USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 98
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Let me pursue the thread of my narrative just a few moments longer. When Judge Burwell re- tired from the bench he returned to the practice of the law at Charlotte, taking his place at the head of the firm composed of Mr. E. T. Cansler and your speaker, under the name of Burwell, Walker & Cansler, which lasted until 1902, when one of its members withdrew to take a seat on the bench, to which he had been chosen in that year, and the judge and Mr. Cansler continued to practice to- gether during the remainder of the former's life as Burwell & Cansler. There was no stronger firm in the state, as I believe you will readily admit, and none more entitled to the large and lucrative practice which these two able lawyers enjoyed.
I have referred to Judge Burwell's first part- ners, Governor Vance and Captain Grier, because I am now speaking of the dead. I only wish it were proper and seemly, in this presence and in this hour, to speak of the living that I might pay merited tribute to the last surviving one.
I come now to another phase of Judge Burwell's life. In his religious faith he was a Presbyterian, and his conduct and character, of which I have already spoken, were largely molded and influenced by a strict observance of the tenets and doctrines of his church. While he was its loyal adherent
always, he accorded to every man the freedom to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, which he held to be his moral as well as his constitutional right. He, therefore, reso- lutely opposed religious persecution or bigotry in any form. With many others, he agreed that re- ligious freedom was laid as one of the first stones in the corner of our temple, and he would caution any man who attempted to remove it, that he had better beware, lest the great superstructure raised on the foundation of the fathers should totter and fall. Like all true patriots, he knew that religious intolerance and oppression had flourished only in the monarchies of the Old World, and he would not have them engrafted upon our system or take root in the soil of this new and progressive republic. He was, therefore, always true, loyal and devoted to his own church, but liberal towards those of other creeds.
In early life Judge Burwell was married to Miss Ella M. Jenkins, of Salisbury, North Carolina, a woman of rare charm and beauty, of gentle man- ners and elegant culture, and by this union there were five children. Mrs. Frank H. Wood, Charlotte Cowan and James Burkley are dead. The surviv- ing children are Mrs. R. C. Carson of Whiteville, North Carolina, and Armistead Burwell, of Charlotte, North Carolina. Blessed with such a father and mother at the head of the household, there never was a happier home or a more beauti- ful home life. His own life, as nearly all lives are, was often saddened and clouded by sorrow, when "the pallid messenger with the inverted torch" would enter the precincts of his home and beckon some loved one to depart, but he always bore his burden in sileuce and with a strong man's fortitude. "Short is life and narrow the corner in which we dwell." The final summons came to him when he apparently gave every promise of many more years of life and happiness. Suddenly stricken by what was not thought, at first, to be a fatal malady, and though ill but a short while, he yet had a clear premonition that he was near the limit of his journey. With perfect submis- sion, with a Christian's faith and hope, and more than a hero's courage, he bravely, calmly and placidly awaited the end. He had lived a perfect life, and death had no terror for him. So close is the analogy that I am tempted here to borrow the words of a great eulogist, uttered in a pane- gyric of surpassing beauty, one of the best since Bossuet was suddenly summoned by Louis XIV to pronounce his great oration upon the life and military achievements of Louis de Bourbon, the Prince of Conde: "He was thrust from the full tide of this world's interest, its hopes, aspirations and victories, into the visible presence of deatlı- and he quailed not. * Let us hope that, * *
in the silence of the receding world, he heard the great waves breaking on a farther shore and felt already upon his wasted brow the breath of the eternal morning. "
To speak of some of his personal traits, his mind was tranquil, well-ordered and rigidly up- right, and there was always proper dignity and proportion in all that he said or did. His heart was kind, loyal and true. In form, he possessed manly beauty and graceful bearing; in manner, he was frank but cordial, genial, and sympathetic, aud in general appearauce he was most impressive. I am here reminded of the words of Marcus Aure- lius, who said: "How few be the things, the which if a mau has at his command, his life flows gently on and is divine." This was perfectly true
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to him, though he possessed iu abundance all things essential to the simple and noble life. He had a peculiar and almost unique grace and charm of manner. While always dignified and self-poised, he was not austere, but amiable, gentle and often merry in his disposition and his intercourse with others, but he was never frivolous. He made no - empty promises nor did he affect any excessive interest, which is one form of hypocrisy, but was always absolutely dependable and trustworthy.
