USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 41
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Mitaw Q. Clingman.
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After some years Colonel Humphrey ceased ac- tive practice, though both he and his friends after- wards regretted this course, since he was by nature and talent singularly fitted for the service of the law. He continued to be prominent in the politics of his section, though on account of the predomi- nance of the negro element he never attained an ambition to sit as a member of Congress. When the welfare of the state was concerned Colonel Humphrey, more than most men who had been through the bitter partisanship of the period, could submerge his own feelings and convictions when the larger interests required. A notable in- stance of this pure patriotism is found in his action when Vance was a candidate for re-election as United States senator in 1890. The Farmers' Alliance then controlled the Assembly and it seemed doubtful whether Vance could be nom- inated. Colonel Humphrey, in spite of all the reasons for personal opposition to Vance, believed that at this juncture he could be of more service to the people of North Carolina than any one else. He therefore subordinated his personal hostility, and undoubtedly was the chief element in secur- ing Vance's re-election. He always felt that in so doing he had performed a distinct duty to the state.
As the years passed Colonel Humphrey found congenial occupation in managing his private af- fairs and in promoting such local improvements as interested him and appealed to him for support. Devoted to his family, happy in his home and with his friends, the current of his life ran on evenly, bringing him every satisfaction to be desired. Eventually, at the age of three score, his life drew to its close. The Goldsboro Daily Argus, February 12, 1891, in reference to his death said : " 'It is appointed unto all men once to die.' The lament of the prophet who was king in Jerusalem, 'man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets,' finds an echo after centuries in our own souls, each and all of us, when, according to the dispensation of Him who 'docth all things well,' we come with sorrowful hearts and sore oppressed to stand beside the bier of our loved ones and look for the last time upon the face of our dead. It is in such hours of earth's supremest sorrow that supremest faith in God is born.
"No sadder death has occurred in a long time in Goldsboro than that of Colonel Lotte W. Hum- phrey. From earliest manhood he had been an active and progressive citizen, of modest disposi- tion, courtly manners, broad charitableness toward his fellowmen-ever ready to lend a helping hand to the needy and champion the interests of the masses.
"He was elected by the democrats to the House from his native county at an early age, before twenty-two, an honor that is of rare occurrence, and was frequently re-elected to represent them in both the House and the Senate, his constituency being only too glad to confer their highest dis- tinetions upon him.
"During the earlier years of his public life he studied law with Chief Justice Richmond M. Pear- son, and in due time was licensed by the Supreme Court and entered upon the practice of his pro- fession, in which he had attained to eminent dis- tinetion and enjoyed a lucrative practice at the outbreak of the war. Being thoroughly in sym- pathy with the South's cause, he promptly en- listed in the Confederate Army, himself organiz- ing two companies in his native county, which
were assigned to service in the coast defenses of our state during the entire war.
"At the cessation of hostilities Colonel Hum- phrey moved to Goldsboro, where his life has been an open book during the quarter of a century that intervened, and where he has won many strong personal friends who deeply mourn his loss and sincerely sympathize with his bereaved family in their great affliction. On domiciling here Colonel Humphrey again resumed his profession and readily secured an important practice, during which time he was elected by the democrats of this county to represent them in the Senate one term. Subsequently, being a man of large property pos- sessions and much individual business, in conse- quence, he found it necessary after some years to retire from the practice of law and from that time to his demise on Thursday night he concerned himself with the management of his estate.
"Colonel Humphrey was the truest man to his friends we have ever known. Nor did they have to seek his favors. He was ever solicitous how he could serve them, and prompt and gracious in the tender of his aid. To befriend his friends was, indeed, one of his highest pleasures.
"But it was in his home life that the deceased was chiefly admirable. He was of the old school of gentlemen, and was a prince of courtesy and hospitality in his home. His children were his companions and confidants; his wife was his coun- sellor and guide. Their every wish received his tenderest consideration and their happiness was his greatest joy; and now that he has gone 'the unknown way from whence no step comes back, ' they have the consolation of knowing that the white-winged messenger stole not upon him un- awares."
