USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 3
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In 1892, William Holt Williamson, established the Pilot Cotton Mills, and began the erection of a plant in Raleigh, which was finished and placed
in operation in 1893. Associated with him in this undertaking were his father, James N. William- son, and his mother, Mrs. Mary E. Williamson, and later, his brother, James N. Williamson, Jr. In 1907, this business was incorporated under the name of the Pilot Cotton Mills Company, with William H. Williamson as president and treasurer, James Nathaniel Williamson, Jr., as vice president and A. V. D. Smith, as secretary. The Pilot Cot- ton Mills Company's plant contains 425 looms, about eleven thousand spindles, manufacturing about seven and a half million yards of cloth annually. The product of the Pilot Mills is known throughout the United States, while for exportation to the Philippines, South America and the West Indies, other fabrics are manu- factured. This mill has maintained a splendid record for "working time,"" having operated about six thousand days in the twenty years up - to January 1, 1915, an average of practically three hundred working days to the year. The enterprise of the Williamsons and Holts have given an impetus to the commercial life of the state, the fabrics of which they are manufacturers being known and used throughout the world.
Mr. Williamson's interests are many and varied. He is president and treasurer of The Pilot Cotton Mills, at Raleigh; vice president of the James N. Williamson and Sons Company, operating the Ossipee and Hopedale Mills at Bur- lington; director of the Harriet Cotton Mills, at Henderson, and vice president and a director of the Merchants National Bank at Raleigh. His interest in educational matters has led to his ac- cepting membership in the board of directors of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering of Raleigh. Mr. Williamson is a member of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, and was, at one time, a member of the Capital Club of Raleigh, and a member of its board of governors. He was also a member of the late Southern So- ciety of New York. The Raleigh Country Club, of which he was the president, when the club was first opened, was built under Mr. Williamson 's supervision, and he is now a member of it.
Mr. Williamson is a democrat in politics, and though not in sympathy with all of the policies of that party, still, as the platform of that party comes nearer than any other towards meeting with his political views, he has maintained affilia- tion therewith. He is an Episcopalian in religious affiliation, and a vestryman of Christ Church, Raleigh, and a member and vice president of the Church Club of that parish. In accordance with a request of his employees in the Pilot Cotton Mills, and that he might fraternize with them, Mr. Williamson became a member of the Junior Order of the United American Mechanics.
Mr. Williamson has a winter home in De Land, Florida, where he goes for much needed rest from business duties. He greatly enjoys outdoor life, . and is a devotee of golf. Hunting and fishing are also among his pastimes.
William Holt Williamson married, December 1, 1897, Miss Sadie Saunders Tucker, daughter of Rufus S. and Florence Perkins Tucker, of Raleigh, who was born November 28, 1872. Their children are Sadie Tucker, who died in infancy; William Holt, Jr., born December 5, 1903, and Sarah Tucker, born September 13, 1912.
Mr. Williamson has the rare gift of clear and concise expression, and in no way could the actu- ating principles of his life be better described than by using his own words extracted from a
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recent statement concerning himself and his business.
He says: "Since I was old enough to think on such subjects, I made up my mind to adopt a business career, following the work of my father, a cotton manufacturer. Upon entering upon the labors and duties connected with that business I endeavored to make the object of my life and work first to transact my business by honest dealings and then to conduct it with a view to the betterment of my fellow men, and for the upbuilding of the community in which I was located.
"I have always endeavored to help my employ- ees by bettering their condition, mentally, mor- ally, physically and financially. In our mill stores we sold only the very best and absolutely pure groceries, even before the pure food laws were enacted. I have always believed in paying the best wages possible, also in providing comfort- able homes for the employees, and have aided them in the beautifying of their yards, encour- aged them in their gardening, and have looked to clean surroundings for them and to the provid- ing of pure drinking water. I felt that after I had provided honest work, a good, comfortable home and good surroundings in a healthy locality, had given them the best wages and their children an opportunity to receive an education, I had practically done my part by them. I might also add that I provided churches to aid the develop- ment of the moral and spiritual side of their . nature.