He was not easily disheartened by temporary reverses, but always set his face steadily toward the rising and not the setting sun. If repulsed, he did not repine, but gathering new hope and fresh courage, he fought still more bravely for the final victory, well knowing that "a single breaker may recede when the tide is evidently coming in." He kept before him, as his inspiration to stronger and nobler effort, the spirit of the ancient motto: 'I excel and persevere." By far too big a man, and made in too large a mold to live in any pent- up Utica, he was a citizen of the world, with broad and deep sympathies for all mankind-ever gracious and courteous to strangers and a good Samaritan to the unfortunate wayfarer. His heart was filled with sweet benevolence, and he con- stantly exemplified in his life and work that uni- versal love and charity which we find so touch- ingly expressed in the pathetic words of the poor little cripple, Tiny Tim: "God bless us, every- one." He led a most blameless life, and when the twilight gathered thick around him, he could review it without any shame or anguish, but with just and honest pride. We have heard that a good man prolongs his own life, for to be able to enjoy one's past is to live again.
"He lives twice, who can at once employ The present well and e'en the past enjoy."
He loved to live, but did not fear to die; be- lieving that, under Providence, whatever is, is right; he submitted with perfect resignation to the Divine will.
I would commend this perfect model to the young men of the bar of my state for their imita- tion. The mantle of honor which he wore so gracefully and which has fallen so silently and suddenly from his shoulders may soon rest upon yours, if you will receive it. Will you wear it as he did, without spot or blemish? I hope so; but whether so or not, let me warn you, after an experience of many years the benefit of which I freely give you, that never will you achieve success honorably in your profession if you dis- card the virtues of this noble example so worthy of your emulation.
He would be numbered among the best even if the words of the great satirist, Juvenal, be true, that "rare indeed are good men; in number they are scarcely as many as the gates of Thebes, or the mouths of the wealthy Nile."
An intimate association with him for many years leads me to say that I never saw a more attractive or well-rounded personality, and if the world had known him as I did the universal ver- dict would be that there never lived a stronger, nobler, manlier or courtlier man, or a more chival- rous and knightlier gentleman. As a boy or man, soldier, lawyer, legislator or judge, plain citizen or patriot, he gained easily and always held the highest mark attainable by human effort, quick- ened by noble aspiration. His life was not free from mistakes, for no man's is. It has been said
that "to conduct great matters and never com- mit a fault is above the force of human nature," but his errors were few and sprang from our in- herent weakness and fallibility. If it be true that the measure of a man's life is not its length, but the well spending of it, his was as perfect as human life can be, and will compare with any, even the longest, for it was full of good works and was conformed to the highest type of just and perfect living.
Such is my tribute to the life and character of this great and good man, though I am .painfully conscious that the portrayal is much too inade- quate, for he was far better than any mere words of mine can make him appear to you.
He died on the 13th day of May, 1913, and his last message to his people was a plea for justice and charity toward all men, and that vengeance should have no place in our hearts. He had gathered a full and rich harvest in this world, and was, himself, ripe for the sickle and ready for the reaper at his coming. He needs no monument, nor would he have desired any save the good name which will perpetuate him in the hearts of his people, and there his memory will forever be safe. Cato once said, "I had rather men should ask why my statue is not set up, than why it is." The marble column adds nothing to the lasting example of a well-ordered and well-spent life which has fully answered life's great end.
"Pigmies are pigmies still, though perched on Alps; And pyramids are pyramids in vales.
Each man makes his own statue, builds himself ; Virtue alone outbuilds the pyramids;
Her monuments shall last when Egypt's fall.
We laid him to rest on a tranquil and beautiful evening in the late springtide, where his friends had gathered to pay their last tribute of love and honor to his memory, and there we made his mound. How aptly do the touching words of the eloquent infidel apply to him: "If everyone for whom he had performed some kind of loving service should this day bring a blossom to his grave, he would sleep tonight beneath a wilder- ness of flowers." After life's fitful fever may he rest well, until the promise given unto us in the tempestuous evening of the Calvary shall have been fulfilled, when he will rise triumphant to the life eternal. Shall we see him again as he walked among us, with his distinguished mien, his grace- ful dignity and his cordial greeting? Will his noble spirit be again embodied in its earthly tene- ment, or, though disembodied, shall we yet see and know it as we knew him? Let each one of us answer this fateful question for himself, but how- ever it may be, we have the promise, which surely will be kept, that if we are faithful, we shall see him again.