To Colonel Humphrey by his first marriage were born two children: Eliza Hill and Richard Brad- ley. The latter died in early infancy. Eliza Hill Humphrey married Furnifold M. Simmons, of Jones County, son of Mr. F. G. . Simmons and Mrs. Mary (Jarman) Simmons of Joncs County. Hon. F. M. Simmons was then a young lawyer of ability and great promise, and that promise has been richly fulfilled, since subsequently he became United States Senator from North Carolina. His wife, Eliza, died in the bloom of early life, leaving three children : Mary Rebecca. who married Louis A. Mahler, of Raleigh; James Humphrey, who married Miss Hall. of Newbern; and Eliza Hum- phrey, who married Graham H. Andrews, of Raleigh, youngest son of Colonel A. B. Andrews, president of the Southern Railway Company.
Colonel Humphrey by second marriage left six children : Paul Clingman; Ada Clingman, who married Col. J. E. Robinson ; Earle Ambrose; Lotte Williams; Lyndon Meer; and Don Clingman.
HENRY PATTILLO CLINGMAN, M. D. The name Clingman has many distinguished associations with North Carolina. The Clingmans have been leaders in church, in the profession of medicine and as soldiers.
Henry Pattillo Clinoman, M. D .. was in his tinie one of North Carolina's most distinguished medi- cal men and was a citizen of the highest character and attainments. He was born at Huntsville, North Carolina, at the old Clinoman home tead on the Yadkin River. April 4 1813. and after a life of unusual length, experience and service, he died at the home of h's only surviving child. Mrs. Ida C. Humphrey, at Goldsboro June 7, 1906. At the
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time of his death he was ninety-three years two months three days old. He was a great-grandson of Henry Pattillo, D. D., who was born in Scot- land in 1726 and came to America with an older brother. After completing his ecclesiastical course in the Province of Virginia he established himself in Granville County, North Carolina. In 1775 Doctor Pattillo was sent as a delegate to the first Provincial Congress, where his ability as a states- man and his intrepidity as a patriot were spon- taneously recognized. He was chosen chairman of that memorable body.
Henry Pattillo Clingman was graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Medicine in 1840 with the degree Doctor of Medicine. Afterward he matriculated at the Medical University of Penn- sylvania, in two separate sessions, the second being a post-graduate course. The Pennsylvania Col- lege, however, ceased to exist in the year 1861 on account of the war between the North and the South. While in the Pennsylvania College of Medi- cine Doctor Clingman was held in such distinction by Dr. Benjamin Rush, of the faculty, that when matters of controversy arose in his class he in-, variably joined with Clingman until it got to be proverbial in his college career that "Clingman's decision should pass." Upon his graduation he was immediately tendered the chair of anatomy in his alma mater, an honor the young doctor de- clined, being adverse to the environment of city life and loving, instead, nature and humanity and desiring to spend his life in the associations and enjoyments of the former and devote his profes- sional skill to the service of the people among whom he had grown up. From first to last he was one of the keenest and most alert of his pro- fessional brethren, always kept apace with the ad- vancement of medical knowledge, and was a great doctor even in his advanced years, combining with experience and knowledge a splendid physique and mental talent.
Doctor Clingman had many services and expe- riences beyond those of the quiet country prac- titioner. He was a veteran of two Indian wars- the Seminole and the Cherokee-and was with the military escort that conducted the Cherokees out to their new home in the Indian Nation. He was one of the carly presidents of the Mocksville Medi- cal Society. In the early '50s he migrated with his family to Arkansas, making the long journey in two wagons and a carryall, the trip consuming six weeks. In after years he talked most entertain- ingly of this trip and his varied experiences in the far West, where he conducted his profession and where he also lived as a pioneer and hunter.
Doctor Clingman was a double first cousin of the late Senator and General Thomas Lanier Cling- man, Their mothers, the Misses Poindexter, were sisters, and their fathers were brothers. In early manhood Doctor Clingman married Mrs. Samuel Nixon, relict of Doctor Nixon of Shreveport, Louis- iana. Her maiden home was in Norristown, Penn- sylvania. To this union were born three children: Lieut. Edward Peter Clingman, the late Nixon P. Clingman, the gifted North Carolina poet, and the only daughter, Ida, who became the wife of the late Col. L. W. Humphrey. Doctor Cling- man and his wife spent their declining years in the home of their daughter.