"The Pilot Mill Village is considered one of the neatest and most attractive in the State of North Carolina; the Mill school one of the best equipped in the country, and there is hearty co- operation among the teachers, scholars, parents and the management of the mill. The school has the best of teachers and has captured the silver cup for punctuality five years in succession.
"While the prime object in running a busi- ness is to make money, I have always felt that there is something more to be gotten out of it than mere money and profit. While it must neces- sarily make money to be successful, and the money-making end cannot and must not be ignored, still, while this is being done I have felt it to be the duty of all employers to set a good example to their employees of thrift, honesty, industry, and sobriety, and also to let these people know that you feel an interest in them and have their welfare at heart."
THE HALL FAMILY. America's rapid and won- derful development and the opulence of the country 's resources are no doubt largely to blame for the lack of permanence in American families and homes. It is most rare and unusual to find the present generation enjoying the scenes and associa- tions of a community where the family took root more than a century before. While North Caro- lina has many of its old families there are very few whose lives have been lived out from generation to generation in one favored spot.
There is one of the pleasant distinctions asso- cited with the Hall family of Dunlap, Iredell County. The present representative of the family is Dr. Eugenius Alexander Hall, who is now in his eightieth year, has recently rounded out a half century of service as a physician and surgeon, and is today living on land which his ancestors settled 165 years ago and when the Carolinas were prov- inces of Great Britain.
The house where he now resides in Bethany Township seven miles north of Statesville was the scene of his birth in 1839. He is a son of Hugh R. and Mary C. (Nisbet) Hall. His father was born on the homestead September 16, 1802, and died in 1856. A teacher by profession, he was at the head of Ebenezer Academy which he founded in 1822 and which he conducted for twenty-five years. This famous old school was near the Hall home, at Bethany Church, and like its predecessor, the Acad- emy of Sciences, founded by another noted mem- ber of the family, it attracted students from all over the South. Prof. Hugh R. Hall was a son of Alexander Hall.
Doubtless the most noted member of this fam- ily was Dr. James Hall. Some reference to his life should be made, though for an adequate treat- ment the reader is referred to Foot's Sketches. Dr. James Hall was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1744, of Scotch-Irish parentage. His father, James Hall the first, had emigrated from the North of Ireland to Pennsylvania, and from that province came to North Carolina with his family in 1752. Here he located what for many generations has been known as the Hall homestead, but was then in Rowan County. In 1856 James Hall bought from Earl Granville 600 acres of land on Fifth Creek, near the present Bethany Church. In 1761 he ob- tained a grant to 430 adjoining acres. In this then lonely spot of wilderness he built his cabin and settled near the creek south of the present resi- dence of Doctor Hall. James Hall, the pioneer, was the ancestor of more than sixty Presbyterian min- isters and about thirty ministers' wives. His own family consisted of ten children. His church cer- tificate, now in the possession of Dr. E. A. Hall, bears date August 20, 1751, and was issued by Conawaga Church near Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Dr. James Hall was educated at Princeton under the presidency of Doctor Witherspoon. He became famous in three activities of life-as a teacher, a minister and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. His school, widely known as the College of Sciences, was first located at Clio, but was subsequently moved and established on the Hall homestead. It was established in what is now Iredell County about 1777 and was known as "Clio Nursery, "' but a year or two later Doctor Hall established at his own home the "Academy of Sciences." This famous school was continued for many years, and prior to the founding of the State University was considered the best scientific school in the state. It was a center of culture and the place of in- spiration and education for young people through- out this section of the state and students also came to it from the best families in nearly all the south- ern states. A large number of eminent men re- ceive their scientific education there besides numer- ous ministers who studied theology under Doctor Hall. Among these students were Governor An- drew Pickens of South Carolina, Israel Pickens, later governor of Alabama, Hon. Joseph Pearson of North Carolina, and Judge Williams of Ten- nessee.
Doctor Hall founded a circulating library for his students, in a day when books were searce and expensive. He wrote his own grammar, issuing it in manuscript form in duplicate conies. In that time it was regarded as one of the best works of its kind.
