complaint about it that ever I heard.
My parents were Irish, and immigrated to this country about the year 1818. The two eldest children were born in Ireland-the third child, Robert, was born on the passage to this country. With the exception of the first Edwin, all the children lived to be men and women, and all proved to be sober, moral, and religious.
All of them except myself grew up without using tobacco in any form and I learned the ac- complishment away from home.
My father was a weaver by trade, and every- thing in the wearing line was woven on his loom, save an occasional "store dress" for the girls after they began to have beaux. He was a very good English scholar, and taught school at times during the winter months when no work could be done on the farm.
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As his family began to grow up around him, he by degrees accumulated enough to build a much better home than the one in which I was born. The new house was looked upon by the neighbors as something grand, and some of them even went so far as to hint that "Squire Car- son" was getting proud.
My mother was a small and rather delicate wo- man in appearance, but possessed with great energy, and had enough to do to kill a half dozen women of the present day; but with all her care and work, I never heard a murmur of complaint from her lips. She was said to have been an Irish beauty when young, and I can readily believe it, if the saying is true that "beauty is as beauty does."
My father was one of the prominent men in the Baptist Church, and he had family worship every day, and frequently the preachers would stop with him, and would sometimes have preaching at home. Sunday school was conducted regularly either by my father or some member of the fam- ily. It will be seen from this that religious in- struction was not overlooked in our humble home among the mountains, but was observed more strictly than it is today.
At the age of about seven years I was first sent to a school in the neighborhood, which was taught by my brother John. I was thought to be quick to learn, and I well remember the "spelling bees" we would have at night, and how I was praised for my proficiency in the art. I do not remember now whether I got out of the speller at that school or not, but it is more than probable that was my only text book, as the school lasted but six months; at all events, that was its dura- tion for me, as very important occurrances to me took place the following year. My brother Robert had been living with uncle William Carson in Mecklenburg County for some seven or eight years, and when he returned on a visit in the summer of 1838, uncle William had sent a mes- sage to father to let me come down to Mecklenburg along with brother Robert in the fall.
Of course the message produced a commotion in the household, and it was some days before a de- cision was reached. My mother objected to let- ting me leave home when so young, fearing (and very justly) the evil influences that would be en- countered among the negroes of so large a plan- tation, with only my brother and uncle (who spent half of his time in Charlotte) to protect me. Finally, after the matter had been discussed pro and con for days by all the family and a good many neighbors, without result, it was left to me to decide for myself, and I decided to go. My mother went to work at once to get me ready for the journey. Her willing hands left nothing undone to fit me out in a becoming manner for the long journey I was about to take.
I shall never forget how she worked and wept at the thought of giving me up, and how I wished I had decided differently, but the die was cast, and I felt that it would be an everlasting disgrace to back down from the decision I had deliberately made.
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