USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 10
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Mr. Gregory was married March 2, 1898, to Miss Ethel Stone, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and they are the parents of three bright and attractive children: Vivian, William Nash and Charles.
EDWARD E. MENDENHALL. In the person of Edward E. Mendenhall Greensboro has a citizen who has had an unusually interesting career as a salesman and business man. He is regarded among his contemporaries and associates as a master of the art of salesmanship. Mr. Mendenhall has had some local associations with business, but his career for the most part has been spent on the road as a commercial traveler, and thus his friend- ships and connections are widespread over the state, though for years he has regarded his home as Greensboro.
Mr. Mendenhall is a lineal descendant of John Mendenhall of Mendenhall, England, who came to America in 1685, accompanied by his brother Ben- jamin and his sister Mary. He made his home at Concord, Pennsylvania. He married Miss Morris, daughter of George Morris of Pennsylvania. Their son Mordecai was the father of Thomas Menden- hall, great-great-grandfather of Edward E. Men- denhall. According to the best available informa- tion it was Thomas Mendenhall who established this branch of the family in Guilford County, North Carolina, where he settled in colonial times.
His son Seth Mendenhall was a planter, owning and operating a plantation near the present site of High Point. He was reared in the faith of the Friends Church and had no sympathy with the institution of slavery. His son Reddick Menden- hall was born on the old plantation near High Point about 1800. He spent his life as a farmer. The maiden name of his wife was Elizabeth Pid- geon, who was born in the locality known as Col- fax in Guilford County, daughter of Charles Pidgeon, a planter and also a Friend in religion.
Jos. Bay
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The father of Edward E. Mendenhall was Al- phonse Mendenhall, who was born on his father's plantation in 1836. He acquired a liberal educa- tion, finishing in the New Garden Boarding School, and in young manhood took up teaching as his profession. He followed this a number of years and part of the time was connected with the graded schools of Greensboro. From that city he removed to Randolph County. Early in life he was ordained a Quaker minister, but in Randolph County, in the absence of a Friends Church, he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and was ordained a local preacher in that faith. Later he returned to Greensboro and spent here his last years, where he died in 1910. He married Cynthia Hardin, who was born near Tabernacle Church in 1850, daughter of Peter F. and Elizabeth Hardin. She died in 1915, the mother of three children: Loren D., Edward E. and Percy.
Edward E. Mendenhall, who thus inherited the sturdy traits of a long line of good and substan- tial people, was carefully trained at home and well educated. He attended the old Brick Hall at Archdale, and from there entered Trinity College at Durham. From college Mr. Mendenhall entered upon his active career as a commercial traveler. He left the road to engage in the whole- sale grocery business at Greensboro and High Point, and was in business in those two places for fifteen years. He then resumed his role as a com- mercial traveler and with headquarters at Greens- boro has traveled out over the state and this sec- tion of the South for a number of years.
In 1896 Mr. Mendenhall married Ida Allred. She was born in Randolph County, daughter of William F. and Matilda (Green) Allred. Mr. and Mrs. Mendenhall have had the following chil- dren: Walter L., who died at the age of sixteen; Marion H .; Evelyn; Helen; Margaret; Edward E., Jr .; Ruth; William F. and Charles Milton.
Mr. Mendenhall and family are all members of the Ashboro Street Friends Church. In politics he is a republican and for years has been a keen student of political questions as affecting his state and community. As a party man he has been a delegate to various county, district and state con- ventions. He is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum, the Modern Woodmen of America and is also a member of Council No. 296 of the United Com- mercial Travelers. 1357290
JEREMIAH SIMON Cox during a long and useful career has been farmer, financier, manufacturer and banker. He is one of the men responsible for the establishment and development of one of Greensboro's most prominent banking institutions, the Greensboro Loan and Trust Company, of which he has been vice president since it was established in 1899. This company, capitalized at $200.000, with surplus of nearly a hundred thousand dollars, has deposits aggregating more than a million and a half dollars.
