USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 27
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Since then Mr. Blades has given his attention to various corporations and is vice president of the Newbern Banking & Trust Company, president of the Newbern Brick Company, president of the Beaufort Scrap & Oil Company, president of the Norfolk Realty Development Company, vice presi- dent of the Dixie Fire Insurance Company, and was one of the principal contributors to the build- ing of the handsome six story brick office structure at Newbern known as the Elks Building. Mr. Blades is affiliated with the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and is also an Odd Fellow.
In November, 1888, he married Amanda Carolina Collins, of Bishopville, Maryland. They have two children: Ivy, Mrs. C. O. Robinson, and William Benjamin, Jr.
CALEB DAVIS BRADHAM has touched the life and affairs of his native state at many different points, and always with an enterprise, a vigor and en- thusiasm which have conferred substantial benefits on others than himself.
Mr. Bradham is a member of one of the old and distinctive families of North Carolina, and his connections include some notable names. He was born in Duplin County May 27, 1867, a son of George Washington and Julia ( McCann) Brad- ham. His father was a manufacturer of naval stores. In the maternal line he is descended from Lieutenant John McCann, a gallant Revolutionary soldier who was killed at the battle of German- town, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1777. His ma- ternal grandmother was a Sheffield, a family that came to England and located in Duplin County, North Carolina, along with the McCanns. An- other paternal relationship was the Waller fam- ily, which was prominent in the Cape Fear section of North Carolina. The Bradhams were settlers in Onslow County, North Carolina, early in the eighteenth century.
Caleb Davis Bradham was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1899, and subse- quently did post-graduate work in the University of Maryland. While many other interests have claimed his time and attention, his chief business has been as a druggist. He engaged in the drug business at Newbern in 1892. He is president of the Bradham Drug Company, and was originator and founder of the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1896,
Hillary
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of which he has since been president. He is also vice president of the Peoples' Bank, and is one of the prominent members of the chamber of com- merce.
Through his McCann ancestry he is a member of the Order of the Cincinnati. He was long promi- nent in the United States Naval Militia, was cap- tain of the North Carolina Naval Militia for four years, and was retired January 22, 1917, with the rank of real admiral.
Mr. Bradham is helping forward the agricul- tural welfare of North Carolina and is interested in a farm consisting of 1,800 acres of land and has spent much time, study and money in making this a model farm, paying profits not only to its owners but setting a good example of agricultural efficiency to the people at large. For six years Mr. Bradham served as chairman of the board of county commissioners.
He is prominent in Masonry, having attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite; is past master of St. John's Lodge No. 10, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; is past eminent commander of St. John's Commandery, Knights Templar, and is treasurer of Sudan Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. He is trustee of the Presbyterian Church at Newbern. Mr. Bradham is now chairman of the Eastern District Board of Exemptions.
Mr. Bradham was married January 1, 1901, to Miss Charity Credle, of Newbern, daughter of B. C. Credle, now of Newbern and formerly reg- ister of deeds of Hyde County, North Carolina. Her mother was Mary Hatsel, of a prominent Huguenot family that came to North Carolina early in the seventeen hundreds and was descended from the noted John Rolf. Mr. and Mrs. Bradham have three children: Mary McCann, Caleb Darnell and George Washington.
GEORGE W. WILLCOX is a son of the late Capt. George Willcox, who earned his rank and title by valiant service in the Confederate army, and is a descendant of English ancestors who first located in Pennsylvania and a number of years prior to the Revolutionary war one branch of the family came to North Carolina.
The founder of the Willcoxes in this state was John Willcox, great-grandfather of George W. Willcox. He came from Philadelphia and first settled at Campbelltown (now Fayetteville). Later he moved to the northeast part of Moore County on Deep River, where the Willcoxes have lived ever since. John Willcox was a man of great en- terprise and one of the pioneers of the coal and iron industry. During the Revolutionary war large quantities of ammunition used by the Pa- triot American army were manufactured in his foundry at Gulf.
