USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 36
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On November 23, 1911, Mr. Dawson was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Regina Weyher, of Kinston, North Carolina, and to this union there has come one ehild, Victor Weyher, who was born January 26, 1916.
ANDREW JACKSON LOFTIN. In point of continu- ous service Andrew Jackson Loftin is one of the oldest members of the bar at Kinston. His pres- ent partner and active associate is Mr. John G. Dawson, and together they comprise one of the chief law firms in point of ability and extent of practice in Lenoir County.
Mr. Loftin was born March 15, 1838, a son of William C. and Sallie (Moore) Loftin. His father was a man of prominence and was at one time clerk of the old county court and was at another time candidate for Congress. Andrew J. Loftin received his early education at Kinston and at Taylorsville, and studied law under Judge Pearson at Richmond Hill. Since his admission to the bar he has kept his attention almost undi- vided on his profession, has for many years ap- peared in cases of importance before the courts of Eastern North Carolina, and has gained pro- fessional esteem and the many rewards and hon- ors which belong to the lawyer as a foreeful leader of public opinion.
Mr. Loftin served at one time as mayor of Kinston and has always been a loyal democrat. He is a member of the Christian Church. He has been twice married. He was married December 1, 1898, to his present wife, whose maiden name was Myrtie Best, of Wayne County.
JAMES TAYLOR RIEVES, M. D., city physician of Greensboro, represents a family that has lived in North Carolina four generations and in his indi- vidual career has displayed qualities which raise a man above the ordinary in attainments and in power of service.
Doctor Rieves was born on a plantation in Had- Jey Township, Chatham County. His great-grand- parents came from England and settled in Chat- ham County. The grandfather, Reuben Rieves, was born in Chatham County, became a planter and probably spent all his life there. He married a Miss Kirk.
George W. Rieves, father of Doctor Rieves, was born in Hadley Township, grew upon a farm and was busily engaged in this primary vocation when the war broke out. He soon afterward entered the Confederate army as a member of the Murchison Cavalry, and followed the flag of the South in many hard fought campaigns. Later he inherited a farm from his maternal grandfather in Hadley Township and that place was the scene of his industrious years until his death in 1892. He married Mary Crutchfield, who was born in Hadley Township of Chatham County, daughter of William and Mrs. (Terry) Crutchfield. Her grandfather was Thomas Crutchfield, a native of England and an early settler in Chatham County. The Terry family were also pioneers of Chatham County who came from England. Mrs. George W. Rieves died in 1898, at the age of seventy-four years. She reared three sons, named Henry, Joseph John and James Taylor, and three daughters, named Luc -. etta, Nancy and Jeanette Jane. The son Henry was a Confederate soldier and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg.
James Taylor Rieves had only the opportunities of the rural schools during his boyhood. Later he attended school at Dalton Institute in Stokes County and finally took his course in medicine at the Louisville Medical College, where he was grad- uated in 1891. Doctor Rieves has been a hard working physician and surgeon for a quarter of a century. For ten years he practiced at Julian in Randolph County, but in 1901 removed to Greens-
Sever Goodwin
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boro, where his services have won favor and in- creasing patronage. Doctor Rieves has always been a student and has taken post-graduate courses in Richmond and the New York Polyclinic. He is a member in good standing of the Guilford County and the North Carolina State Medical Societies and the Southern Medical Society. He was appointed city physician of Greensboro in 1917.
Doctor Rieves married in 1890 Lettie C. Hardin, who was born near Pleasant Garden in Guilford County, a daughter of Charles and Mrs. (Coble) Hardin. Mrs. Rieves died in 1895, leaving two children, Zeb V., who died at the age of twelve years, and Callie, who is the wife of H. C. John- son and has a son named Henry C., Jr. Doctor Rieves married for his present wife Bettie Diviney, who was born at Julian in Randolph County, daughter of Samuel and Hannah Diviney. To this union have been born six children: Blanche, John P., Virginia Lee, Max, Dwight and Ruth. The daughter Blanche is the wife of J. C. Lassiter and Virginia married Claude Nowell. Doctor Rieves is affiliated with Greensboro Lodge No. 164 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a member of Council No. 13 of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
ALBERT HILL KING is a North Carolina edu- cator, a graduate of the State University thirteen years ago, and since then has been consecutively identified with school work. He is now superin- tendent of the graded school system of Burlington.