Dr. James Hall received his Bachelor's degree from Princeton College in 1774 in his thirty-first year. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Orange in 1775. In April, 1778, he was installed
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as pastor of the United Congregation of Fourth Creek, Concord and Bethany, these three churches being in the Concord Presbytery of North Caro- lina. Princeton, his alma mater, honored him with the degree Doctor of Divinity as did also the Uni- versity of North Carolina.
A full account of his actions as a Revolutionary soldier during the war against England would fill a volume. He was a most ardent and militant patriot and gave evidence of this in all his teaching and preaching. While he maintained lis ministerial and educational work while the war was going on, on numerous occasions he went into active mili- tary service at the front line of battle. A company of cavalry being organized in Rowan County he was chosen its leader, and in 1779 led it on an expedition lasting several months into South Caro- lina. Later he went as chaplain with the American expedition sent to quell the Indians in the Cherokee country of Georgia.
On his tombstone in Bethany Churchyard is the following inscription: "Beneath this stone are deposited the remains of Rev. James Hall, D. D., who departed this life July 25, 1826, in the 86th year of his age. For twelve years he sustained the office of pastor to the united congregations of Fourth Creek, Bethany and Concord, and for twenty-six years to that of Bethany alone. He was a man of science as well as piety; and for his ex- tensive labors in the cause of his Divine Master as well as for his great usefulness as a preceptor of youth, his memory is embalmed in the hearts of his people. "
Dr. E. A. Hall's career has been in keeping with the splendid traditions of this old family. He was educated in Ebenezer Academy, his father's school, and took up the study of medicine at Statesville under Doctor Long and Doctor Campbell. He finished his medical education in the University of Maryland, at Baltimore.
HON. JAMES S. MANNING. No name has more illustrious associations with the legal profession and the public life of North Carolina than Man- ning. Hundreds of men now prominent in the bar both in this state and elsewhere take pride in re- ferring to their association with or instruction un- der the late John Manning, LL. D., the founder of the law school of the University of North Carolina, for many years its dean and whose influence both in and out of school left its lasting impress for good upon the bar of the state.
A son of this distinguished master of jurispru- dence is James S. Manning of Raleigh. James S. Manning has also found well merited distinction. He served for a time on the Supreme Bench of the state, is a former president of the North Carolina Bar Association, and more than thirty years' expe- rience have brought him to a first rank at the bar.
He was born at Pittsboro, North Carolina, June 1, 1859. He comes of a family of lawyers and statesmen, and his great-uncle was at one time chief justice of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. Judge Manning's mother was Louisa Jones (Hall) Manning. a grand-daughter of Judge John Hall of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Thus the dignity and responsibility of the legal profession were realized almost as a birthright by James S. Manning. For a third of a century he has devoted his energies to his profession, and is still as active in his work as at any time in his life. Mr. Manning has the qualities of a vigorous intellect, a fine physique due to early training and
habits of strict moderation, and with these as a foundation experience and training have brought him some of the most coveted honors of profes- sional life.
After the course of the Pittsboro schools he entered in 1875 the University of North Carolina, in the year that its work was first resumed after reconstruction days. He graduated in 1879, and for two and one-half years taught a private school in Pittsboro. Re-entering the university, he com- pleted the law course and in 1882 was licensed to practice. For thirty years Mr. Manning had his home and his office at Durham. In 1893 he asso- ciated with him Howard A. Foushee and their partnership continued until Judge Manning was appointed to the Supreme Court Bench in 1909. He was appointed to fill an unexpired term, and remained on the bench until January, 1911. To his work as a judge he brought an unusual breadth of experience and the seasoned maturity of judg- ment which is the highest mark of a lawyer, and during his brief service as supreme judge he wrote many important opinions, each one characterized by patient and painstaking research and forceful and logical reasoning.
In 1911 Judge Manning became associated in practice with R. O. Everett, but in 1913 came to Raleigh and associated in practice with former Governor Kitchin. In 1916 Judge Manning was elected attorney general of North Carolina and is now serving the state in that office.
He has played the role of public spirited citizen with no less efficiency and service than as a lawyer. In 1906 he was elected to the Legislature from Durham County and served as chairman of the Committee on Public Service Corporations. In 1908 he became a member of the State Senate in which he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He has always been a loyal democrat and is a con- stant worker for the welfare of his home city and state. He has served as president of the Country Club, is a member of the Capital Club, the Mil- burnie Fishing Club, of the Chamber of Commerce, for many years has been a trustee of the State University, and is a communicant of Christ Epis- copal Church.
