USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 31
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Mr. Browning was born in Caswell County, North Carolina, May 10, 1861, son of William Porter and Susanna (Barnwell) Browning. His early life was spent on his father's farm and he had to make the best of the somewhat restricted educational opportunities which prevailed in his section of the state in the years following the Civil war. He attended district schools and the Graham Normal Institute, but did not complete his education in Normal School until after he had reached the age of twenty-one. Most of his time prior to that was spent on a farm. For a short time he was in the leaf tobacco business and in 1893 became identified with the cotton mill in- dustry. For five years he was shipping and bill- ing clerk for the Cone Export Commission Com- pany, and on coming to Burlington was first em- ployed by the Lakeside Cotton Mills as book- keeper, and then worked in a similar capacity for the Windsor Cotton Mills. In 1904, when this mill was sold out and was converted into the Belleview Cotton Mills, he remained as manager until 1908. After that he was secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Daisy Hosiery Mills at Burlington, and is still a director in that industry. His most active connection at present is as secretary, treas- urer and general manager of the Keystone Furnish- ing Mills at Burlington, a high class plant which he organized and established. He is also presi- dent of the Central Loan and Trust Company, vice president of the First National Bank, and president of the Southern Hosiery Mills.
For six years Mr. Browning was chairman of the graded schools of Burlington, and performed a service of great value realizing some of the higher ideals of an improved educational system for his home city. He is a ruling elder of the Presby- terian Church and teaches the Bible class of the Sunday school, and is a past chancellor and past representative to Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias.
February 12, 1904, he married Miss Stella Cheat- ham, of Warren County, North Carolina. They have one son, James Marshall, Jr., born July 31, 1907.
WILLIAM REID DALTON, whose energies and abil- ities have commended him to the confidence of a large clientage as one of the leading lawyers of Rockingham County, is a member of that old and
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historic family of Daltons whose record runs through the annals of North Carolina from the period of early colonial settlement. The name "Dalton"' is Norman French and was originally "De Alton. "
He is a lineal descendant of Samuel Dalton. Samuel Dalton was born in Ireland of Scotch an- cestry and in early manhood came to America. For a time he lived near the home of the elder James Madison in Virginia, and had much to do with the family. Seeking a newer country, he went South to Georgia, and was located for a time on the present site of Savannah. It was not an altogether congenial location, since the country was unhealthy and Indians were trouble- some. He finally concluded to return to Virginia. He had nearly reached the Virginia state line, when he was overcome by the charm of the beauti- ful and healthy-looking country through which he was passing, and concluded to go no further. He located at the junction of the Mayo and Dan rivers, which is now in Rockingham County, North Carolina, and in the course of time acquired and developed some very extensive tracts of land in that vicinity and became the wealthiest man in all that region. His large, commodious frame house was built on a hill overlooking the Mayo River and the country beyond. He raised a very large family of children and lived there in patri- archal state until the advanced age of 106 years. He married a Ewel or a Galihee of Virginia. His son, Samuel Dalton, owned and occupied a planta- tion on Beaver Island, in Rockingham County, North Carolina, but his career was cut short at the early age of thirty years as the result of a snake bite. He possessed quite a snug little estate at his death.
He left a son, Nicholas Dalton, who was born at the homestead on Beaver Island on April 4, 1770, and who was the great-grandfather of Wil- liam Reid Dalton. Nicholas Dalton succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead on Beaver Island, raised a large family of thirteen children (eight sons and five daughters), and became a successful farmer and was noted for the fine horses which he bred and trained. Handling horses was perhaps his chief enthusiasm. He also gained a reputation for much practical wisdom, served as magistrate for many years, and as a senior mem- ber of the justices he presided over the Rocking- ham County Court. He rendered his decisions with such sage wisdom that seldom was there a reversal. The bar of Rockingham County was then very strong, composed of the Yanceys, More- heads, Settles, Swains, Carrs, Grahams and Boy- dens. He married Rachel Hunter, daughter of Col. James Hunter, one of the interesting figures of Revolutionary times. He died in 1838, leaving a fine estate.