He was born in Orange County, North Carolina, March 3, 1880, son of William Duncan and Espran (Neville) King. His father was a farmer of Orange County. While on the farm there Albert H. King attended district schools, later was a student in Wake Forest College a year, and in 1905 finished his course in the University of North Carolina. He was teacher in Sharp Institute, Rockingham County, for a year and a half, until that school was burned. The next five years he was connected with the public schools of Greens- boro, having had charge of the high school there for three years, spent two years in schools at Ashe- ville, and in 1914 came to Burlington to become superintendent of the graded schools. The schools have twenty-seven teachers under their supervision, and an enrollment of 1,084 scholars.
Mr. King has been a frequent attendant at con- ventions of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly. He is affiliated wtih the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, also the Modern Woodmen, and is a deacon of the Baptist Church at Burling- ton. On June 26, 1907, he married Loula Wilson, of Madison, North Carolina, daughter of William T. and Susan Wilson. Her father is a farmer and tobacco grower. Mr. and Mrs. King have four children : Herman Hill, William Westervelt, Mary Margaret and Loula Lucile.
Mr. King has given himself to the Young Men's Christian Association war work to do service in France for the period of the war.
EDWARD MCKEE GOODWIN. The best monument to the career of Edward McKee Goodwin is already standing, its usefulness to humanity largely the re- sult of his patient, self-sacrificing toil and planning and high ideals, but all of which was done without thought of personal glory. This is the North Caro- lina School for the Deaf at Morganton, of which he was the first superintendent and has been stead- ily connected therewith for twenty-four years.
He was born near Raleigh in Wake County April 12, 1859. His ancestors came from England to Jamestown, Virginia, in the seventeenth century. Some years ago the William and Mary College Quarterly Magazine had a supplement of about 200 pages devoted exclusively to the "Good- win Families in America." Judge John S. Good- win said: "The Goodwins were among the first of the English speaking people to come to America. The Goodwins have always been here, and it is still an open question whether the Goodwins or the Indians were the original inhabitants." So many were they who came over from England that they completely upset the "three brother" theory.
Edward McKee Goodwin is a grandson of Wil- liam Henry Goodwin, who was born in 1765, and a sou of Simeon Peace and Adelia (Yates) Goodwin. His parents lived on a farm near Raleigh and Superintendent Goodwin owes many of his habits of energy and industry to the influence of that early home. He was the sixth son in a family of seven boys and two girls. He and his youngest brother, Dr. Andrew W. Goodwin, of Raleigh, have always been to each other an inspiration and support. From his mother's family Mr. Goodwin inherited missionary tendencies. She was a kinswoman of Dr. Mathew T. Yates, the grand old missionary to China. Mr. Goodwin is quoted as saying: "To the ambition of my mother and her influence over my early life I gratefully owe whatever of success I may have had." Another source of inspiration was his reading of biography during his youth. In 1880, at the age of twenty-one, he joined the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Raleigh, and since then has been steadfastly devoted to Christian work. In 1889 he was a delegate to the World's Sunday School Convention held in London. By ap- pointment from Governor Fowle while abroad he was also state commissioner to the Paris Exposi- tion. Mr. Goodwin is a democrat and a member of the Masonic Order.
His boyhood fell in the Civil war period, and consequently his school facilities were meager. He attended Lovejoy Academy at Raleigh and the Raleigh Male Academy. He has always expressed much gratitude for the encouragement and inspira- tion he received from Messrs. Fray and Morson at the head of the Raleigh Male Academy. From there he entered the State Normal College of the University of Nashville in 1882, and graduated with honors in 1884 as a licentiate of instruction. Later the University of Nashville conferred upon him the degree Master of Arts.
After a year as superintendent of the Kinston graded schools Mr. Goodwin took up his real profession in life, as a teacher of the deaf. He began this work in the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind at Raleigh. A year later he went to the Iowa School for the Deaf at Council Bluffs, where he remained two years, and with that exception his great work has been done in his native state. He again taught at Raleigh, but was " constantly working to secure better privileges for the deaf children of the state.