The name George has been in three generations of the family. Capt. George Willcox was a son of George Willcox. Captain George, who might well be named as one of the foremost citizens of North Carolina in his time, was born June 17, 1835, in the upper part of Moore County on Deep River, near the present Town of Carbonton. At the beginning of the war between the states he enlisted in Company H of the 26th North Caro- lina Regiment. When the regiment was reorgan- ized in the spring of 1862 he was elected second lieutenant of Company H and continued as such
until the fall of 1864, when he was made captain of Company H in the 46th North Carolina Regi- ment, Cook's Brigade, Heth's Division, Hill's Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. Captain Will- cox was in all the battles in which his regiment was engaged during the war except Malvern Hill. He had all the qualities of the great soldier- faithfulness to duty, intrepidity and resourceful- ness in every emergency-and distinguished him- self on practically every battlefield. During the first day's fighting at Gettysburg he was badly wounded and captured, but was rescued and re- turned to his command in time to take part in the Battle of the Wilderness. In that battle he was again severely wounded by a bullet through his shoulder. His courage and spirit were quench- less, and after recovering he joined his regiment . in the trenches around Petersburg. He was cap- tured in the action at Burgess Mill, October 27, 1864, but again effected his escape from the enemy during the night and rejoined his comrades.
For nearly half a century after the war he was equally successful and prominent as a planter and farmer and as a leader in affairs. He rep- resented Moore County in the Lower House of the Legislature in 1885-86 and was state senator in 1911-12, representing the counties of Moore and Randolph. He died in 1912. He was a man of such lofty character as to win the esteem and admiration of all, and at the same time much of his character was expressed in devotion to his family. He gave all his children excellent edu- cations.
Capt. George Willcox married Isabelle Palmer, who is also deceased. She was a member of the well-known Palmer family, which has lived in Moore and Chatham counties from colonial times. Her ancestor, Col. Robert Palmer, an officer of the British army, came to America at the head of a colony of English people and settled them on large grants of land he had received from the Crown. His home was at Bath on the east shore. His son, Robert Palmer, second, moved to the Deep River section in the extreme southern part of Chatham County, adjoining Moore County, which has been the home of the Palmers ever since.
The mother of Isabelle Palmer was a sister of Hon. Hugh McQueen, of Chatham County, noted as a lawyer, brilliant statesman, and one of the noblest representatives of Scotch ancestry of Chatham County, where he was born. He repre- sented his home county in both houses of the Gen- eral Assembly, was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1835, and in 1840 became attorney- general of North Carolina. He resigned that office in 1842 and went to Texas, where he achieved no less distinction than he had enjoyed in his native state. He was a foremost member of the Texas bar and had also taken an active part in the strug- gles of the 'Texas republic against Mexico and in the Mexican war.
George W. Willcox, who was born in 1882, near Carbonton in Moore County, where he now lives, is a planter occupying a farm and home that is one of the most interesting historically in the State of North Carolina. Some of his lands have been consecrated by the blood of licroes dating back to the days of the Revolution.
Mr. Willcox was educated at the University of North Carolina, graduating with the class of 1903. He has always been a farmer, and some years ago he bought his present place, known as the Anderson-Jones farm and which was the original home of Col. Philip Allston, one of the most dis-
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tinctive figures in the Colonial and Revolutionary history of this part of the state.
The Allstons were a rich and powerful Euglish family. Some years before the Revolution they settled in what is now the extreme northeast part of Moore County, at the "Horseshoe" of Deep River, so called from the horseshoe configuration of the stream at this place. Here Col. P. Allston built his home and carried on extensive training operations. The wealth and opulence of his plan- tation and the surrounding country attracted the greed of Capt. David Fanning, who, though a native American in Chatham, had become a Tory and joined the British forces at Wilmington under Colonel Craig. Fanning led his fellow Tories up through the Cape Fear country to the Philip Allston place in Moore County, where he was mnet and given battle by Colonel Allston and the few neighbors that could be hastily summoned. The defenders barricaded themselves in the Allston house, and a severe battle ensued for several hours. The Allston house, which is still standing and in a good state of preservation, furnishing a com- fortable as well as romantic home to George W. Willcox and family, has weathered the storms of nearly a hundred and fifty years. It is one of the most ancient and historic houses in the state. Historically it is known as "the house in the Horseshoe." Bullet holes in the outside frame- work of the building are in evidence everywhere. It is a two-story frame structure of pleasing de- sign and much of the material, both for the ex- terior and interior finishing was brought from England. It exemplifies some of the best lines of old colonial architecture. For some years it was the home of Governor Benjamin Williams, who is buried nearby. Williams had come to the Allston place in 1797 and was elected governor of the state in 1799 and again chosen to the same office in 1807 and 1809.
