USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 11
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Edward F. Green was born in 1865, in the city of York, England. His parents were George G. and Mary (Milner) Green. For many years his father was a stock farmer and on his estates bred the fine sheep for which England is noted. The youth attended the public schools and remained
with his parents until the age of twenty years, when he came to the United States. In 1885 he entered Wooster University, at Wooster, Ohio, where he pursued both academic and collegiate studies and subsequently took post graduate work in pedagogy. Graduating in 1893, in that same year he came to Concord, North Carolina, where he took charge of Sunderland Hall, a philan- thropic educational enterprise that had just started on its career of giving a practical education to worthy young women. He remained in charge of this school for three years, during which time he practically originated and organized the church and school work in connection with the Patterson Mills at that place, a form of welfare work in which Mr. Green was one of the pioneers in North Carolina, but has since been quite extensively taken up by the cotton mill owners in other parts of the state.
Following his work here Mr. Green entered the theological seminary at Auburn, New York, from which he was graduated three years later with the degree of B. D. and subsequently received the degree of D. D. His first pastorate was at Oris- kany, New York, and one year later he went to the Pacific Coast and during the succeeding ten years held other pastorates, but during the larger part of that decade was college pastor connected with the Oregon Agricultural College at Corvallis, Oregon. While there he was also a student, not only taking the general agricultural courses but devoting study and experiment in bacteriology, biology and chemistry.
In 1910 Doctor Green returned to North Caro- lina with plans matured for the founding and erecting of what has become the Carolina Collegiate and Agricultural Institute. He located at Star in Montgomery County, in the central part of the state, where he secured twenty-one acres of beautifully situated land, on which there is a fine growth of oak and other forest trees in their natural setting. The grounds forming the campus are being systematically improved after designs submitted by a landscape artist. Writing in the fall of 1917, Doctor Green has the main college building now completed, besides a handsome and commodious residence for himself on the college campus. The college building is a handsome brick structure consisting of two stories and base- ment, fashioned, especially in its interior ar- rangement, after the designs furnished by the Government for schools of this character. One is impressed with the idea of spaciousness and wide roominess in the building, while its perfect ventilation and modern lighting makes a whole- some and cheerful atmosphere. The main floor is given over to class rooms and a large hallway. On the second floor are additional class rooms, but the main feature of this floor is the auditorium with a large stage, as in a theater, this being flanked by class rooms that, on occasions of enter- tainments, may be used as dressing rooms. All these details of construction were carefully worked out.
While this school officially has the backing of the Congregational Church, of which Doctor Green has been a member since 1910, it is in reality his own private enterprise, having been built by Doctor Green without a cent of financial aid from the church. He passes much time in the North and East in the interest of the school, and through his own personal worth and high char- acter has been able to secure substantial aid for the enterprise.
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The Carolina Collegiate & Agricultural Institute is intended, primarily, to benefit boys and girls, teaching and training them in vocational work so as to fit the boys for agricultural and other useful industrial pursuits and the girls for useful lines suitable for their sex. The school is lo- cated geographically in about the center of a large extent of country that has lain practically undeveloped agriculturally. It contains a large population and the children here have never had good educational advantages. In Doctor Green 's school many grown students may be observed and a number who are married and heads of families themselves, and so eager are some of these students that they willingly begin in the first grade work and if possible remain through the twelfth. In 1916 Doctor Green graduated two girls who had daily walked a distance of six miles for six years. It is gratifying to him that they are now attend- ing the Greensboro Normal School with the design of becoming teachers. As he reviews what has already been done his spirit must be refreshed. His reminiscences are exceedingly interesting, es- pecially when he recalls the boys who at different times have drifted in here from almost "nowhere"' and after enjoying the advantages provided here, not the least of these being the example, advice and encouragement of Doctor Green, have gone out pretty well equipped for the useful and hon- orable lives they have led, in professions as well as industries.