"Nothing can cover his high fame but heaven, No pyramids set off his memories, But the eternal substance of his greatness- To which I leave him. "
Written by P. D. Walker.
COUNCIL SIMMONS WOOTEN. A lawyer by pro- fession, a planter and business man, Council Sim- mons Wooten is doubtless best known to the people of the State of North Carolina by his contribu-
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tions to literature. He is a recognized authority on the history of many phases of North Carolina life, and has done a noble and much appreciated work in preserving and interpreting the lives of many men eminent in North Carolina history. He has also done much to improve public opinion by his contributions to the newspapers and general press.
Mr. Wooten was born in Lenoir County, North Carolina, November 12, 1840. His parents were Council and Eliza (Isler) Wooten. The Wooten stock came originally from Wales, being colonists in about the year 1650. The Isler family came about the same time from Germany. Mr. Wooten's great-grandfather, Shadrach Wooten, served as an ensign in the Revolutionary army and took part among other engagements in the battle of Moore's Creek, North Carolina. This Revolutionary sol- dier served as a member of the State House of Commons from Lenoir County in 1796 and again in 1801. His oldest son, John Wooten, was a member of the State House of Commons in 1808- 09. Council Wooten, youngest son of John, was a member of the State House of Commons in 1829-30-31-32-35 and 1848, and was also a con- structive worker in the constitutional convention of 1835. The youngest son of this Council, Shadrach Isler Wooten, was a state representa- tive in 1888, and another son, Council S., saw ser- vice in the Legislature in 1894. Thus members of four successive generations of the family were participants in North Carolina legislative affairs in the House of Commons during the period of almost a century, from 1796 to 1894.
Mr. Wooten's maternal grandfather, Williams Isler, married a Miss Williams, sister of Benjamin Williams, who was governor of North Carolina from 1799 to 1807, and also a sister of Colonel John P. Williams, who fought with the rank of colonel in the Revolutionary war.
Council S. Wooten was one of a family of twelve children. His father provided tutors for their instruction and his early education was therefore acquired at home. In 1858 he entered Wake Forest College, where he was graduated in June, 1861. During the war Mr. Wooten held a position in the civil department of the Con- federate Government. At the same time he studied law under Judge Battle and Judge Pearson, and was given a license to practice in 1862 and was admitted to the Superior Court in 1866. In 1867 Mr. Wooten began the practice of law in Golds- horo and continued active in the profession for three years. In 1870 he moved to his plantation, and since that year has given more or less active supervision to his varied farming interests. How- ever, the chief emphasis of his energy since 1870 has fallen upon literature. In that time he has prepared 175 scholarly articles on matters of interest and has also written the biographies of a hundred leading men in North Carolina affairs and also of other states. These biographies for the most part represent the final judgment upon the subjects concerned, and are characterized by a deep insight into the life and times and also by a very solicious and interesting style of portrait- ure. Since 1901 Mr. Wooten has been a regular correspondent for the Charlotte Observer and many of his articles have been widely copied and quoted. He is a member of the Masonic Order and is a deacon in the Baptist church and teacher of the Bible class.
On September 2, 1879, Mr. Wooten married Miss Cora Wooten, of Wayne County. Mrs. Wooten died
January 7, 1884. She is survived by one child, Eliza, wife of Robert J. Southerland a merchant at Mount Olive, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Southerland have four children, Anna, Robert J. Jr., Cora and Council Wooten Southerland.
HUGH MILLER HUMPHREY began life as a tele- graph operator, was in the railroad service in different capacities but from that work turned to the field of insurance, in which he has made his most noteworthy success. Mr. Humphrey is a resident of Goldsboro and from that point man- ages all the business in the state for the National Life Insurance Company of Montpelier, Vermont,
Mr. Humphrey was born in Wayne County, North Carolina, July 15, 1876, a son of Hugh and Sarah Elizabeth (Lane) Humphrey. His people were identified with the very early colonial days in North Carolina. Both the Humphreys and Lanes were English. Mr. Humphrey is a grandson of William K. Lane, a prominent North Carolina citizen elsewl.ere mentioned. The Lane ancestry goes back to Sir Ralph Lane. Mr. Humphrey 's father vas a justice of the peace and a United States Commissioner.