In 1888 he married Miss Julia Cain of Hills- boro, North Carolina. They are the parents (f six children: John Hall, formerly a practicing attorney at Kinston, North Carolina, now captain Headquarters Company, One Hundred and Nine- teenth Infantry Regiment, U. S. A .; James S., Jr., who was in the cotton manufacturing business at Durham. now first lieutenant Headquarters Three Hundred and Twenty-second Infantry Regiment, U. S. A .; Frederick C., C. A. C., Fort Caswell; Sterling of Raleigh; and Miss Julia Cain and Miss Anna Louise.
JAMES RAMSEY ALEXANDER, M. D. One of the most prominent physicans and surgeons of Char- lotte. and secretary and treasurer of the Presbyte- rian Hospital of that city, Dr. James Ramsey Al- exander belongs to what is probably the most famous family in the history of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He is a son of William Davidson and Sue (Ramsey) Alexander, a grand- son of Robert Davidson Alexander, a great-grand- son of William Bain Alexander, and a great- great-grandson of John McKnitt Alexander, the leading spirit in the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
John McKnitt Alexander was secretary of the convention, May 20, 1775, at which the Mecklen-
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
burg Declaration was put forth, and had in his possession the original copy of this famous reso- lution, which was destroyed in the burning of his home, but which he afterward, with the ad- herence to actual facts and exact truth charac- teristic of his race, reproduced from memory and preserved in his own handwriting. A number of other members of the Alexander family, all rela- tives of more or less degree, were signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration, and their names appear on the Mecklenburg monument which was erected in 1898 in front of the Mecklenburg County Court- house. John McKnitt Alexander was born near Elkton, Cecil County, Maryland, the son of James Alexander, who was born in the North of Ireland of Scotch parents, came with his father, Joseph Alexander, to America about 1711, together with a number of other Alexanders, first settled in Pennsylvania, and finally moved to Maryland. James Alexander married the daughter of John McKnitt, and about the middle of the eighteenth century moved with his family to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. John McKnitt Alexander was in the Revolutionary war, and piloted General Greene's forces across the Catawba River at Cowan's Ford.
The father of Doctor Alexander, Squire Wil- liam Davidson Alexander, who is now a magistrate of Charlotte, lived for a long number of years on his farm ten miles north of Charlotte, in Meck- lenburg County, but removed to Charlotte in more recent years. Mrs. Sue (Ramsey) Alexander, now deceased, was the daughter of the late Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey, of Tennessee, the noted historian of that state and author of the "Annals of Tennes- see, "' one of the accepted authorities of Tennes- see history. Among other features, these "An- nals"' contain ; t is declared by historians to be the best a' . most authentic account of the battle cf K 's Mountain in the Revolutionary war. D. Ramsey was himself a grandson of John Mc t Alexander, so that Doctor Alexan- der is a great-great-grandson of this historic fig- ure, both on his father's and mother's sides. Mrs. Alexander was born at the beautiful estate of the Ramsey's near Knoxville, Tennessee, but soon after the breaking out of the Civil war came to Charlotte as a refugee and was here married.
James Ramsey Alexander was born in 1870 on the Alexander farm, ten miles north of Char- lotte. He attended a private school, known as the Alexandria School, in Mecklenburg County, as well as Hopewell Academy, and after two years as a student at Davidson College received his medical education in the University of Maryland, from which institution he was graduated in 1894. He has been engaged in the practice of his pro- fession at Charlotte since that time and has stead- ily risen to a place of prominence. He is now secretary and treasurer of the Charlotte Presby- terian Hospital, and a member of the Mecklen- burg County Medical Society, the North Carolina Medical Society and the American Medical Asso- ciation.
Doctor Alexander married Miss Mary Johnston, daughter of John Johnston, of Gaston County, North Carolina, and to this union there have been born six children, namely: Laura Johnston, Mar- garet Barton, James Ramsey, Jr., John Johnston, Mary Helen and Davidson MeKnitt.
