USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 28
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Mr. Hunter was one of the organizers of the Greensboro Country Club. He is a member of the Merchants and Manufacturers Club of Greensboro, and he and his wife are both active in the Methodist Protestant Church, in which he has served as a member of the official board and for ten years was superintendent of the Sunday school. In 1892 Mr. Hunter married Miss Eu- genia McIver, who was born in Moore County, North Carolina. daughter of Langston G. and Mary (Harrington) McIver. She is a cousin of Dr. Charles D. McIver. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter have four living children, Annie, Marion, Eugenia and Thomas A., Jr. Their son John McIver died at the age of seven years and Ruth died at the age of eight.
JOHN EZEKIEL HOOD. The success of John E. Hood, of Kinston, is due to his ability to adapt himself to the changing circumstances of com- mercial affairs, and his abilities have risen in proportion to his opportunities. His chief busi- ness pursuit through a long period of years has been as a druggist, but in the meantime he has extended his connections to many of the impor -. tant financial and business organizations of his section of the state and elsewhere.
Mr. Hood was born in Bentonville, Johnston County, North Carolina, June 26, 1867, a son of John C. and Martha (Young) Hood. His edu- cation in the public schools he supplemented by a course in the College of Pharmacy of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, during 1887-88. For sev- eral years he was in the drug business at Smith- field, North Carolina, but in 1893 removed to Kinston and his place of business in that city has been the chief one in its line for many years.
Mr. Hood was one of the organizers of the Kinston Cotton Mills. He is vice president of the Lenoir Oil and Ice Company; is a director of Company the Chesterfield Manufacturing of Petersburg, Virginia; is vice president of the National Bank of Kinston; president of the Cas- well Cotton Mills; president of the Carolina Land and Development Company; a director of the Eastern Carolina Drainage and Construction Com- pany. He is also active in the Chamber of Com- merce of Kinston, was formerly chairman of the Kinston Public School Board, and he and his family are members of the Queen Street Methodist Episcopal Church.
He was married October 16, 1895, to Miss Pauline Thornton, of Fayetteville, North Car- olina. They have a family of six children, named Richard Thornton, who is now in the Aviation Department of the United States Army, Martha Young, Pauline Frances, Julia Eleanor, John Ezekiel, Jr., and Roland Clare.
EDWIN SANDERS SMITH has had a successful career as a lawyer, has enjoyed a large and con- tinued practice in County, State and Federal courts, and has a place of secure prominence in both the bar and the good citizenship of Raeford, conuty seat of Hoke County.
Mr. Smith was born in Johnston County, North Carolina, in October, 1873. His people have been prominent in the Cape Fear and Little River section of North Carolina for several generations. His great-grandfather, John Smith, came from Virginia prior to the Revolutionary war and es- tablished a home near the junction of the Little River and Cape Fear, in what was then Cumberland County but is now the extreme southeastern part of Harnett County. Much of the large acreage of land which he appropriated and developed in that region is still owned by some of his descendants. His old house is also standing, one of the oldest places in this part of North Carolina, and it bears the scars of battle, many bullet holes showing in the timbers of the house. This region is still known as Smithville. On part of the original Smith land was fought the battle of Chicora, the last engagement in the war between the states. Nearby is the extinct Village of Averasboro, which at one time was of such importance that it con- tested among the cities of North Carolina for the honor of the state capital. John Smith, founder of the family, was a man of learning, dignity and wealth, and as a public leader his record appears
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Squire OVO Baili
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
in connection with a term as member of the North Carolina House of Commons.
The grandfather of Edwin S. Smith of Raeford was Farquhard Smith. Edwin Sanders Smith is a son of Dr. Farquhard Smith, who is still living, a retired resident of Dunn, North Carolina. Far- quhard Smith was born in 1839, and was one of seven brothers who saw service as Confederate soldiers during the war between the states. Fol- lowing the war he graduated from Medical College of South Carolina at Charleston in 1869, practiced in Johnston County six or eight years, and then carried on his.professional work in Harnett County for over thirty years. He was one of the most beloved physicians in this part of the state. For a long period of years he represented the ideal country doctor of the highest class, one whose professional work was never commercialized, and who at the time he retired from practice is said to have accumulated fully $30,000 worth of ac- counts, the settlement of which he never exacted from his debtors. Now, in his eightieth year, he spends his time among his children and finds the greatest pleasure in recalling from his ex- perience many interesting reminiscences of both the old and the new South.