One who was closely associated with him during his work at Goldsboro has written an appreciative tribute to the late Nixon Poindexter Clingman, and from that memoir the following paragraphs are chiefly quoted.
Nixon Poindexter Clingman was born at Hunts- ville, North Carolina, November 1, 1847. From his ancestors on both sides he inherited in blended power the mental endowments, physical structure and grace of person with elegance of manner. His youth was contemporary with that turbulency of public life which culminated in the war between the states. In that struggle he lost his only brother, four years his senior, Lieutenant Edward P. Clingman. Edward enlisted at the age of seven- teen in the Confederate Army and fell on the field of valor while leading a brilliant cavalry charge on July 28, 1864, near Atlanta, Georgia, having rendered over three years and three months of service in the western army.
Edward and Nixon were devoted to each other; they were constant companions at school and in all their boyish exploits. The untimely death of Lieutenant Clingman brought abiding sadness to the soul of Nixon, across whose boyish counte- nance with the coming of the crushing news there crept "the hush of feeling and the calm of thought" which lingered there through all the afterwhile of his own too brief career.
On the marriage of his only sister, Ida Cling- man, to the late Col. L. W. Humphrey, an officer in the Confederate service, Nixon Clingman went to live with them at the Colonel's plantation home in Onslow County, and became a protection to his sister while the Colonel was absent from home. When the Federal troops began encroach- ing upon that section of the state Colonel Hum- phrey moved his family to a safer distance. Young Nixon, however, chose to remain behind in the midst of danger on the plantation. During several months he had a number of exciting encounters with Federal scouts. On one occasion a Federal soldier had leveled his pistol on him, when young Clingman, with the agility of a tiger, sprang upon his would-be assassin, himself unarmed, and grappled with him in a deadly struggle, which was only ended by a number of other Federal soldiers coming to the rescue of their comrade and taking the youth a prisoner. On the way to the enemy 's camp, marching between two of his captors, he knocked one of them down and made good his escape. After much suffering he finally joined his anxious family at Goldsboro, and that city was ever afterwards his home.
In the office of Colonel Humphrey, young Cling- man took up the study of law with such applica- tion and success that at the age of nineteen he had creditably passed the required examination before the Supreme Court of the state and had been granted a license to practice. The law did not seem to reach the aspirations of his poet's soul, and he drifted away from it into literary work on the leading newspapers of the town, the Golds- boro Messenger especially. His writings adorned the columns of that paper and increased its circu- lation a hundred fold. It was largely his literary influence that made that the most widely read and influential newspaper in the state in its day. His published poems appeared in its columns for the first time. Those poems were written not as labored or studied productions to meet the require- ments of the editor, but were simply the spon- taneous effusions of a poet's soul when occasion presented or sentiment prompted. They were re- ceived with appreciation and widespread demand, and each one had to be republished in subsequent issues of the paper, and often through several editions.
His friends and admirers have deeply regretted
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that Mr. Clingman did not oftener give voice to his poetic genius. That genius was fathomless in resources of imagination and majestic in sweep of its fancy and in grace of diction. It was only on rare occasions that he would touch the lyre. Like many another genius his mortal life was eir- cumscribed in years. At the home of Colonel Humphrey he passed away July 12, 1885, in his thirty-seventh year. When the news became public the press of the entire state were generous in the editorial tributes to his memory and worth both as a writer, whose style was inimitable, and as a poet of rarest genius and abounding promise. North Carolina will always esteem as one of its brightest literary lights the late Nixon Poindex- ter Clingman, a poet of undoubted front rank. His revered mother, to whom one of his most beautiful poems is inscribed, followed him within a year to his long home, and a few years later Colonel Humphrey passed away, and together their mortal remains repose in the family plot in beauti- ful Willow Dale Cemetery in Goldsboro.
EARLE AMBROSE HUMPHREY has risen to dis- tinction during his twenty years of practice at the Goldsboro bar, and while he has handled general litigation, he is recognized perhaps as the chief authority on the subject of taxation law, and much of his time and attention have been demanded by that specialty.