HENRY FRIES SHAFFNER is vice president of the Wachovia Bank & Trust Company of Winston- Salem, the largest and strongest bank in North
Carolina and one of the largest in the South. He has been active in business affairs in Winston- Salem for thirty years.
His own career is only part of the honorable rec- ord sustained by the Shaffner family in this sec- tion of North Carolina for over eighty years. Mr. Shaffner's grandfather, Henry Shaffner, was born in Canton Basle, Switzerland, March 28, 1798, was reared and educated in his native land, served an apprenticeship at the trade of potter, and in 1833 immigrated to America, making the voyage on a sailing vessel. He soon located at Salem, North Carolina, where he became a manufacturer of earthen ware, pipes and other similar materials. He was a substantial business man in old Salem and lived there until his death. He bought and owned for many years the first house ever erected on the site of Salem, and his business was con- ducted in that location. This house stood on Lib- erty Street, and a tablet has been placed on its site commemorating its historic importance in the annals of the town. Henry Shaffner married Lavina Hauser. She was born in what is now Forsyth County, and her ancestors were among the pioneers there. After her death Henry Shaffner married Amelia Meinung. By the first marriage there were two children: Maria Elizabeth and John Francis. By the second marriage there were two daughters: Louisa Caroline and Sarah Elizabeth, both teachers in Salem Academy and College.
The late Dr. John Francis Shaffner, father of the Winston-Salem banker, was a man whose per- sonal character and activities entitled him to nu- inerous distinctions, and his name was always asso- ciated with the best in the civic and commercial affairs of Winston-Salem. From a memorial trib- nte found in the records of the Salem congrega- tion of the Moravian Church it is possible to give all the more important details of his life and experience.
He was born at Salem July 14, 1838, and died there September 18, 1908, at the age of seventy years, two months and four days. He was bap- tized July 20, 1838, and on April 1, 1855, became a full member of the Moravian Church by the rite of confirmation, and four days later partook of the Holy Communion. His education was acquired in the Moravian schools in Salem and under private teachers, notably Mr. William Meinung, and his medical education at Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia was completed with his graduation March 14, 1860. After graduating in Medicine he settled at Salem and took up practice.
In 1861 Dr. Shaffner volunteered as a private in Company A, afterward Company D, Capt. A. H. Belo, Twenty-first Regiment North Carolina Troops. For a limited period he served as assist- ant surgeon with the Seventh, Twenty-first and Thirty-third regiments. He was promoted to sur- geon in the Confederate Army in March, 1862, and served in the field with the Fourth and Fifth regi- ments, North Carolina Troops, and as brigade surgeon of Branch's and Ramseur's brigades until the surrender of General Lee's army at Appomat- tox Court House, April 9, 1865. Thus for four years he was in the vortex of that mighty con- fliet.
The chronicler of the Fourth Regiment said: "Chief Surgeon J. F. Shaffner was a young man of splendid ability; a man of education and fine attainments and always faithful to the important tasks committed to him." The historian of the Thirty-third Regiment has this to say of him:
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
"Our surgeons, Dr. J. F. Shaffner and John A. Vigal, were the kindest and best of men. They were ideal surgeons-capable, honest, firm, sym- pathetic, self sacrificing, courageous and unremit- ting in their attention to the sick and wounded, oftentimes exposing themselves to imminent peril in the discharge of their official duties. By such unflinching heroism and devotion to duty they won the undying gratitude of the entire command." Dr. Shaffner was once captured while attending some wounded men who had necessarily been left behind. He always cherished friendships formed during the four years of his army life and espe- cially in his last years showed the deepest interest and sympathy in matters relating to the Confed- erate Veterans. He was a charter member of Nor- fleet Camp, U. C. V.
After the war Dr. Shaffner resumed the practice of medicine in his native town, and in 1867 estab- lished a drug store there. He was a member of the North Carolina Medical Society, in 1872 was sent as a delegate to the American Medical Asso- ciation by the state society, and was the society's orator in 1877 and its president in 1880. For four years he was one of the seven members con- stituting the Medical Examining Board for the State of North Carolina.
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