His family lineage is interesting on both sides. His father, Farquhard Smith, married Sallie Slo- comb. Her grandmother was the famous Polly Slocomb of Bladen County, wife of the Revolu- tionary soldier Ezekiel Slocomb. Polly Slocomb's name is prominent in North Carolina annals for deeds of heroism which she performed in the course of the struggle for independence.
Dr. Farquhard Smith married Elizabeth San- ders, who is now deceased. She was a member of the prominent old Sanders family who at one time owned a large part of Johnston County. She died in 1904.
Edwin Sanders Smith grew up in Harnett County, and attended Little River Academy, one of the noted schools of its day. He also spent four years in the University of North Carolina, grad- uating from the law school with the degree EL. B. in 1896. The fall of that year found him practic- ing law at Maxton in Robeson County, but in 1901 he removed to Dunn in Harnett County. After two years he moved his office to the county seat at Lillington, and from there in 1914 came to Raeford, county seat of the newly established County of Hoke. Here he built a fine brick struc- ture opposite the courthouse, part of which he occupies for his law offices. Mr. Smith in addition to the burdens of a large law practice now has the responsibilities of the office of mayor of Raeford. He is a progressive and public spirited citizen of the wealthy and progressive Town of Raeford.
He married Miss Mary McNair, of Rowland, Robeson County. At her death in April, 1914, she left four children. Nathaniel McNair, Mary' Douglas, William Curtis and Francis.
ROBERT HENLEY WHITEHEAD is a cotton mill op- erator and hosiery manufacturer of varied and successful experience in different localities both North and South, and is now manager and founder of the Whitehead Hosiery Mills at Bur- lington, a large and important industry employ- ing 200 operatives and one of the chief industrial assets of the town.
Mr. Whitehead was born at Rockmart, Georgia, August 25, 1876, son of William Andrew Jackson and Mollie (Henley) Whitehead. His father was a merchant and also a shoe manufacturer. The
son' was educated in public schools and for a time was employed in a pharmacy. In 1900 he became a partner and manager of hosiery mills at Saddle River, New Jersey, remained there two years, and then returned south and at Rome, Georgia, estab- lished the Rome Hosiery Mills. Selling his inter- ests there in 1904 he came to Burlington, North Carolina, and was connected with the Burling- ton Hosiery Mills until 1909. In that year he organized the Whitehead Hosiery Mills, of which he has since been secretary, treasurer and man- ager. Mr. Whitehead is a Mason and is a vestry- man and treasurer of the Episcopal Church at Burlington. October 15, 1903, he married Miss Susan Andrews Thurston, of Boston, Massachu- setts.
WILLARD O. BAILES. Success comes not to the man who waits, but to the faithful toiler whose work is characterized by intelligence and force and who has the foresight and sagacity to know when, where and how to exert his energies. Thus it happens that only a comparatively small portion of those who enter the world's broad field of battle come off victors in the struggle for wealth and position. Some lack perseverance, others busi- ness sagacity, and still others are dilatory and negligent, but the record of Willard O. Bailes proves that he possesses all the requisite qualities necessary to cope with the complex conditions of the agricultural industry. He has resided on his present farm in Mecklenburg County for twenty- five years and is now accounted one of the pros- (perous farmers of the community.
Squire Bailes, as he is universally known, was born in York County, South Carolina, November 1, 1868. and is a son of A, B. and Nancy Priscilla (Russell) Bailes. Mrs. Bailes, who has been dead for many years, was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. A. B. Bailes was born in York County, South Carolina, and is still living at the advanced age of seventy-five years, his home ad- joining that of his son in Mecklenburg County. He is one of the most prominent farmers and heaviest landholders in this part of the state, has always been a successful man in the business of farming, and now owns about 1,500 acres of fine agricultural land, an exceedingly valuable piece of property. He served throughout the war as a member of a South Carolina regiment in the army of the Confederacy. In his home community he is a supporter of all progressive movements, and is a citizen whose support gives strength to all that makes for better and cleaner citizenship.