Mr. Willcox might consistently be called one of the leading general farmers and stock raisers in the state. His plantation consists of 1,267 acres, located four miles from Carbonton, two miles from Haw Branch station on the Norfolk and Southern Railroad, and in the same vicinity where the Will- coxes have lived for generations.
While the plantation furnishes employment for all his energies and intelligence throughout the year, Mr. Willcox has not neglected a keen interest in public affairs. In the spring primary campaign of 1918 he was honored by Moore County people as their candidate for the Lower House of the Legislature. His place on the democratic ticket assures his election. Mr. Willcox is a member of the Euphronia Presbyterian Church, and his father was an elder of that church for many years. George W. Willcox married Miss Lulu McLeod, who was born and reared in South Carolina. They have three children: Jacob McLeod, Isabel and Clara Chase.
J. QUINCE GILKEY. Though a resident of Mar- ion, McDowell County, most of his life J. Quince Gilkey in a business way is known over several states and is one of the most public spirited and prominent citizens of North Carolina.
Born at Marion in 1874, Mr. Gilkey represents an old time family in Rutherford and McDowell counties. His great-grandfather, Robert Gilkey, with his brother William Gilkey came from Ire- land to North Carolina about the time of the Revolutionary war, first settling at Beatty's Ford
in Mecklenburg County. Their home and prop- erty suffered much from the depredations of the Tories in that section of the state. Later they moved to Rutherford County. The old home place in that county was six miles north of Rutherfordton. The old Gilkey residence built in 1804, a big house of log timbers, is still stand- ing. Mr. Gilkey's grandfather, John Harvey Gil- key, was born there and reared his children in that community, nine sons and two daughters. They were a remarkably strong and vigorous fam- ily, and it is said that at no time was a doctor's service ever required by them. The only sur- vivor of these children is Squire Gus Gilkey of Marion, who has passed his eightieth year.
J. Quince Gilkey is a son of Dr. J. H. and Adella (Thomas) Gilkey, both now deceased. Doctor Gilkey was born in Rutherford County, studied medicine at the Jefferson Medical Col- lege of Philadelphia, and prior to the war began the practice of his profession at Marion in Mc- Dowell County. He was a splendid type of the old time physician, a man of great character and personality, and was always doing good, not only professionally but by his personal influence and contact with the people whom he served. He continued the practice of medicine until his death in 1895.
While growing up at Marion J. Quince Gilkey attended the local schools and then learned teleg- raphy. He was a telegraph operator for a time, but in 1897 became a salesman for the George W. Helme Company of New York, the noted snuff manufacturers. With that corporation he has been connected now for twenty years. He was on the road for some time, and was then made manager of the Helme Company for the states of North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, an office that carries heavy responsibilities with it. He. directs the sales of the company over this territory. His business headquarters are in the company 's offices in New York, but his personal residence has always been at Marion.
His business ability and personal popularity have made him widely known throughout his home state and other states comprising his busi- ness territory. He is one of the public spirited citizens who have made Marion one of the livest industrial and commercial towns in Western North Carolina. One of his chief contributions to Mar- ion's prosperity has been in the furniture manu- facturing industry. He and his brother W. K. M. Gilkey are owners of the Penn Veneer Company, manufacturers of veneer.
In local affairs he is chairman of the Marion County Highway Commission and chairman of the Board of School Trustees. In state affairs he is by appointment of the Governor a member of the board of directors of the North Carolina Railroad, the state owned railroad. He is a director of the First National Bank, one of the organizers and a director of the Building and Loan Association, and one of the organizers and a director of S. B. Penick & Company, one of the largest crude botanical drug manufacturers of the South. He is also president of the Marion Wholesale Grocery Company.