The next generation is headed by Samuel Dal- ton, who was born May 14, 1794, and died June 16, 1874. At one time he was engaged in mer- chandising at Germantown and later in Madison, North Carolina, and finally set up a tobacco fac- tory about three or four miles above the present site of Leakesville, North Carolina. He continued this business for a number of years. He became quite celebrated as a military man, and was elected by the Legislature of North Carolina manager general of the Western Division of North Caro- lina. He married Mary Scales, a most charming and beautiful daughter of James Scales. She died in 1835, and for his second wife he married a Miss Clemens. The four children of his first wife
were Mary, Lucy, Robert and James Samuel. By his second wife he had seven children, named Nicholas, Mattie, Rachel, Samuel, Henry, Sallie and Susan. He lived for a number of years on a farm in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, and after- wards moved to Aberdeen, Mississippi, where he resided until after the Civil war closed.
The father of William Reid Dalton was James Samuel Dalton, who was born in Rockingham County August 1, 1835. As a boy he attended rural schools and also a school at Madison, and as soon as the North and South engaged in war he assisted in raising a company from Rocking- ham County for the Confederate army. It became Company G of the Forty-Fifth North Carolina Infantry, and he was commissioned its first lieu- tenant. His later services and splendid qualities as a soldier secured his promotion to the rank of captain. He was with the regiment until made a prisoner of war at the battle of the Wilderness and from that time until the close of hostilities was a captive at Fort Delaware. He returned home on parole and engaged in the manufacture of tobacco at Reidsville until his factory burned, after which he was a traveling salesman for a number of years. He died at Reidsville at the age of seventy-one years. He married Maggie Reid, who was born near Reidsville, North Caro- lina, a daughter of John Jackson Reid. She died on May 7, 1891. Their children were Maggie Reid, James, Jr., and William Reid.
William Reid Dalton was born at Reidsville on July 20, 1884, attended the public schools there and also completed a course in the University of North Carolina. From college he took up active business as an insurance man, but finally in Janu- ary, 1909, returned to the university and studied law. On February 7, 1910, he was licensed to practice by the Supreme Court of the state and since that date has been achieving distinction as a member of the bar at Reidsville. Mr. Dalton is a trustee of the University of North Carolina, is a member of the Beta Theta Pi college fra- ternity, and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is one of the deacons. On June 26, 1915, at Roanoke, Virginia, he married Emma Mebane Staples. She was born at Roanoke, a daughter of Abram P. and Sallie (Hunt) Staples. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton have one son, William Reid, Jr.
EDGAR SAMUEL WILLIAMSON DAMERON, admitted to the bar ten years ago, has made himself a secure place in the profession and in the citizen- ship and varied interests of the community at Burlington, where he has been engaged in general practice.
Mr. Dameron was born in Newton Grove, Samp- son County, North Carolina, July 27, 1878, son of L. L., a farmer. and Mary (Ward) Dameron. He was educated in the public schools, in Rayford Institute, and was a student of the Literary De- partment of the University of North Carolina from 1900 to 1904, graduating A. B. in the latter year. He continued his studies in the law de- partment of the State University, but in 1905 be- came a student secretary for the Y. M. C. A., and was employed in that work for about two years in Kentucky. He finished his course in the law denartment of the State University and was ad- mitted to the bar in February, 1907. Mr. Dam- eron made a brilliant record while at the State University. He was winner of the Wiley P. Man- gum medal, which is one of the prizes most eagerly
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sought and contested for in the university by the literary students. In the spring of 1907, while in the law school, he was member of the success- ful debating team which won the intercollegiate debate with the University of Virginia.
Since his admission to the bar Mr. Dameron has been located at Burlington. From 1910 to 1913 he was attorney for the City of Burlington. He is a member of the board of stewards of the Methodist Episcopal Church. June 10, 1914, Mr. Dameron married Miss Lola J. Lasley, daughter of Dr. J. W. Lasley, of Burlington.