Mr. Cox was born on a farm in Grant Township of Randolph County, North Carolina, in 1846. His father, Simon Cox, was born on the same farm. The grandfather was a farmer and planter, and probably spent all his life in North Carolina. Simon Cox grew up on a farm, succeeded to its ownership, and was a successful farmer, aside from other important business interests outside of tilling the soil and managing its resources. He married Ruth Allen. who was born in Randolph County and died at the age of sixty-two. Her father, Dr. Joseph Allen, was a practising physician for many
years. Her mother was Martha Allen. Simon Cox and wife were active members of the Society of Friends. They had five sons, named Joseph, Milton, Nathaniel, Samuel and Jeremiah S.
Jeremiah S. Cox grew up on his father's farm, and the advantages supplied by the rural schools were supplemented by a course in what was then known as the New Garden Boarding School, now Guilford College. For a time he taught school, and after his marriage was superintendent of the New Garden Boarding School for two years, and since that time he has built an elegant modern dormitory at Guilford College, known as "Cox Hall," which will accommodate about 100 stu- dents. Returning to Randolph County, he bought the Kemp Mills, consisting of flour, grist and saw mills, and operated that property for about five years. Selling out, he transferred his ener- gies to a farm in the north part of Randolph County, about twelve miles south of Greensboro.
Mr. Cox has been a resident of Greensboro since 1892. Prior to that time he had become in- terested in the Greensboro Manufacturing Com- pany, and he gave part of his time to the active management of its affairs for about four years. In 1899 he joined W. E. Allen and J. W. Fry in organizing the Greensboro Loan and Trust Com- pany.
In 1870 Mr. Cox married Margaret D. Branson, who was born in Randolph County, daughter of Eli and Mary Branson. Mrs. Cox was engaged in teaching school before her marriage to Mr. Cox. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are members of the Friends Church. While a resident of Randolph County Mr. Cox served as public administrator eight years, and since coming to Greensboro he served a term on the county board of education. Mr. Cox has been a trustee of the Juvenile Protective Associa- tion for many years. The association has done a great deal in reclaiming juvenile delinquents. The record of the lives of those who have come from the humble walks of life and, by dint of their own effort have left their impress on society and the world is an incentive and inspiration to do our best for humanity.
WILLIAM L. WILLIAMS. A book might be written concerning the family, the home, the individual adventures and experiences and achieve- ments of William L. Williams of Linden, Cum- berland County. Such being true, it is obvious that a brief sketch can furnish only an outline and a suggestive comment upon the many matters which would properly command detailed atten- tion. Both Mr. Williams and his wife are mem- hers of very prominent and historic families in the state. Mr. Williams was born December 25, 1843, on the Williams Plantation, "Hickory Lane, " near Linden and has lived practically all his life wtihin sight of the homes of his honored ancestors. In this one locality the Williamses have lived generation after generation since about the year 1730. The Williamses are of Welsh origin and the North Carolina branch is de- scended. from one of threc brothers who came from Wales to America about 1650. One of these brothers settled in North Carolina, and the other two in Virginia, and Massachusetts. Wil- liam L. Williams is descended over a gap of four or five generations from Isaac Williams, one of whose brothers, Joseph Williams, was the pro- genitor of Governor Williams of North Car- olina. A son of Isaac Williams was Joel Wil- liams, and he in turn had a son Isaac, who was
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
the great-grandfather of William L. This Isaae Williams married Rachel Smith, daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth (Whitfield) Smith and a granddaughter of Col. John Smith, one of the noted colonists of North Carolina. Through this family connection William L. Williams is de- scended from Needham and John Bryan of Isle of Wight, Virginia, a family that came to North Carolina in 1722 and gave to the colony and state some of its most distinguished figures.
John C. Williams, son of Isaac and Rachel (Smith) Williams, was born and spent his entire life at "Hickory Lane." He was an extensive planter and owned a large number of slaves. He was also a leader in politics and public affairs, and his influence was by no means confined to the immediate locality of his home. He served with credit both as a member of the State Senate and in the Lower House of the General Assembly. John C. Williams married Miss Martha Lane, with whom another prominent fam- ily is introduced into this article. Her father, Joel Lane, of Raleigh, was the man responsi- ble for having the State Capitol permanently lo- cated at the city and he donated the ground upon which the capitol stands.