Doctor Green was married to Miss Florence M. McDowell, a lady with great musical talent who is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music of Wooster University. Mrs. Green is in full sympathy with her learned husband 's philanthropic enterprise and assists through her musical gifts, having charge of both the vocal and instrumental music departments in the institute. Doctor and Mrs. Green have three children: Hubert, who is a graduate of Oberlin College, Ohio, and Isabel and Catherine, who take prominent part in the town's pleasant social life.
In October. 1917, at the annual meeting of the state synod of the Congregational Church of North Carolina, a great honor was conferred on Doctor Green when he was elected moderator of this gov- erning body.
REV. DR. JOHN ROBINSON. A figure of singular distinction in the early life of North Carolina was Rev. Dr. John Robinson, concerning whom much has been written and whose life and services deserve some memorial in this publication. The larger part of what follows is taken from "Foote's Sketches," with some additional data sunnlied by Doctor Robinson's descendants.
He was born January 8, 1768, in the Sugar Creek community near Charlotte, and was old enough to be a witness of the scenes of the Rev- olutionary war. He was eight years of age when the famous Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- pendence was promulgated at Charlotte, and at- tended the celebration connected with it in that city. The scenes of that celebration were indel- ibly impressed upon his boyish mind from the in- cident of an enthusiastic cheerer throwing his hat so high that alighted on a building and a pole had to be brought to get it down. Doctor Robinson often told this incident to his daughter. Mary, from whose lips it was handed down to Dr. John Robinson Trwin. the eminent physician and sur- geon of Charlotte.
While he was too young to engage in the bat-
tles, Doctor Robinson's youthful memories re- ceived a vivid impression of the events of Revo- lutionary times and in his habit he recounted with spirit the things he had heard and seen when a child. The correctness of his memory and the facility of his recollection, especially where dates were concerned, was remarkable. He trusted mem- ory and she was faithful to him to the last, bring- ing out her stores at his call with unabated celer- ity and precision. Unfortunately, it was because of this very retentive memory that he committed little of his knowledge to paper and left noth- ing of importance in manuscript. The author of "Foote's Sketches"' records that the traditions gathered from him led to the compilation of facts published under that name.
The parents of Dr. John Robinson lived in Sugar Creek Township and their graves are found near the center of the old graveyard. They were reputed eminently pious by their neighbors and were dovoted members of the church. Their care- ful training of their son in the nurture and ad- monition of the Lord, and their concern for his salvation were often spoken by him with grati- tude and reverence. His academic education was received partly in Charlotte under the tuition of Doctor Henderson, who taught in the College Building, and partly in an academy taught by Mr. Archibald of Poplar Tent. His classical course was completed and his degree of A. B. conferred at Winnsboro, South Carolina, the seat of Mount Zion College. The title of D. D. was conferred by the University of his native state as a just tribute of respect for one who had done much for the moral and religious education of the rising generation.
He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Orange April 4, 1793. Firm in his purpose, dig- nified in his deportment, courteous in his manner, commanding in his appearance, above the common stature and perfectly erect, of a spare, muscular frame, of great activity and personal courage, he went to preach the gospel of our Lord at the time when the flood of infidelity that swept over our land tried men's souls. In Carolina and in Virginia he conducted revivals that brought a large company of young men safely and perma- nently within the folds of the church.
In 1800 he accepted an invitation from the church in Fayetteville to become their resident minister. The smallness of the salary and the necessities of the youth induced him to open a classical school. He continued with the congre- gation a little more than a year; when, finding that the labors of the two offices were more than his constitution could bear; he left the congregation in December, 1801, and removed to Poplar Tent, the scene of part of the instructions of his early life under Mr. Archibald. After remaining with the congregation of Poplar Tent about four years, preaching and conducting a classical school, which was commended by the Presbytery in 1803, he was induced by the earnest solicitation of the citizens of Fayetteville to return to that place, where about the beginning of 1806 he resumed his pastoral labors and his classical school. In these two offices he continued about three years. In the latter part of December, 1808, he returned to Poplar Tent and passed the remainder of his days.