The Humphrey family has long been identified with the legal profession at Goldsboro, where Mr. Humphrey was born June 21, 1872. His parents were Colonel Lotte William and Ida (Clingman) Humphrey. His father was also a well known lawyer. Mr. Humphrey was educated in public schools, in a military school, began the study of law under Colonel Isaac L. Dortch, and was grad- uated in February, 1896, from the law department of Columbian University at Washington, D. C. He at once took up regular practice at Goldsboro, and besides his private practice he has been solicitor of the Wayne County Court since 1913. He is a well known member in high standing of the North Carolina Bar Association, and member of the State Senate, having been elected in November, 1918.
Mr. Humphrey was married April 27, 1903, to Elizabeth Ridout, of Maryland. They have one son, Earle Ambrose, Jr., born August 19, 1906.
Col. L. W. Humphrey, his father, was not only active as a lawyer but a man of prominence in public affairs and in business. He was president of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railway, served two terms in the North Carolina Senate, and at one time was solicitor for Onslow County.
Don Clingman Humphrey, a brother of Earle Ambrose, is also a successful Goldsboro attorney. He was born in Goldsboro December 15, 1884, at- tended the Goldsboro High School, the Bingham Military School at Mebane, and took both the literary and law courses in the University of North Carolina. He graduated in 1906 and has since practiced law at Goldsboro, and from 1909 to 1918 was eity attorney. He is member of the Wayne County Bar Association, belongs to the Algonquin Club, the Masons and the Elks, and in politics is a demoerat.
ALBERT SIDNEY GRADY has been in the practice of law at Mount Olive for the past nineteen years, and besides his well carned distinetions in the pro- fession he has also aeeepted the opportunities to serve the public welfare in many ways.
Mr. Grady is a native of Duplin County, North Carolina, born at Albertson October 19, 1871. His parents were William Henry and Emeline (Sim- mons) Grady. His father was both a farmer and teacher. The Gradys have been residents of North Carolina a great many years. His great-grand- father was William Grady and his grandparents were Sherwood and Harriet Grady. In the ma- ternal line he is descended from Daniel Hargett Simmons, and this line is traced back to Daniel Simmons, one of the De Graffenried colonists who located at Newbern about 1650.
Albert Sidney Grady received practically all his early education under the immediate direction of his father and mother, who were trained and cul- tured people and unusually competent to direct his studies. He became a lawyer by studying in pri- vate law offices, and in September, 1897, was ad- mitted to the North Carolina bar. Mr. Grady has practiced at Mount Olive sinee January, 1898, and has been accorded a large general practice. When the Wayne County Court was organized he was appointed substitute judge. He served as mayor of Mount Olive from 1907 to 1909, and is now a trustee of the town board of education and sec- retary of the board. He also belongs to the Wayne County Bar Association and is an elder and clerk of sessions in the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Grady was married August 13, 1906, to Miss Carrie English, of Mount Olive. Her parents are Julius A. and Eva (Davis) English. Mr. and Mrs. Grady have one child, Eva English.
CLAUDIUS E. FoY. By birth and early associa- tions Claudius E. Foy was a member of one of the old and aristocratic families of North Carolina. The war dissipated the family resources and as a young boy he had to carve his own destiny. How well he has succeeded is thoroughly appreciated by the citizens of Newbern, who know Mr. Foy as one of that city's most substantial business men and public spirited citizens.
He was born in Jones County, North Carolina, May 10, 1850, a son of Charles H. and Elizabeth P. (Oliver) Foy. His father had a large plantation in Jones County, and was one of the leaders in the old whig party. He served as colonel of the State Militia.
When the war between the states closed Claudius E. Foy was fifteen years of age. The family being impoverished, he went to work at that time and earned a living for himself as clerk in a gen- eral store at Carolina City. In 1867 he removed to Newbern and continued clerking in a general store until he had mastered the fundamentals of business practice.