After an education in the public schools Hugh M. Humphrey learned telegraphy, was employed as an operator at different points, also combined with those duties the responsibilities of railroad agent and for a time was employed in general offices.
On June 1, 1902, he took up life insurance, and for four months was special agent at Wilming- ton and then became superintendent of agencies for North Carolina, representing the Home Life Insurance Company of New York. On June 1, 1904, Mr. Humphrey became general agent in Eastern North Carolina for the National Life of Montpelier, Vermont. In insurance he found himself in a congenial field of work, and has ap- plied his time and efforts to such advantage that he is now recognized as one of the ablest insur- ance men of the state. In 1910 he was made state manager for the National Life at Mont- pelier. He has given his company a premier position in North Carolina among all the New England companies in the production of busi- ness.
He has been a member of the executive com- mittee of the North Carolina Life Underwriters' Association since it was formed, and is also a former vice president of that association. He is a member of the Algonquin Club of Goldsboro and is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Knights Templar and Shrine, and the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows.
On February 5, 1908, Mr. Humphrey married Miss India Bumgardner. Her father, Col. William L. Bumgardner, was a very prominent citizen of Stanton, Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey are affiliated with St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.
HON. HECTOR MACLEAN. The successful man- agement of vast property interests and simultan- eous service in public positions of high trust and responsibility call for more than ordinary ability. Many men achieve business prosperity; others rise to high office within the gift of the people, but all do not prove equally efficient along both lines. When an individual is found, therefore, who has demonstrated his capacity as a sound, reliable and stable business man, and who is willing to give of his judgment and efforts towards a betterment of civic conditions, the offices which he accepts are
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likely to benefit through his services. At any rate, and served during several sessions as a member of this has been true in the case of Hon. Hector Mac- Lean, of Laurinburg, an extensive farmer of Scot- land County who has succeeded both as an agri- culturist and as a member of the Legislature and State Senate. He is a native of Robeson County, North Carolina, and was born in 1854, being a son of Dr. Angus D. and Mary Jane (MacEachin) MacLean.
The MacLeans form one of the most distinguish- ed of the notable Scotch families that settled in the lower part of North Carolina. Dr. Angus D. MacLean was born in Robeson County, and was one of the great physicians of his day, ranking with the highest in his profession. He was a son of John MacLean, who immigrated to America from the Isle of Mull, Scotland, in 1793, and set- tled in what was then the upper end of Robeson, now Hoke County in North Carolina.
The mother of Hector Maclean was the daugh- ter of Colonel Archibald MacEachin, who was the son of Patrick Mac-Eachin, who was one of the first Scotch settlers in the Cape Fear section of North Carolina of which there is any record. He came from the Highlands of Scotland and settled in what is now Scotland County, North Carolina, on the west side of Lumber River, near the pres- ent village of Riverton, in 1765. Later he settled on the east side of the same river in Robeson County, on what is known in the old land titles as Patrick Mac-Eachin 's Bluff. Colonel Archibald MacEachin's wife was Sallie MacQueen, daughter of Colonel James MacQueen, who was the founder of the famous MacQueen family in North Caro- lina.
Hector Maclean was born and reared on his father's plantation and was educated in some of the best schools of the state. In 1877 he was mar- ried to Miss Eliza Patterson and in that year set- tled in what is now Scotland County, but which at that time was a part of Richmond County, the place of his location being about four miles west of Laurinburg. He engaged in farming on a large scale there and became, as he is now, one of the largest and most successful farmers in North Caro. lina. His farms lie adjacent to Elmore Station on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, and are from three to five miles west of Laurinburg. He has several fine farms in cultivation, aggregating near- ly 1,000 acres. One of the best of these is what is known as the Stalkins place, comprising over 500 acres. The property on which is situated his home, at Elmore, is a sixteen-horse farm and is also a very fine tract. On these farms are carried on general farming and cotton and corn raising, and of late years Mr. Maclean has gone exten- sively into the growing of canteloupes and water- melons, in which industry he was a pioneer. His activities in this direction may be deduced from the fact that in 1916 he had 400 acres in water- melons and 150 acres in canteloupes, his farms be- ing among the largest shippers of this product.