For many years Doctor Robinson carried on a classical school in Poplar Tent, at which were trained many of the leading men of a later gen- eration in that section of the state. The dig.
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nity, precision and kindness with which he pre- sided over his school are referred to with much affection by his pupils. A teacher himself, he favored every attempt to promote sacred learn- ing, and when about the year 1820 an effort was made to establish a college in Western Carolina he took an active part in the enterprise and mourned over its failure.
Doctor Robinson was a lifelong and most in- timate friend of the late Rev. Dr. Robert Hall Morrison, who preached the funeral sermon over his beloved associate's body in the Poplar Tent Church. This sermon, on account of its elo- quence, its sublimity and classic elegance in tell- ing of the life and good works and virtues of the deceased, was printed in pamphlet form by spe- cial request. It is a model of funeral oration. Doctor Robinson and Doctor Morrison were closely associated in their efforts to found Davison Col- lege under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church, and after this institution was started in 1837 Doctor Robinson was a member of the first board of trustees and for many years was presi- dent of the board.
Some of his personal traits arc thus told in "Foote's Sketches: "As he advanced in years, his manners, always courteous, became more digni- fied and bland; a stranger would have thought he had adorned the drawing rooms of our cities in the beginning of the nineteenth century, a gentle- man of the old school of Nathaniel Macon. His kind manners expressed a kinder heart, that grew more tender as he advanced in years. It was impossible that a young minister should be in- troduced to him without loving him; or love him long without reverencing him and catching from him a spirit to desire excellence for its own sake and for Christ.
"A guileless, affectionate simplicity attracted all to him in his advancing infirmities; and his departure seems less and less welcome to his peo- ple the nearer and more certain its approach. His habits of neatness in his person and dress continued through life. He had so fixed the habit of dressing himself becomingly that very seldom was he found unprepared to welcome a visitor, and yet the greatest simplicity always appeared in his garments and the manner in which he was attired. It is said of him in his more active days as a pleasant example of his attention to his fam- ily, that returning from a judicatory of the church, he lodged about seventeen miles from home. Rising at the dawn of day to reach home for his breakfast, he was observed to be particu- lar in adjusting his dress, and under some disad- vantage to be shaving himself with care. One of his fellow lodgers observed 'you need not delay to be so particular as you are only going home'; with a polite bow the doctor replied, 'for that very reason I am particular.' "'
He never professed any great fondness for the pen, and had no manuscript to review in his old age. His infirmities prevented him from reading to any extent; and he was deprived of his excel- lent wife, Mary Baldwin, the mother of his chil- dren, in 1836, having lived in affection with her for more than forty years, having been united in marriage April 9, 1795. Yet he never appeared lonesome or repining while he was waiting upon God for his departure. His life was protracted in great feebleness until the 14th of December, 1843, when he fell asleep in Christ. His body was laid beside the remains of his wife in the burying ground near Poplar Tent Church.
JOHN ROBINSON IRWIN, M. D., engaged forty years in the work and service of physician and surgeon, is one of the eminent professional names in North Carolina. Especially distinguished in the field of gynecology and abdominal surgery, besides the great private clientage he has served he has turned his experience and influence to good account as a teacher and lecturer and for the up- building of medical organizations and associa- tions and the creating and maintenance of the highest possible standards in professional work. His life has been a noteworthy approximation of the high ideals and principles he inherited from his ancestors, ancestors noted for their substan- tial character and their devotion to the great fun- damentals of life expressed through religion, mor- ality, education and the home and family.
Doctor Irwin is a great-grandson of the fa- mous Gen. Robert Irwin of Steel Creek Township, Mecklenburg County. General Irwin was a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, and as an officer of the North Carolina State Troops in the Revolution gave active service in both North and South Carolina. He was pro- moted from major to general, and had a distin- guished career not only as a soldier and officer but as a statesman as well.