H. E. MOSELEY. One of Kinston's most sub- stantial and widely experienced business men is H. E. Moseley, whose interests have successfully been engaged in various lines, and he is now proprietor of a large hardware store in that city. Mr. Moseley was born in Lenois County, North Carolina, in 1861, was educated in public schools and had business training in the Eastman Busi- ness College at Poughkeepsie, New York. After an experience as a school teacher for one year he entered the dry goods house of S. H. Loftin and was continuously a factor in that firm's suc- cess from 1882 to 1898. On leaving the Loftin establishment he engaged in the leaf tobacco trade until 1900, and then bought a half interest in the B. W. Canady & Company, hardware. He sold this, and in July, 1902, bought the hardware business of J. W. Collins, which . he has since extended and developed by the liberal applica- tion of his sound wisdom and enterprise.
During his long career in Kinston Mr. Moseley has served as an alderman and as city treasurer, ยท and is a trustee of the North Carolina Christian Mission Convention Board. He is active in the affairs of the Christian Church. In July, 1898, he married Miss Jessie Harper of Kinston. Mrs. Moseley is now deceased and is survived by one daughter, Hortense. In August, 1909, Mr. Moseley was married to Miss Carrie J. Wooten, and there are three children by this marriage, Herbert E., Jr., Preston Wooten and Mary Etta.
JAMES ARTHUR BEST began his career as an educator, was actively connected with school work for several years, but finally turned to merchan- dising and is a member of the leading general merchandise house of Fremont.
He was born at Fremont, North Carolina, Janu- ary 26, 1878, a son of George Dallas and Flora (Crews) Best. His father has been a merchant at Fremont for a great many years. James A. Best attended the Fremont Academy and then en- tered Trinity University at Durham, where he took his bachelor's degree in 1900 and in 1902 the degree Master of Arts was conferred upon him. During 1900-01 Mr. Best taught school in Nash County, North Carolina, and for one year was an assistant instructor of history in Trinity College. He also taught in the Durham High School one year.
After this varied experience he entered the gen- eral merchandise house of his father at Fremont, and since 1914 has been a member of the firm of George D. Best & Son.
He is also treasurer of the board of trustees of the Fremont graded schools, and for the past twelve years has been superintendent of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, South, Sunday School.
He was married in June, 1906, to Dora Dces, of Wayne County, daughter of John T. and Della
(Hooks) Dees. They have three children, Rudolph, Flora Crews and James Arthur, Jr.
SIDNEY REESE MORRISON is a Greensboro busi- ness man, but widely known all over this section of the state for his operations as a timber and lumber dealer. Mr. Morrison has had a wide and extensive experience in this business in all its phases.
He comes of an old and prominent family of Iredell County and his own birth occurred on the old Morrison homestead in Bethany Township of that county. The history of the Morrisons in America goes back to the year 1730, when James Morrison of Fermanagh, Ireland, came and made settlement near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he spent the rest of his days. His four sons were named James, William, Andrew and Thomas.
Of these, William, great-great-grandfather of the Greensboro business man, arrived in the wil- derness of North Carolina in the year 1750. His son, Andrew Morrison, next in line of the family, bought a tract of land from Earl Granville in what is now Bethany Township of Iredell County. This land comprised a grant from "His Most Excellent Majesty King George II." The deed conveying the land to Earl Granville was dated 1761 and when Andrew Morrison bought the land the document was given to him and has been care- fully preserved through the successive generations and is now owned by Mr. Sidney R. Morrison of Greensboro. The part of the land which Andrew Morrison improved and where he lived and died has never passed out of the family possession and is now occupied by George Morrison, a brother of Sidney R. The first owner, Andrew Morrison, was succeeded in occupancy of the homestead by his son, Andrew, Jr., who spent his entire life there. Andrew, Jr., had three sons, named George Mil- ton, Rufus and William, but only George Milton grew to maturity. There were also four daughters, Mary, Rebecca, Sarah and Martha, but none of these ever married.
George Milton Morrison was born on the old Iredell County homestead in 1813. He grew up in that environment and after succeeding to the ownership of the place engaged in general farm- ing. He was a man of prominence and influence in that locality and lived a very long and useful life. He died in 1899, at the age of eighty-six. The maiden name of his wife was Emeline Nichol- son, also a native of Iredell County. She died in 1915, when past eighty years of age. Her six children were: Laura, who died at the age of twenty-two; Mattie, Florence, George, Sidney Reese and Effie. The parents were active members of the Bethany Presbyterian Church and for sev- eral years the father served on the official board.