The Bailes family, although their home is in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, live only a short distance from the ancestral home, which al- most adjoins them just across the state line into York County, South Carolina. Willard O. Bailes was born and reared in this community and has lived here all his life. He secured his education in the district schools, and was reared on a farm, and when he came to man's estate adopted agri- cultural work as his life's calling. He has directed his labors so well and has prosecuted them so faithfully that at the present time he is the owner of 306 acres of first-class agricultural land, beauti- fully situated, partly in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and partly in York County, South Carolina, a little more than a mile west of Pineville, on the Wright's Ferry Road leading from that place, and eleven miles due south of the City of Charlotte. This has been a paying farm for a long period of years, producing corn, cotton
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and other crops, with a broad pasturage for the grazing of large herds of well-fed and contented livestock, being particularly adapted to the latter department of farm work. It is well watered and well drained, possesses a fine set of modern buildings, and has improvements of the most up- to-date kind, Mr. Bailes being a progressive agri- culturist in every way.
Squire Bailes was for many years a notary pub- lic for the State of South Carolina, and in such capacity married during sixteen years no less than 3,500 couples, a record probably never equaled by a similar official in the country. The only way to account for his unexampled popularity as a "marrying squire" is that early in his career in that office he won a reputation for his genial good nature and good humor at the wedding ceremonies, his kindly advice and wise counsel imparted to the young couples just starting out in life, his merry quips and sallies of wit, and the cheerful way he started them out upon their careers, making them hopeful and optimistic in regard to the future. It is said that nearly all of his marriages have turned out to be happy ones, and he frequently receives letters of appreciation to this effect from those whom he united in matrimony. He has al- ways been sincerely interested in young people; is a firm believer in early marriages; and thorough- ly approves of people getting married young and married right. It may be well imagined, with the large number of weddings he performed, that his residence at the farm, where they took place, was busy nearly every day with these ceremonies. The young people came from all over the Carolinas and sometimes from distant states, and still Squire Bailes enjoys a wide reputation. His views on life and human conduct reveal much original philos- ophy.
The first wife of Squire Bailes was Miss Ida Blankenship, and she was the mother of his son, Russell Glenelg. After the death of his first wife he was married to the present Mrs. Bailes, who be- fore her marriage was Miss Sarah Bailes, a dis- tant relative.
Squire Bailes is well known in the two Caro- linas. He is a man that appreciates friends and bears acquaintance with years in business trans- actions or otherwise. He is a broad-minded, sober and very generous-hearted man, and has the con- fidence of everybody; whatever he tells you he means. No wonder he has a wide circle of friends, he knows what it takes to make a man. He has proven himself skillful in any calling (being called a skillful jack of all trades), particularly farming, in which he has been very successful. It is said that Squire Bailes and his father, A. B. Bailes has given away, including securities, a fortune, which has seemed to make him none the less poor thereby. He has a good feeling for the poor and it is bred in him to be unselfish, very generous and big hearted. He is a man that is loved generally.
WILEY HOPTON SMITH was one of the construc- tive business men of Goldsboro and his career was not less valuable as a citizen. He played the part allotted to him by destiny with a quiet courage and resourcefulness that makes his name one to be honored in the future.
He was born in Wayne County, North Carolina, March 22, 1846, and his useful career came to a close at Goldsboro November 19, 1906. His par- ents were William Hopton and Tabitha (Ras- berry) Smith. His father in the years before the
war owned large tracts of land and operated it with slave labor. The late Mr. Smith was largely self educated. He was only fifteen years of age when the war broke out, enlisted and served in the Confederate army and was chief ordnance sergeant at Fort Lee. He always took a deep interest in the old soldiers and served as commander of Thomas Ruffian Camp of Confederate Veterans and was also a major on the staff of ex-Gov. C. B. Aycock.
He had his earliest business experience as clerk in a grocery store, and subsequently en- gaged in that line of business for himself. But his achievements in the commercial field were chiefly as a hardware man. For many years he was a member of the firm of Smith & Yelverton, hardware merchants, and he also organized the Wayne Agricultural Works, of which he was a large stockholder and was president of that con- cern until his death. He was also a director of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Com- pany.