Gen. Robert Irwin was born in Steele Creek Township, his father, of Scotch-Irish descent, hav- ing come there from Pennsylvania, one of the orig- inal settlers of the township. In the War of the Revolution General Irwin was with Sumter in August, 1780, at the battle of Hanging Rock. In personal bravery and technical qualifications he was one of the outstanding officers of North Carolina in the war. He was also distinguished for his broad and generous manhood and his pop- ularity with all classes of people. He served as a member of the Provisional Congress at Halifax, North Carolina, in October, 1776, representing Mecklenburg County, his colleagues in that con- vention being Waighstill, Avery, Hezekiah Alex- ander and Zacheus Wilson. It was this body that formed the first State Constitution. General Ir- win was also a delegate with Gen. Joseph Graham as colleague to the conventions at Hillsboro and Fayetteville which considered the adoption of the Confederate Constitution. He was elected the first state senator from Mecklenburg County in 1778, and by subsequent elections served in the sessions of 1779 to 1784 inclusive. He was an exemplar member of the old Steele Creek Pres- byterian Church, and his exalted character is happily described by the beautiful words of the inscription on his tombstone in Steele Creek ceme- tery, where he is buried. This inscription was placed there in loving memory by his friends and neighbors.
The paternal grandfather of Doctor Irwin was William Irwin and the father was Batte Irwin. Batte Irwin was a large planter and slave owner of the ante-bellum days. His plantation six miles north of Charlotte on the Charlotte and David- son roads was one of the finest in this section of the state and one of the best from point of man- agement and administration. He was not only a planter, but was one of the early industrial cap- tains of his time, being a manufacturer of buggies and carriages. He was one of the pioneers in this line of manufacture in North Carolina. His plantation lay on one side of the road, while his blacksmith and woodworking shops were on the other. All the buildings on both sides were
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arranged symmetrically and gave the whole the appearance of a complete village.
Doctor Irwin's mother was Mary Hayes (Rob- inson) Irwin. She was a daughter of the dis- tinguished Rev. Dr. John Robinson, eminent as a Presbyterian divine and scholar, whose career is made the subject of a special sketch on other pages of this work.
Dr. John Robinson Irwin was born at the Ir- win plantation six miles north of Charlotte in Mecklenburg County December 29, 1853. He was educated successively in the Johnson School for Boys at Mill Hill, at Poplar Tent Academy, and the Griffith School at Charlotte, and attended Davidson College. After two years of medical study under Dr. J. McKnitt Henderson, he en- tered the University of Maryland School of Med- icine in 1875 and received his degree from that institution in 1877. For one year he was clini- cal assistant in the University Hospital at Bal- timore. Doctor Irwin began practice at Croft, North Carolina, but at the end of fifteen years moved to Charlotte, from which city his reputa- tion as a specialist in gynecology and abdominal surgery has been spread over the state.
For years he has been one of the leaders in medical education and of organization in the state. In 1902 he became a member of the fac- ulty of the old North Carolina Medical College, and for several years filled the chair of gynecology and abdominal surgery. Since 1901 he has been a member and vice president of the board of trustees of Charlotte College for Women, and is also a trustee of Davidson College, and gynecol- ogist to the Presbyterian Hospital of Charlotte.
He has exercised a great influence over the med- ical profession through his activities in various medical societies, including the Mecklenburg County, Ninth District, State, Tri-State, Southern and American Medical Associations. Again and again he has appeared before these different or- ganizations in the discussions of professional and technical subjects. Doctor Irwin is noted for his ability as a public speaker, has the graces of oratory as well as the matured convictions and thorough familiarity with a wide range of sub- jects. While it is not possible to mention even the titles of various addresses and papers on tech- nical subjects, mention should be made of an oration which he delivered before the North Car- olina Medical Society at its annual meeting June 17, 1914, on the subject "Womanhood, From the Physician 's Viewpoint," an address that was widely circulated and read and is of absorbing general interest as expressing the views of an eminent professional man. While the oration must be read as a whole to be appreciated, something of its style and spirit may be gathered from a few random sentences: "We hear much of the ' feminine unrest' now agitating the world. There may be-and certainly arc-restless women. But so, one must believe, there always have been. Eve was restless, Judith, Helen and Sappho, and those interesting women who lived in the French courts, the ones who helped the Pilgrim Fathers maintain themselves in their extremely narrow paths of righteousness, the ladies who gathered to sew things for the soldiers at the front in the time of the war between the States, and those others who have denounced their sisters for demanding the ballot. Restlessness is a trait of the species and has no sex, any more than love and jealousy and envy and a liking for power and fame have.