Sidney Reese Morrison had those advantages and opportunities during his youth which go with a family of old and substantial position. He at. tended school, assisted in the work of the farm and plantation, and at the age of twenty-one satis- fied his longing for adventure and new scenes by going southwest and spending three years as a cowboy and cattleman in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. On returning to North Carolina he took charge of the old homestead farm, but four years later removed to Lenoir, where he was sales- man for the Wilson Lumber Company until 1910. In that year he engaged in the lumber business for himself at Hickory, and in 1914 moved his headquarters to Greensboro, from which point he
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conducts his business of buying stauding timber and selling the finished product to furniture manu- facturers. Mr. Morrison is also vice president of the El Reese So Cigar Company.
He is well known in Masonry, most of his affilia- tions being at his former town of Hickory. He is a member of Hickory Lodge No. 343, Ancient Free aud Accepted Masous, Hickory Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Hickory Commandery No. 17, Knights Templar, and belongs to Oasis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charlotte. He is also a mem- ber of the Bethany Presbyterian Church back in his home county.
Mr. Morrison has been twice married. His first wife was Octavia Waugh. She was boru about two miles from Statesville, and died eleven months after their marriage, His second wife was Miss Blanche Smith, of Caldwell County, North Caro- lina. She died in 1906.
FRANK M. WRIGHT, clerk of the Superior Court of Randolph County, is regarded as one of the most painstaking and careful public officials this county has ever had, and has proved himself capable in every relationship of life. For a num- ber of years Mr. Wright was a popular teacher in Randolph County but gave up that work to become superior court clerk.
His birth occurred on a farm in Columbia Town- ship of Randolph County October 30, 1872, and his people have lived in this part of North Carolina for a century or more. His great-grandfather was Isaac Wright, also a uative of Randolph County. His grandfather, Jacob Wright, was born in Co- lumbia Township and owned a plantation on Sandy Creek in Randolph County, which he operated with slave labor. Later he bought land in Colum- bia Township and there spent his last days. His wife was Aunie Kivett, daughter of Jacob and Barbra (Cottoner) Kivett. The Kivetts were of Dutch ancestry. Grandmother Annie Wright de- serves a few words of special appreciation. Left a widow with five children to support, she did a noble part by them, superintended the farm, kept her family together until they were established in homes of their own and lived to be eighty years old. Her five sons were named George, Isaac, Jacob, Abram and John.
John Wright, father of Frank M. Wright, was born in a log house in Columbia Township in 1851. He was a very small child when his father died. As soon as he was old enough he began helping his mother on the farm, and later as his brothers left home, two of them, Isaac and Abram, moving to Tennessee, he assumed all the responsibilities of the farm and also the care of his ageing mother. He had assisted in clearing some of the land and putting it into cultivation, and as his ways pros- pered he erected good buildings and lived there until his death in 1915. He first married Louise Burgess, who was born in Randolph County, daugh- ter of Franklin and Matilda (York) Burgess. Her maternal grandfather was Seymour York. Louise Wright died in 1881, leaving three children, Wes- ley M .. Frank M. and George P. John Wright married a second wife and by that union reared nine children.
Frank M. Wright made the best of his oppor- tunities as a boy to acquire an education in the rural schools and also the high school at Ramsenr. At the age of twenty-two he began teaching. The first term was taught at Hardin in Randolph County. After that he taught in other places,
spending eight years as an instructor in Shiloh Academy. This position he resigned upon his elec- tion as clerk of the superior court in 1914.
Mr. Wright is an affiliated member of the Masons, of the Odd Fellows and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church. He mar- ried in 1900 Jane Webster, a native of Randolph County and daughter of Rev. J. A. aud Martha (Foust) Webster. They have five children, Mable Clair, Thyra Lucile, Grace Marie, Bruce Webster and Marjorie Inez, all at home.
WILLIAM FRANKLIN EVANS, a prominent law- yer of Raleigh, but formerly of Greenville, was born 'in the latter city February 25, 1883, a son of W. F. Evans, Sr., and Annie M. ( Sermons) Evans.