Mr. MacLean's partner in his farming and other business enterprises at Elmore is Mr. Arch P. Gib- son, a man of the highest business capacity and integrity, who has made a notable success in life. The firm name is Maclean & Gibson, and in addi- tion to the farming industries referred to this concern carries on a mercantile and ginning busi- ness at Elmore, as well as an extensive fertilizer business, being very large buyers and mixers of guano and fertilizer ingredients.
Mr. MacLean has enjoyed a most . satisfactory career in public and political life. He was elected
both the Lower House and the Senate, his most notable act, perhaps, being the fathering of the bill under which his home county, Scotland, was created in 1900, it being formed from a part of Richmond County.
In 1877 Mr. MacLean was married to Miss Eliza Patterson, daughter of the late Dr. Archibald Pat- terson and his wife, Mary Ann (Fairley ) Patter- son. The Patterson country home, where Mrs. MacLean was born, was "Oakland," one of the fine old plantations of the earlier years, situated within three miles of the town of Laurinburg. Doctor Patterson was "the" physician of all the surrounding country for a long number of years, was a notable man in his profession, of the finest talents, and a man of the loftiest character. He was of Scotch parentage. Mrs. Maclean was edu- cated in the Burwell School at Charlotte and at Peace Institute, its successor, now located at Raleigh. She has been of great assistance to her husband in his business career, and is intensely devoted to her church work and to welfare work in the community, having taken in particular a great interest in the labor of providing adequate religious and educational facilities for the mill workers in the vicinity of Elmore and Laurel Hill.
Mr. and Mrs. Maclean are the parents of three children: Dr. Peter, a prominent young practicing physician of Laurinburg; and the Misses Katie and Lila Maclean.
JAMES EDWARD KIRKMAN. It is a notable group of men who have been the responsible factors in giving High Point its position as the second larg- est furniture manufacturing center in America. Almost from the time the hum of machinery in that town began attracting notice all over the state and the South one of the interesting figures in the city's manufacturing as well as in its civic affairs has been James Edward Kirkman.
Mr. Kirkman was born at Pomona, in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1862. He is a stalwart American and his Americanism is deeply rooted not only in the present but in the past. His an- cestral history is briefly stated as follows: In colonial times four brothers of Scotch-Irish stock came to America. One of these brothers settled in Tennessee, another in Missouri, and a third in Kentucky. The fourth, William Kirkman, located in the vicinity of old Alamance Church, in what is now Guilford County. His son William, Jr., was born near old Alamance Church and for a number of years lived at Ryan's Cross Roads. After his second marriage he moved to Mount Airey and died there. The maiden name of his first wife was Elizabeth Poor. She was born about nine miles south of Greensboro, a daughter of Jerry and Betsy Poor. She died leaving five chil- dren, named Maria, Rhoda, James Larkin, Robert and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is still living, about ninety years of age, the widow of James N. Irwin. She has sixty-two grandchildren, more great-grand- children than she can count, and six great-great- grandchildren.
James Larkin Kirkman, father of James Ed- ward, was born at Ryan's Cross Roads five miles south of Pomona in 1826. Left motherless when a child, he was reared by Nathan Hiatt. Hiatt owned land now included in the Van Lindley Nursery, and was also a saddle maker, a trade he
- taught James L. Kirkman. At that time there was scarcely a carriage in Guilford County. Men, women and children went to church and made
-
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other journeys on horseback, and there was con- sequently a demand for saddles that taxed the capacity of all the local shops. From saddle making James L. Kirkman in 1864 entered the service of a railroad with home at Pomona, and in 1879 moved to High Point, living there until his death at the age of seventy-six. He married Timersia Bevill. She was born in the northern part of Guilford County and died at the age of forty-tive. They reared eight children, named Eliz- abeth, Julia, William T., Nathan G., Jennie, James Edward, Charles W. and Joseph L.
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