After three years of untiring work he had the satisfaction of seeing the Legislature of 1891 create and establish the North Carolina School for the Deaf. At the first meeting of the board of directors he was elected advisory superintendent, and in this capacity he drafted the first plans of the present building and from first to last has been the leading spirit in building up the school. In 1894 he was formally elected superintendent and
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opened the school at Morganton in October of that year.
Some years ago a professional opinion of his work was passed by Dr. Charles D. McIver in the following words: "As a man, as a teacher, and as a public official, Superintendent E. McK. Good- win measures up to a high standard. In all its history the state has not had a more faithful pub- lic servant. His complete knowledge of the details of the work he superintends is remarkable. His professional ability is recognized throughout the country and under his inspiration and leadership there has been created and developed at Morgan- ton, North Carolina, an institution that does effi- cient service for our people and brings glory to the State. "'
In 1905 the North Carolina School for the Deaf entertained the National Convention of Instructors of the Deaf, and the management of this conven- tion was a peculiar triumph to Superintendent Goodwin, who received the highest praise for look- ing after the details of the program and enter- tainment. This convention was attended by dele- gates from thirty-five states of the Union and some of the Canadian Provinces. As testimonial of their gratitude to Mr. Goodwin the latter was elected vice president at the conclusion of the convention.
Mr. Goodwin was a member of the first board of directors of the State Normal College at Greens- boro. He has served a quarter of a century as a member of the board of directors of Meredith Col- lege at Raleigh. In 1894 he married Miss Maude Fuller Broadaway, of Winston-Salem. Mrs. Good- win was a member of the first graduating class of the State Normal College at Greensboro and at the time of her marriage was a member of the faculty of the college. To their happy union have been born five children. The only son died in in- fancy. The daughters have been reared in a home marked by every influence of culture, religion and patriotism.
In addition to this brief outline of his great work it is only a matter of justice to include a tribute paid Mr. Goodwin by one of his friends and a director of the institution at Morganton. This tribute is as follows:
"My acquaintance with E. McK. Goodwin be- gan more than twenty years ago. It soon ripened into a friendship which has deepened as time passed. He was then just from college and had chosen teaching as his life work. I remember well his enthusiasm and his devotion to the cause of education. I remember well his contagious buoy- ancy of spirit and his strong faith in the future of the state and in the approach of the advance guard of Universal education.
"His success as a teacher did not surprise me. His thorough scholarship, his intense enthusiasm in his work, his magnetic personality all pointed unmistakably toward a successful career as a teacher. I do not think it a mere chance that led him to become a teacher of the deaf. I can- understand that this unfortunate class of children appealed to one of his temperament, to his in- tense sympathy. But I believe something more than mere human sympathy led him to take up a work which neither in its pecuniary aspect nor yet in its results from a human standpoint is very attractive in this ultilitarian age. I believe it was a divine call, for teachers of children as well as teachers of men are called. His work as a teacher of the deaf was so successful that in the summer of 1891, when the school at Morganton was estab-
lished, in accordance with legislative enactment he was, without his own previous knowledge, chosen as advisory superintendent to help build and plan it. That school stands today as a monument to his untiring industry, abiding faith in his work and splendid executive ability. In twenty years time on a hill on which had stood the virgin forest arose a school for the deaf so perfect in its equip- ment and appointments, so wise in its methods and management, and so thorough in its work as to attract the attention and win the applause of the whole country and to place itself easily abreast of the best schools of its kind in the world. And this institution is his best monument. But as the most beautiful flowers bloom amid quiet retreats and away from beaten paths, so the sweetest vir- tues are those which develop and shed their fra- grance in the circles of friendship and home. Pro- fessor Goodwin's best friends are those who know him best. He is faithful and true to his friends, generous to a fault, and when he errs 'he leans to virtue's side.' He hates hypocrisy as only those who are true hate it.
' His strength is as the strength of ten, Because his heart is pure.'
"He is always first and foremost in every good work in his community, a leader in his church, and easily a 'member of the Pretorian guard of the State. ' "'
WALTER DUNN LAROQUE, who was born in Le- noir County, North Carolina, December 30, 1878, for a number of years has carried a heavy weight of business and civic responsibilities at Kinston, and is one of the successful citizens of that part of the state.