Mr. Gilkey married Miss Sarah Durant Mc- Donald, daughter of John A. McDonald, of Mar- ion. Mrs. Gilkey is vice president of the North Carolina Division of the Daughters of the Con- federacy, is chairman of the Red Cross Committee for McDowell County and is otherwise actively
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a leader in civic and social affairs. They have three daughters: Elizabeth, Francis and Jean- nette.
HON. JAKE F. NEWELL. To name this well known lawyer of Charlotte is to mention not only a member of one of the oldest families in the State of North Carolina, but one who is probably the foremost in influence and in resourceful ad- vocacy of the principles of the republican party in the state. It is probably not necessary to explain that Mr. Newell gets his republicanism "honestly," since his grandfather and the other Newells who lived in the days of the old whig party were prominent adherents of that doctrine.
For eight years Mr. Newell was chairman of the Republican County Executive Committee of Meck- lenburg County, and has been a member of the Republican State Executive Committee for many years. Both in 1904 and in 1914 he was a candi- date of his party for Congress, and in 1908 was candidate for attorney general of North Caro- lina. He has fought through many hard cam- paigns. Mr. Newell is both a pleasing and force- ful speaker and campaign orator, and many North Carolinians appreciate his vigorous qualities as a leader in the minority party. He proved very useful to his party in the campaign of 1916, his personal popularity and his eloquence making him a vote winner. His home county of Mecklenburg had not more than 150 republican votes in 1900, while the normal vote given to that party now is around 1,500.
Mr. Newell was born at the old Newell home- stead in the southern part of Cabarrus County, North Carolina. That home has continuously been in the ownership and possession of members of the Newell family through all the generations since his great-great-grandfather, Francis Newell, set- tled there as the first permanent white resident of the county. Members of the different generations since then have occupied the old farm, and it is now the home of William G. Newell, father of the Charlotte lawyer. Both were born there.
Francis Newell came from County Down, Ire- land, and was one of four brothers who immi- grated to America and first located around York, Pennsylvania. Two of these brothers went south, one of them being Francis Newell. It was in 1750 that he settled in what is now Cabarrus County. He acquired lands of great extent, since land was then plentiful and cheap. The old home farm where William G. Newell now lives consists of about 170 acres. In a country where rapid change is almost a predominant characteristic it is a remarkable tribute to the staying qualities of the Newell family that they have lived in one locality upwards of two centuries.
When Francis Newell settled in Cabarrus County the only other inhabitants were Indians. A rather unusual story is told in connection with the ar- rival of the next or one of the very next white settlers in that section of the state. While out in the woods one day Francis Newell heard the sound of an ax, and following the direction of the sound he came unexpectedly upon a man named Spears. The curious part of the adventure was that Spears came from the same county in Ireland as the Newells, and though not aware of the presence of his fellow countryman had settled in practically the same locality only a short time be- fore meeting Francis Newell.
Jake F. Newell's great-grandfather was William H. Newell, and his paternal grandfather was John
H. Newell, all of whom lived upon the Newell home. Jake F. Newell has the following brothers and sisters living: J. Clifton Newell, Richard E. Newell, Rev. W. A. Newell, Mrs. R. L. Rogers and Miss Mamie Newell. All of the Newells who were of proper age were Revolutionary patriots in the war of the Revolution, and the family also contributed a number of its members to the Confederate service in the war between the states.
Jake F. Newell was reared on the old farm in Cabarrus County, attended the local schools, and at the University of North Carolina took special literary courses and pursued the study of law. After his admission to the bar he located in Charlotte in 1901, and has proved a very able and successful member of the bar. Associated with him in practice now is his brother J. Clifton Newell, who is a graduate of Wake Forest College, where he received both the academic degrce and his course in law.
Mr. Jake F. Newell is married, his wife having been formerly Miss Fannie Black, a native of Mecklenburg County.