"Locust Grove" was the original title of the home of John C. Williams. This fine example of North Carolina country home lay just across Little River from the present home of William L. Williams. It was in Harnett County, Little River being the dividing line between Harnett and Cumberland. Hickory Lane, the plantation on which Mr. W. L. Williams of this sketch now makes his home, derived its name from a beau- tiful lane of tall and slender hickory trees through which approach was made to the resi- dence. This title was bestowed upon the place by a delegation of prominent Fayetteville citi- zens who stopped (ff here for a visit on their way to Raleigh to give greeting to President Andrew Jackson, "Old Hickory."
"Locust Grove" was the birthplace of William L. Williams, Sr., who married Sarah Mckellar. Mr. William L. Williams first mentioned above, son of these parents, now resides in the extreme northern part of Cumberland County on the Little River, two miles from the town of Linden on the Raleigh and Southport Railroad. Here he has a fine plantation devoted to all branches of agriculture and stock raising, with cotton as a principal crop. The plantations along this sec- tion of Little River have been famous for their productiveness for more than two centuries, and the present "Hickory Lane" maintains as al- ways a high place among these.
Up to his seventeenth year William L. Wil- liams spent his life with the happiest of asso- ciations, in a peaceful and charming environ- ment, with good educational advantages and surrounded by all things that were calculated to inspire and bring to fruition the best qualities of his character. Then in the summer of 1861 his peaceful routine was rudely interrupted, when he responded to the call of arms and at Fayette- ville volunteered for service in the Confederate army in Company A of the Fifth North Caro- lina Cavalry. This regiment was in William Fitz- hugh Lee's Division. The company first did service in the eastern part of North Carolina as an independent company. In the fall of 1861 it went into Virginia and became a permanent part of the Fifth Cavalry. The regiment was a part of General J. E. B. Stuart's great cavalry organ-
ization which gave General Lee some of its most tremendous power in many of the battles of Vir- ginia and of Gettysburg and which, after Gen- eral Stuart's death, was commanded by General Wade Hampton.
However, the record of William L. Williams as a soldier cannot be followed by studying the activities and campaigns of the Fifth North Caro- lina Cavalry. From the beginning and through- out the war he was practically a "free lance, " engaged largely as a courier and scout under per- sonal orders of the higher commanding officers. For this reason and for a large part of the time he was on detached duty. Permission was granted him to come and go practically as he pleased and this was a privilege that exactly suited a youth of his pluck, independent spirit and desire for adventure. In the days of war before the invention of telephone and before electricity had become a means of communication between the integral parts of battles lines, there was never a more daring and skillful horseman carrying messages from point to point than Wil- liam L. Williams. There was abundance of reason for his being known as one of the best riders in the Confederate army. His thrilling adventures and many narrow escapes from death alone would make up a long story. He had more than a dozen horses shot from under him, and though his saddle blanket became so riddled with bullets that it was barely recognizable as a blanket, his hat and his clothing were punctured by bullets, his body actually was never hit. It is not poetic justice so much as literal truthfulness that would justify his appropriation of the phrase "leading a charmed life." At Petersburg, while carrying a message for General Hampton from the lat- ter's headquarters to a distant part of the Con- federate line, his daring and seeming disregard of danger in the face of the enemy, in plain view, were so conspicuous that he was cheered not only by the Confederate troops but by the enemy who witnessed his exploit. . During Lee's advance upon Gettysburg Mr. Williams was se- lected to guard with a squad of men Ashby's Gap, one of the approaches to the Potomac. When the great battle was fought he was there with his regiment. Shortly before Lee's surren- der he was at Appomattox, but foreseeing the calamity which was soon to overtake the gallant commander, he went to Greensboro, North Caro- lina, to join Johnston's army, but that section of the Confederate troops had also surrendered before he arrived. Thus it happened that he himself never surrendered.
In the years following this military service Mr. Williams picked up one by one the threads of civil life and has been one of the substantial charac- ters in his part of the state. In 1888 he was elected state senator to represent the Sixteenth Senatorial District of Cumberland and Harnett counties and he served with credit and efficiency in the session of 1889. He was again elected to the same office in 1898 for the session of 1899. He is now and has been for some years a member of the county board of education for Cumberland County.