"For this feminine unrest, let me suggest as a palliative, or perhaps, a cure, the renaissance of the home. Lectures on domestic science and home efficiency should be increased. Hand labor should be replaced by machinery, just as it has been in the factory, and domestic economy and domes- tic science schools should turn their attention to the practical side of work and emancipation from drudgery. Women should have the best and highest education they can obtain; and education involves care of the physical, culture of the intel- lectual, and direction of the moral and spiritual nature. I believe it is the duty of every woman to make of her own body the strongest, best ma- chine possible; and I believe that one of the great lessons to be taught the women of America today is care of themselves. . My plea is for the higher morality and the holier womanhood and to em- phasize the preciousness of home, because the affections and emotions have greatest power within a narrow circle of intense personal attachment and interest. As their range is widened, their vividness is diminished. And while no one yet can tell what the distinctively womanly qualities of mind may do in the wide world, the ages have proved that these qualities are supremely adapted to the making of home.
"There is no new woman. They are all iden- tically the same as Eve and Sarah and Ruth. They have the same natures, the same love of family and home, the same desire to be of use to others that women have always had. There is nothing greater in life than this great principle of help- fulness and service and love for others. It may be the world of home, it may be the schoolroom, it may be the ranks of fashionable society, or it may be the small country town, but her love and her service are needed and home making is the lifework for the majority of women."
The presence of Doctor Irwin has meant much to the enlightened citizenship of Charlotte. He has interested himself in various business affairs, and has long been a member and elder of the Second Presbyterian Church. He married Miss Margaret Henrietta Henderson, daughter of Dr. J. McKnitt Henderson, of Croft. They are the parents of six children: Herbert, Mary, Hender- son, John, Batte and Julia Irwin. The daughter Mary is now the wife of Mr. W. H, Belk, of Charlotte, North Carolina's greatest merchant.
WILLIAM GARLAND PRIVETTE. One of the ac- complished school men of the state, William G. Privette, has attained exceptional scholarship qualifications and has rendered valuable service to the cause of education. He is now superin- tendent of public instruction of Beaufort County, with home at Washington.
Mr. Privette was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, February 16, 1886. He of Charles and Dorcas Elizabeth (Grose) Privette. His father was a farmer. Mr. Privette first at- tended the public schools, later the Yadkin Valley Institute, Wake Forest College, and since taking up his practical work as a teacher has attended special courses in the University of Chicago and Columbia University of New York.
On leaving Lake Forest College Mr. Privette became principal of the Kinston High School, where he remained two years. In 1914 he was elected county superintendent of publie instruc- tion of Beaufort County. He is a member of the North Carolina Teachers Association and the Na-
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
tional Education Association, and is superintend- ent of the First Baptist Church Sunday School at Washington.
June 26, 1913, he married Miss Inez Reynolds, of Hillsboro, North Carolina. They have one son, William Garland, Jr., born August 29, 1915.
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WILLIAM GRAHAM SHAW, M. D. Representing the third generation of the Shaw family to be well known in medical circles of Scotland County, Dr. William Graham Shaw, of Wagram, has prac- ticed his profession in this community for more than a quarter of a century. Incomplete indeed would be any history of North Carolina without distinctive mention of that large body of men who labor in the broad field of medical service. Some have chosen a particular path and some work under particular combinations of method, but all can be justly credited with scientific knowledge and a due regard for the preservation of the public health, together with a faithful devotion to their own patients that has, on occasion, been heroic. To the profession of medicine Doctor Shaw early devoted his energies, and after an honorable and successful practice of twenty-five years stands as a representative of all that is best and highest in this line of human endcavor.
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