Mr. LaRoque is a son of Walter Dunn and Anna (Mewborne) LaRoque. His father was a promi- nent livestock dealer, planter and merchant. The son began life with excellent advantages at home and in schooling, having attended private schools and the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh. As a. preliminary course in business he was connected with a grocery house at Kinston, and later for three years was with the Hines Lumber Company. He finally took up general insurance, and since 1908 has handled both insur- ance and real estate.
Mr. LaRoque is president of the Caswell Bank and Trust Company, director and secretary of the Caswell Cotton Mills, and with all his other in- terests has found time and inclination to serve the community.
Local citizens remember with pride and satis- faction his efficient term as mayor of Kinston from 1907 to 1913. He had previously served as an alderman from 1903 to 1905. In 1914 Mr. La- Roque was appointed postmaster, and gives much of his time to the administration of that office. He is an ex-president of the Chamber of Commerce and a director of the Kinston Fair Association. Fraternally his affiliations are with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics and the Woodmen of the World.
On December 2, 1903, Mr. LaRoque married Miss Mamie Hines, of Kinston. They have four chil- dren: Marianna, Louise, Mamie Hines and Wal- ter Dunn, Jr.
ROBERT LEE BLALOCK, head of the firm of Bla- lock Brothers, general contractors and builders,
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chose his vocation in life at an early age and by consistent hard work and study has built up a business hardly second to none in his section of the state. The firm now has offices both at Newbern and Kinston, and they have the facilities and the organization and capital for handling large and small contracts over a widely extended territory. Their specialty is heavy buildings, and they have done much re-enforced concrete work, though they also do all classes of building and construction in wood, brick, stone, concrete and steel. Mr. Blalock's business associate is his brother, R. B. Blalock.
Robert Lee Blalock was born in Johnston County, North Carolina, May 23, 1870, a son of John Hardy and Tabitha (Hunnicutt) Blalock. His parents were substantial farming people and his early life was spent on a farm. He was edu- cated in private schools. As a youth he learned the carpenter's trade and gradually broadened that trade into a profession as an architect and engineer. The transition from this to contracting and building was a gradual one.
The firm of Blalock Brothers erected the Hunter Building, the Quinn & Miller Building, the Lewis schoolhouse, and many others in Kinston, includ- ing the H. C. Hines Building, the Central Ware- house and the Kinston Garage. At Newbern they drew the plans and built the Gaston Hotel Annex, the Newbern Iron Works and offices, the factory of E. H. and J. A. Meadows, the J. B. Blade pri- vate residence. They put up the Federal Furni- ture Company Building at Fayetteville, North Carolina; the Farmers' Training School at Vance- ville, the graded school building at Wilson, built additions to the Caswell Training School at Kins- ton, the Alfred W. Warren residence at Snow Hill, and the W. T. Carraway store at Snow Hill.
Besides his building interests, Mr. Blalock owns a farm of 400 acres in North Carolina. He is a . member of the North Carolina Builders' Associa- tion. On December 2, 1896, he married Miss Flossie Estelle Sommerline, of Clinton, North Carolina. They have been blessed with a large family of children: Mattie Elizabeth, Robert Lee, Jr .; Edward Killette, Clara Estelle, Charles Clarence, William Jefferson, Doris Mae, John Hardy, and one child, Irene, died at the age of four years and two months.
WILLIAM MITCHELL VAUGHN. Much of the business and public enterprise of the Town of Stokesdale in Guilford County revolves around the name and activities of William Mitchell Vaughn, merchant, banker and postmaster of that locality.
He was born in Huntsville Township of Rock- ingham County, North Carolina. The family have been in this state for several generations. His grandfather, Mitchel Vaughn, was a planter and slave owner in Rockingham County, but the family records do not contain information as to the place or time of his birth. It is known that he had two brothers, John and Joseph, John removing to Tennessee about the beginning of the war while Joseph lived and died in Rockingham County. Grandfather Mitchel Vaughn married Ruth Carter. Both attained a good old age and reared eight children. Their sons were: Joseph Marion; Theodore, who removed to Tennessee; Elihu and Benjamin, both of whom spent their lives in Rock- ingham County.