During the administration of Gov. Elias Carr, Mr. Smith served as a director of the North Car- olina State Penitentiary. He was a democrat, a member of the Primitive Baptist Church, and from whatever point of view his life may be regarded it was one of usefulness and honor.
In March, 1870, in Sampson County, he mar- ried Miss Mary Elizabeth McArthur, daughter of John and Margaret (Sykes) McArthur. Her fa- ther came from Scotland and her mother was a Virginian. Four children were born to them: Margaret T., who married B. H. Griffin; Daisy Mc., who married E. G. Hines; William Hopton, who married Mary E. Poole; and Graves J. Smith, who is unmarried.
GRAVES JAMES SMITH belongs to one of the old families in industrial and commercial affairs at Goldsboro, and is at the head of one of the largest commercial organizations in the city.
He was born at Goldsboro October 27, 1884, and is a son of Wiley Hopton and Mary Eliza- beth (McArthur) Smith. His father was for many years a hardware merchant, was also a manufacturer, and organized and became presi- dent of the Wayne Agricultural Works at Golds- boro.
Mr. G. J. Smith was educated in the public schools at Goldsboro and gained his first busi- ness experience as clerk in a hardware firm. In 1911 he organized the Smith Hardware Company, Incorporated, and has since been its president.
He is also vice president of the Wayne County Fair Association, is an active member of the Al- gonquin Club, and is affiliated with the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the Masonic Order.
ROBERT D. CALDWELL. North Carolina is a very old state, and many citizens doubtless entertain that all the history was made years before their time. But history is making itself every day and some of the achievements of its records in recent years will loom vastly more important in the per- spective of the future than some of the events which are now honored with conspicuous places on the written record of the past.
An achievement that will deserve the study and admiration of the future historian is the develop- ment, or transformation is a better word, of a quiet country village, one of the old and steady
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plodding communities of Robeson County, into a modern center of industry, commerce and popula- tion. It is not the purpose of this sketch to tell in detail the story of this transformation of Lum- berton, and yet some of the main facts must be given in order to interpret the career of one of the real history makers of modern times, Robert D. Caldwell, who is today probably Lumberton's lead- ing merchant, manufacturer, financier and captain of industry, whose genius and foresight furnished the stimulating cause if not the resources by which Lumberton was changed in fifteen years from its humble role to one of the most promising cities of North Carolina.
Robert D. Caldwell was born at Lumberton in Robeson County in 1859, and thus his efforts as a city builder have had the incentive of loyalty to his birthplace and home community in addition to other causes. He is a son of R. D. and Mary (Townsend) Caldwell. The Caldwells are Scotch- Irish people and have lived in Robeson County for upwards of 100 years.
Mr. Caldwell was educated in the public schools of Lumberton, one of his teachers here being Prof. J. A. McAllister, and he also had the instruction of one of the greatest teachers of his time, Prof. Needham B. Cobb at Ansouville, North Carolina.
Since young manhood Mr. Caldwell has been a merchant. The extent of his enterprise in this field entitled him to be called truly a merchant prince. For a number of years he was senior mem- ber of the firm Caldwell & Carlyle, but in 1912 the firm of R. D. Caldwell & Son was incorporated. His active associate is his son Simeon F. Cald- well. It is a department store that would do credit to any city in North Carolina. It has been de- veloped as a result of years of practical experi- ence in supplying all the various needs of a farm- ing and industrial community and the success of the business is only an adequate reward of the quality of service rendered. The business really comprises a number of different stores or depart- ments and handles almost every commodity that could be described as merchandise. There are departments for clothing, dry goods, millinery, boots and shoes, hardware and stoves, furniture, automobile supplies and accessories, and this branch is the principal distributor in this section of the state for the International Harvester Com- pany's machinery. Another department is under- taking and undertakers' supplies.