WILLIAM HOUSTON CARROLL is one of the honored members of the Burlington bar, and the dignities and success of the profession have come to him in generous measure during the thirty years he has practiced in that part of the state.
Mr. Carroll was born near Kenansville, North Carolina, September 30, 1862, son of George Wash- ington and Mary W. (Houston) Carroll. Most of his boyhood days he spent on his father's farm. His early education was supervised in private schools at Wallace, North Carolina, and in 1886 he graduated A. B. from the University of North Carolina. The next two years he was busy with teaching, and then applied himself with such dili- gence and rapidity of concentration upon the study of law that he finished the required course of two years in a single year and was duly qualified and admitted to the bar in February, 1889. Since then he has been engaged in handling the affairs of a general practice at Burlington, served for a number of years in the offices of city and county attorney, was elected a member of the Legislature in 1899, and was one of the organizers and attor- ney for the First National Bank of Burlington. He is a member in good standing of the North Carolina and American Bar Association, was for eighteen years past master of his Masonic Lodge, is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men and the Junior Order of United American Me- chanies and belonged to Phi Delta Theta, a Greek letter fraternity, while in college. He and his family are members of the Christian Church.
January 28, 1891, Mr. Carroll married Sarah Elizabeth Turrentine, member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Alamance County. Her father, William H. Turrentine, was for many years engaged in the manufacture of railroad equip- ment. Mr. and Mrs. Carroll have three children : Edith Elizabeth, a student in Salem College in this state; Ella Rea, a teacher at Burlington; and Adrian Meredith, who spent one year in the Uni- versity of North Carolina, and was in the Virginia Military Institute before he volunteered for serv- ice in the Engineer Corps in the United States Army.
THOMAS ALSON HUNTER has had a role of in- creasing responsibilities in the business life and affairs of Greensboro for a quarter of a century
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and is closely identified with the management of several of that city's best known institutions.
Mr. Hunter was born on a plantation in Clay Township of Guilford County, North Carolina. His grandfather, Samuel Hunter. was a planter, had slaves to operate his farm before the war, and spent his life largely in Clay Township. John C. Hunter, father of Thomas A., was born in Clay Township, a son of Samuel and Cynthia ( Hardin) Hunter. The family for several generations have been prominent members of the Methodist Prot- estant Church. The grandparents were buried in the Tabernacle churchyard of that denomination. John C. Hunter acquired a very good education for his time, and for a number of years taught school. As a teacher he was exempt from military service during the period of the war between the states. He finally bought a farm in Clay Township and gave it his attention until his death at the age of fifty-nine. He married Dora Greeson, who was born in Clay Township, daughter of Gideon and Elizabeth (Rankin) Greeson and granddaughter of Thomas Greeson. Gideon Greeson was a farmer and cabinet maker by trade and probably spent all his life in Clay Township of Guilford County. Elizabeth Rankin was a daughter of Thomas Rankin, who in turn was a son of William Rankin. William Rankin came to North Carolina in 1765, joining his brother John, who had come the year before and settled in the eastern part of Guilford County. Mrs. Dora Hunter died at the age of sixty-three, the mother of four children, Henry, Thomas Alson, Samuel G., and Bessie.
Thomas Alson Hunter as a boy attended rural schools near his father's home. He prepared for a business career by a commercial course at Oak Ridge Institute, and after a term or so as a teacher he found employment as clerk in a general store and subsequently was a salesman for J. W. Scott's wholesale house. In 1897 Mr. Hunter as- sisted in organizing the Hunter Manufacturing and Commission Company of Greensboro and New York. He was elected secretary and treasurer of this widely known concern, and gave it all his time and abilities until 1912. He still continues as secretary and treasurer but since 1912 has divided his time among other concerns. He is secretary and treasurer of the Pomona Mills, is president of the Sanford Mills and of the Deep River Mills at Randleman, North Carolina, is director of the Southern Life & Trust Company and director of the American Exchange Bank of Greensboro. All these enterprises have greatly benefited from his personal abilities and his judg- ment and they represent a solid success in the business world.
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