In January, 1873, Mr. Williams married Mary Eliza Elliot, concerning whose interesting family and ancestry something more than passing men- tion must be made. First, however, a record should be made of Mr. and Mrs. Williams' own children. There are five of them. The oldest, Col. Alexander Elliot Williams, graduated from West Point Mili-
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tary Academy in 1898, and as a young officer soon had his ability tested by actual service in the Phil- ippines, in China and in many parts of the United States. His special proficiency was soon rec- ognized, even while in the Philippines, as an ex- pert in the quartermaster 's department, and since the war with Germany began he suggested and un- der authority of the war department organized and became quartermaster officer in charge of a new and important bureau in Washington which built up a great warehousing system for the food supply for the army in this country and in France. To the duties of this great responsibil- ity he devoted some of the hardest work of his life, being on duty practically night and day. At the request of General Pershing he was sent to France, where he has charge of the largest base of supplies. The four other children of Mr. and Mrs. Williams are: William Lane, Jane Evans, Henrietta Williams and Capt. Henry Elliot Wil- liams. The recent war in which America has be- come involved gives Mr. Williams two sons with a military record. Capt. Henry Elliot until the war with Germany began was making a name for himself as a rising young lawyer at Fayetteville. He volunteered his services to the Government, and on account of his education and training in military schools passed the examination for offi- cer without attending the officers' training camp. He was commissioned a captain.
Mrs. Williams is a daughter of Col. Alexander and Jane (Evans) Elliot and is a granddaughter of George Elliot. George Elliot was born in Scot- land in 1753, and came to America about 1774, when a young man shortly before the Revolution- ary war. He located what for more than a cen- tur has been widely known as "Ellersley" Plantation in what is now Cumberland County, a splendid property now owned by Mrs. Franklin Mc- Neill, a sister of Mrs. Williams. Mrs. Williams' grandfather, George Elliot, was a son of Henry of Peel, who in turn was a son of Henry of Peel, grandson of William of Thorbiskope, great-grand- son of John of Thorbiskope, and great-great- grandson of William of Marksdale. The line is still further traced back to the time of Wil- liam the Conqueror, and there are many other eminent members of the family.
George Elliot married in 1790 Mary (Smith) Turner, daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth (Whitfield) Smith. Her grandfather, Col. John Smith, came to North Carolina from the Isle of Wight, Virginia, in 1740, and was a delegate to the Hillsboro Convention of 1775.
Mrs. Williams' mother, Jane Evans, was a granddaughter of David Evans of Cumberland County. This David Evans was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence promulgated at Fayetteville June 20, 1775. He was propri- etor of a grant of land given by King George. This land is situated about seven miles southeast of Fayetteville and has been continuously the prop- erty of the Evans family down to the present gen- eration.
WALTER G. SHEPPARD. The promising abilities shown during his earlier years in Trinity College have thoroughly justified the anticipations of his friends at that period since Walter C. Sheppard began the practice of law at Farmville, where he has already gained a success that entitles him to rank among the leading members of the bar of Pitt County.
Mr. Sheppard is a native of Pitt County, and
was left an orphan when a child. He spent four years in the Oxford Orphanage and then entered Trinity College, where he took the full literary course. This was followed by the full course of the law department, from which he was graduated in 1914 with the degree LL. B. While in college he won a medal as debater in the freshman class and another in the sophomore year, while in the junior year he won the Braxton Craven medal for the best undergraduate essay and as a senior won a $50 prize in the state intercollegiate contest at Raleigh. He was also winner of the Wiley-Gray medal for the best senior oration. With all these honors of studious activity he was prominent in the life of the student body in social and other affairs, was a member of the Glee Club, and man- aged the Trinity baseball team.
On leaving college Mr. Sheppard began the prac- tice of law with R. H. Sykes of Durham, under the name Sykes & Sheppard. When Mr. Sykes was appointed attorney general Mr. Sheppard returned to his home town and has rapidly acquired a self- sustaining practice. He was instrumental in the organization of the Farmville Community Chamber of Commerce, and has accomplished much good for the town and vicinity. He is general secre- tary of the organization.
EDWIN RUFFIN HARRIS. Half a century is a long time in the life and experiences of a single individual. Half a century ago Edwin Ruffin Harris, who had shortly before served in the Con- federate army in the war between the states, began business at Reidsburg. He is the oldest individual merchant of the village, and, what is more, among all the adult population of that town when he went there, and most of whom he knew personally, not one is now left except himself.