Josenh Marion Vaughn, father of the Stokes- dale business man, was born in Huntsville Town- ship of Rockingham County, grew up as a farmer,
and inheriting a portion of his father's estate was busily engaged in cultivating it when the war broke out between the states. He soon after- wards enlisted in the Confederate army, went away with his regiment to the front, and was in service until his final illness and death. His remains were laid to rest in Halifax County, North Carolina. He married Nancy Purdue, whose father, William Purdue, was a farmer and a respected citizen of Rockingham County. Nancy Vaughn by her first husband had two children, Ruth J. and Wil- liam Mitchel. She married for her second hus- band George Bullock, and she continued to live in Rockingham County until her death. By her see- ond marriage she had four children, George B, Boyd, Marion and Martha.
William M. Vaughn was only an infant when his father went to war. He grew up on the Rock- ingham County homestead, had the advantages of the local schools, and remained with the farm until reaching his majority. After that he was in the service of the Yadkin Valley Railroad in its con- struction department until 1890, when with the modest savings and capital he had accumulated he located at Stokesdale and embarked in business with a stock of general merchandise. His store has been continued and has broadened out until it supplies the standard and staple goods to a large surrounding community. Mr. Vaughn later bought a farm near the town, and operates that with the aid of tenants. When Stokesdale was in- corporated he was appointed by the Legislature one of the town commissioners, and has been kept continuously in that office by re-election. In April, 1916, he was appointed postmaster of Stokesdale, and that is now one of his varied responsibilities in the life and affairs of the community. He was twice elected a magistrate, but refused to qualify for that office. He has been a director in the Stokesdale Commercial Bank since organized, and for several years was a member of the local school board.
At the age of thirty Mr. Vaughn married Minnie White. She was born in Rockingham County, daughter of John and Mary (Walter) White. They have two daughters: Edna and Essie. The family are members of the Christian Church, in which Mr. Vaughn has served as elder.
HOY TAYLOR has given the best years of his life to educational work, and has done his part in improving and raising the standards of the edu- cational programme in his native state and is now in charge of the graded school system of Green- ville.
Mr. Taylor was born at Boone, North Carolina, July 20, 1879. a son of substantial farming people, Leland L. and Sarah (Bumgarner) Taylor. As a boy he attended the country schools of his native county. and after determining his choice of a future vocation he entered the Appalachian Train- ing School at Boone. In 1906 he graduated from Trinity College at Durham. For several weeks each year in 1909. 1910. 1911 and 1912, he was a student in Columbia University of New York City, from which institution he holds the degree of Master of Arts. He also has a Master's diploma from Teachers College, New York.
In 1906-07 Mr. Taylor was connected with the Cary High School, and for six years was principal of the Biscoe High School. In 1913 he came to his present post as superintendent of the graded schools of Greenville. The Greenvillo people take great pride in their fino graded schools, and the
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active supervision of them for the past four years has been in Mr. Taylor's hands. The enrollment in the local schools includes 800 white children and 500 colored children.
Mr. Taylor is a member of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly and the National Education Association, and is a member of the Masonic order.
On August 8, 1913, he married Miss Lucy Cleone Liles, of Morven, North Carolina. They have two children: Henry Liles, born October 6, 1914, and Hoy, Jr., boru December 30, 1916.
ROBERT A. MORROW. In 1888 was formed the business of Heath, Morrow & Company, a grocery concern which had its chief capital in the am- bitions of its members. The records show that in that and the following several years the venture was fairly successful, and that in 1890 a branch was started at Monroe, the original stand having been at the Town of Waxhaw. From this modest start the concern has rapidly developed until its fame has spread over several states, and in 1916 it is one of the most important industries of its kind in the Carolinas. It will be apparent to the merest layman that the personnel of this firm, now known as the Heath-Morrow Company at Union, and as Morrow Brothers & Heath Company at Al- bemarle, has been far above the ordinary in ability. The guiding spirit, the man who has brought this firm right to the forefront among the strenuous competition that has agitated this section's trade during the years of its existence, who has had the courage to grasp opportunities and the foresight to discern these opportunities when they have come, and who has made the most of them with a clear, cool and active mind, is Robert A. Morrow, who has gained and retained a place for himself among the business men of Western North Carolina.
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