In 1869 he entered general merchandising for himself and due to his early beginning he has had an active career covering more than half a century. Subsequently he removed to Jones County and con- ducted a general store in that locality for several years, but since 1873 his home has been in New- bern. He built up a large general mereantile and cotton commission business under the firm name of Gates-Foy & Company, but in 1880 acquired Gates' interests. In 1895 Mr. Foy branched out as a dealer in fertilizers and in 1906 he organized the Craven Chemical Company, of which he is the president and treasurer. In January, 1885, he established the Bank of Green, Foy & Company, which later organized the Citizens Bank of New- bern, of which Mr. Foy was cashier for a number of years, or until 1895. He is now a director of the Newbern Banking & Trust Company, a director
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of the Norfolk & Southern Railroad, and has ex- erted much of his influence in the development of Jones County and eastern North Carolina. He helped materially in improving the Trent River Navigation, organizing the Trent River Transpor- tation Company. He formerly served as director of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Com- pany. He promoted the Eastern Carolina Land & Railroad Company. After the sale of that com- pany to the Wilmington & Newbern Railroad, later a part of the Atlantic Coast Line System, he served as director. „For many years he was a director of the first Board of Trade at Newbern. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Newbern Academy, and from 1903 to 1910 served as a county commissioner of Craven County, being chairman of the board. While on the board he organized the State Association of County Com- missioners and was its president until 1910. While chairman of the Craven County Board he built what is generally recognized as the best county jail in the entire state. He also built the first steel and concrete bridges in the county and has been a constant worker for good public roads either through his official influence or as a private citi- zen. Mr. Foy has for many years been an elder in the Presbyterian Church and is clerk of ses- sions, and is affiliated with the Masonic order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
He was married July 6, 1871, to Miss Agnes C. Paton, daughter of the distinguished David P'aton, architect of the North Carolina State Capitol, whose career is briefly sketched on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Foy have four children: Claudius B., David F., Agnes G. and Annie E.
RAYMOND POLLOCK, M. D. A physician and surgeon who has won his way to enviable promi- mence in medical circles in North Carolina, Dr. Raymond Pollock for the past seven years has been located at Newbern. It is now nearly twenty years since he took his medical degrees, and the associations of the name Pollock with medical practice goes back much further, since his father and grandfather were also eminent physicians.
Doctor Pollock was born at Kinston, North Carolina, February 15, 1876, a son of Dr. John Alfred and Agnes (Jones) Pollock. His early lite was spent in an excellent home and he was well educated at first in the public schools of Kinston, and Horner's Military School at Oxford, North Carolina, and later in the University of North Carolina. Doctor Pollock took his medical course in Jefferson Medical College at Philadel- phia, where he graduated M. D. in 1899. For a time he practiced with his father at Kinston, aud then removed to Dover, North Carolina, where he was surgeon for the Goldsboro Lumber Company. There he had his home and offices for nine and a half years. In December, 1910, he removed to Newbern, and his name has steadily grown in favor as a thoroughly equipped general practi- tioner.
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Doctor Pollock is a member of the Craven County and the North Carolina State Medical So- cieties and the American Medical Association. He is a deacon in the First Baptist Church at New- bern and trustee of the Newbern graded schools.
On January 15, 1906, he married Miss Agnes Gates Foy, daughter of Claudius E. Foy. of New- bern. They have three children, Emily Elizabeth, Agnes Paton and Raymond, Jr.
Shortly after the United States declared war
with Germany he enlisted in the Medical Reserve Corps as commissioned captain and was called to service in October, 1917. He was placed in charge of the One Hundred and Twentieth Field Hospital, One Hundred and Fifth Sanitary Train at Camp Sevier, Greenville, South Carolina, where he remained until sailing for France in June, 1918. He is now serving in France.
DAVID PATON. The people of North Carolina have always felt a justified pride in the beautiful state capitol at Raleigh, a building dignified and beautiful, and in every way worthy of the self- sacrificing spirit of those who built it and of the two generations of citizens who have had the privi- lege of using it. At the time of its erection it" was one of the most notable public buildings in the United States, and having stood for more than three-quarters of a century has lost none of its dignity and symmetry of proportions when meas- ured by the most exacting standards of modern taste and design.
In an appropriate place in the Hall of History is hung the portrait of David Paton, architect of the capitol. David Paton was an architect thor- oughly schooled in his profession and under the best influences of ancient and modern masters. While he lived in North Carolina only during the seven years he was engaged in supervising the capitol, he married in this state and one of his children still lives in Newbern, Mrs. C. E. Foy, who with her sister, Mrs. E. M. Shute, of New York, provided the portrait now hanging in the Hall of History at Raleigh, North Carolina. Some facts about the career of this eminent architect cannot but prove of interest to the people of North Carolina.
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