Mr. Harris was born on a farm in Reidsburg Township of Rockingham County November 17, 1844, a son of Edwin R. and Bethania (Shelton) Harris. His grandfather, Mastin Harris, was born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. He grew up and married there. In 1822 there occurred one of the familiar migrations of that period. His household goods and farm implements were loaded onto wagons, one conveyance was reserved for his wife and six children, and several trusted slaves drove the cattle and other livestock. Thus by daily stages of a few miles they accomplished the journey from Virginia into North Carolina. Mastin Harris secured a tract of timbered land in the eastern part of Rockingham County, near the line of Caswell County. The lumber for his simple home was cut with a whip-saw. That home was fourteen miles east of Reidsville. With the aid of his slaves he had a number of acres of the wilderness converted into fields, and with increas- ing prosperity he lived there until his death at the age of seventy-seven. Mastin Harris married Martha Ramey, who died at the age of seventy years. Both are buried in the family plot on the home farm. They were members of the Primitive Baptist Church. Edwin R. Harris, Sr., was ten years old when his parents came to North Caro- lina. After he was grown he bought land a mile and a half from Reidsville and was farming in that locality until 1853, when he went to Ruffin Township and bought another farm. That place drew upon his labors and energies for a number of years but his last days were spent among his children. He died at the age of seventy-eight. His wife attained the great age of ninety-eight. They were members of the Primitive Baptist Church.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA .
Their eight children were named James M., Julius, Edwin Ruffin, Nannie M., Samuel S., Virginia, Lula and John M. It is a long lived and vigorous family, indicated by the fact that three sons and two daughters are still living.
Edwin Ruffin Harris had his youthful experience .divided between attending the district schools and helping on the home farm. Before he was twenty years of age he went into the Confederate army. In March, 1864, he enlisted in Company G of the Forty-fifth North Carolina Regiment and expe- rienced active and almost continuous fighting dur- ing the last year of the war. He was with Cox's Brigade during the last days of the great conflict, and was one of the last Confederate soldiers to fire a shot. On the morning of the final surrender he was one of the seventeen men who volunteered to protect a field piece in danger of capture. Fif- teen of these men were made prisoners, but Mr. Harris and a companion escaped. Upon learning of the surrender he asked permission of his captain to leave the ranks and attempt escape. The cap- tain told him to remain, and as he obeyed orders his name is on the official list of those paroled at Appomattox.
Hostilities ended, he returned home and the following summer assisted his father in making a crop. He also attended school three months, and in the spring of 1866 entered business as a dealer in leaf tobacco. In 1867 he came to Reidsville and set up in the mercantile business on a modest scale. His store has continued to draw patronage from the surrounding country for half a century, but it is not alone as a business man that he has con- tributed to the welfare of his community. Mr. Harris was for six years a member of the board of town commissioners, and is now a member and has served as president of the Reidsville Business Men's Association. He and his wife are active in the Primitive Baptist Church, and he is a senior deacon and clerk of the church and is moderator of the Upper County Line Association.
In 1869 he married Miss Tecorah Gertrude Price. She was born in Rockingham County, a daughter of Herman and Araminta (Ferrell) Price. Mr. and Mrs. Harris have five children: Walter G., Samuel P., Blanche, Gertrude and Charles. Four of the children are now married. Blanche is the wife of John J. Nims and has two children, Edwin B. and Virginia Gertrude. Gertrude mar- ried Perry A. Sloan and has a son Perry, Jr.
REV. EDWARD F. GREEN. When an air of pessi- mism seems to envelop in gloom many worthy enterprises in these modern days, it is cheering, encouraging and invigorating to look upon the marvelous work that is being quietly but effec- tively carried on by Rev. Edward F. Green, presi- dent of the Carolina Collegiate & Agricultural Institute at Star, North Carolina. Through his philanthropy, wide and deep, are borne to the ocean of happy knowledge and lives of usefulness those frail human barks that otherwise would ever rest in the shadows and shallows or merely daslı futilely upon harren sands. His whole life has been more or less devoted to educational work, but at no previous time has his success quite equaled his present great achievement.
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