Mr. Evaus belongs to that class of men usually termed the "self made man." Eight years old when his father died, and the family being in very limited circumstances, the boy was sent to the Odd Fellows Orphan's Home at Goldsboro, North Carolina, to be reared and educated, and remained there until he was sixteen. At that age, equipped with a high school education, he set out to make a living for himself. Denied the opportunity of attending college, he became an inveterate student and by dint of hard study and the liberal use of midnight oil, obtained a fair substitute for a collegiate education.
After working at different vocations, during which he taught school two years, he married Miss Eva Glenn Allen, daughter of a prominent planter of Pitt County. Engaging in the mer- cantile business after marriage, Mr. Evans, not satisfied with his position in life, and working under the incentives of an early ambition, took up in. spare time and during late evening hours the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1908 at Greenville. Here he commenced the practice of his profession and met with signal success and early obtained a commanding posi- tion. In order to identify himself with the larger opportunities of the profession he moved in August, 1917, to Raleigh.
Mr. Evans represented the Fifth Senatorial District in the General Assembly of 1913, and has for several years been prominently identified with the Odd Fellows of the state. In 1914 he was elected to the office of grand master of the Grand Lodge-the highest honor which could be conferred upon him by the order in this state. He has served two years as grand representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge, and is closely associated with every movement for the advance- ment and progress of Odd Fellowship in North Carolina.
HON. JAMES ROBERT MCLEAN. This is a name that adorned the annals of the North Carolina bar during the middle period of the last century and is associated not only with able performances as a lawyer, but leadership and ability in the public affairs of the state.
A descendant of some of the substantial Scotch families of North Carolina, James Robert McLean was born at Enfield in Halifax County, September 21, 1823, son of Levi H. and Rebecca Hilliard (Judge) McLean. His father was a well-known educator. He attended the Bingham School at Hillsboro, the Caldwell Institute at Greensboro, and studied law with Hon. John A. Gilmer, of
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Greensboro. He was licensed to practice in the county courts in 1844 and in the Superior Court in 1846.
After a brief career in Guilford and adjoining counties, with home at Greensboro, Mr. McLean removed to Rockford, then the county seat of Surry County. He was elected to the Legislature to represent Surry County in 1850-51. Soon after- ward he returned to Greensboro and continued a highly successful practice there until the breaking out of the war. In the fall of 1861 he was elected to the Confederate Congress from the districts including Guilford, Davidson, Forsyth, Stokes, Rockingham, Caswell, Person and Alamance coun- . ties. His service in the Confederate States Con- gress was from February 18, 1862, to February 18, 1864.
He was commissioned and served a short time as major in the Confederate army, being stationed at Wilmington and later in South Carolina. Prior to the war Major McLean had attained affluent circumstances, but on account of his heavy sacri- fices for the cause of the South and the loss of his slaves and other property he was so impover- ished that he had to begin practically anew when the war was over. He was still doing his best to stem the tide of adversity when death came. upon him April 15, 1870.
His place as a lawyer and man is well summed up in a tribute from a "History of the Greensboro. Bar" by Levi M. Scott: "Mr. McLean was a man of strong mind and brilliant intellect. He was fluent, ready and aggressive at the bar, and an able advocate. His was a legal mind and he naturally took to the law and chose it for his life work. He seemed always prepared and ready for the trial of his cases when they were called and soon understood the grounds of defense on which his opponents relied. He was very suc- cessful in his practice of the law. He was very companionable and full of good humor, anecdotes and fun, and delighted his friends with much spicy and interesting conversation in his leisure intervals. "
He married Narcissus Jane Unthank, who sur- vived him about two years. They had seven chil- dren, William, Robert, Edward R., Thomas I., Rufus H., Cora, who married C. M. Van Story, and Charles E.
THOMAS L. MCLEAN, a business man whose in- terests have been of increasing importance in marking definite progress and achievement at Greensboro during the last twenty years, is a son of Hon. James Robert and Narcissus Jane (Un- thank) McLean, special reference to his father's career being made on other pages.
Mr. McLean was educated in Guilford College and left school to begin an active career of use- fulness as clerk in a general store at Ashboro. From there he went to Siler City and continued clerking until 1898, when he returned to Greens- boro and entered the service of the Van Story Clothing Company. He soon acquired a financial interest in the business and for the past ten years has been its secretary and treasurer and has done much to promote the prosperity of this well- known Greensboro commercial house.
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