However, the building up of this enormous mer- cantile concern is only one and perhaps not the chiefest of Mr. Caldwell's contributions to Lum- berton's prosperity. Up to about the year 1890 Lumberton had been struggling along like the ordinary country town with a population of Jess than nine hundred. with no money-making enter- prises and no visible evidence of progress or defi- nite ambition. The contrast between that time and more modern years was graphically pointed out by Mr. Caldwell himself in an article he furnished a local paper a few years ago. At that time he said the entire business of the one railroad was transacted in one warehouse, by one man as agent, who had to receive and deliver freight, sell pas- senger tickets, and perform his duties as telegraph operator. A more modern condition finds Lum- berton with three railroads, requiring twenty em- ployes and ten warchonses and an uptown tele- graph office. Mr. Caldwell called attention to some of the leading articles found in the stock in trade at the stores, prominent among which was "spin yarn" which was used as "warp" and filled out
on spinning wheels in individual homes. Other commodities found in the stores were adamantine candles, while glass lamps and kerosene oil were just being introduced. Turpentine "dippers," "scrapers" and "hacks" were on the shelves of every store and in daily demand. At that time it was the exceptional store that carried a stock of goods to the value of ten thousand dollars, and the only industries in the county were the tur- pentine distilleries, which long since disappeared through the exhaustion of raw material.
In those days Mr. Caldwell was not only a busy merchant, but was a student and observer. He was especially impressed by the fact that such cities as Durham had risen from a similarly strug- gling and monotonous existence into prominence and prosperity as a result of the centralization of marketing and manufacturing facilities to take care of the tobacco grown in the district. He de- termined that Lumberton could be made just as advantageous a market for tobacco as Durham. He talked the matter over with friends, made a personal investigation of the tobacco industry at Wilson, North Carolina, and finally induced Mr. Robert Fossett, of Durham, a practical tobacco man, to come to Lumberton and take charge of a tobacco warehouse. Mr. Fossett thus became manager of the first tobacco warehouse ever erected in Robeson County for the sale of leaf tobacco. In the meantime the farmers around Lumberton had been encouraged and had accepted the advice to increase their acreage of tobacco, and thus the first stimulus was given to Lumberton business by opening up its tobacco market.
Today the tobacco warehouse is by no means the biggest single industry of Lumberton. But it ranks first in importance as well as in time as the little industrial leaven which has stirred and stim- ulated the entire community to progressive endeav- ors and achievements in a business way. Out of the tobacco warehouse came the first bank of Robeson County, an increased acreage of cotton and other crops, later the establishment of cotton mills, the growth of a general commercial and industrial life, reconstruction of solid business and public buildings, modern municipal improvements, resulting in a present population of over five thou- sand and making Lumberton one of the richest cities of its size in the state.
As already noted, while Robeson County now has seventeen or eighteen banks, there was not a single institution for the safeguarding of money and the performance of banking service at the period above described. When the farmers brought their tobacco to the warehouse they were paid in check, and Mr. Caldwell cashed most of these checks at his store. It was an accommodation that nat- urally suggested the idea and afforded the op- portunity for the establishment of a real bank. The situation was also brought to the notice of Robert L. and W. F. L. Steele, of Rockingham, who consulted with Mr. Caldwell on the matter, and with Judge T. A. McNeill. C. B. Townsend and other leading citizens. Thus the Bank of Lumberton was organized with a capital stock of $15.000, and with Judge MeNeill as president. This bank is now the National Bank of Lumber- ton. with a capital stock of $100.000. with de- posits of about $600 000. and with A. W. McLean president and Mr. Caldwell vice president.
The bank had hardly been started when capital began to aceminlate in Lumberton and a distinct spirit of growth and progress manifested itself. Mr. Caldwell was one of the men instrumental in
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directing this progress toward manufacturing en- terprises. He and Mr. A. W. McLean solicited subscriptions to the capital stock for a cotton mill. and succeeded in raising $75,000, with which t'e first cotton mill in Robeson County was erected at Lumberton. That mill was built in 1890, and it is today the Lumberton Cotton Mills, of which Mr. Caldwell is president. The capital stock is now $175,000, and for over a quarter of a century the mill has been operated prosperously, has been again and again enlarged and improved, and has been a source of much wealth to the entire com- munity. In 1892 the Dresden Mill was built by practically the same company. Mr. Caldwell is also president of this milling company, capitalized at $200,000. These mills are at East Lumberton and are the center of a happy and prosperous mill community.
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