USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 45
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His business enterprise extended to still an- other important direction which has meant a great deal to North Carolina and the entire South. Some years after he came to the state he bought land and engaged in tobacco culture. At that time all tobacco was cured on the stalk in large barns without artificial heat. Captain Snow con- sidered the space requirements as an expense not justified if some better method could be found. He experimented by erecting a small building in which he installed heating facilities and in such way that the temperature could be perfectly con- trolled. Thus he originated the artificial curing method, which is with some modifications the only one in use today by big tobacco concerns. At first his neighboring growers scoffed at the idea, but in a season or two he had demonstrated to their complete satisfaction that his method was the cor- rect one, and thus the idea which he translated into practice has brought untold savings in labor, time and expense, and may be said to have been one of the revolutionary changes in tobacco grow- ing.
What he did in these directions is only typical of his spirit of progressiveness in everything. Captain Snow was the original promoter of the Ashboro Railroad, and spent a large sum of money in its construction. His life was prolonged to ad- vanced age and he died November 18, 1903, hav- ing lived more than three quarters of a century.
January 1, 1849, Mr. Snow married Lydia Jane Cramer. She was born in Chittenden County, Ver- mont, January 17, 1830, daughter of Russell and Sarah (Smith) Cramer and granddaughter of Francis Cramer, who was a native of Holland. Russell Cramer was a farmer near Charlotte, Vermont, where he and his wife lived and died. They reared four sons and four daughters.
Mrs. Snow died December 25, 1902. They had two children, Ernest Ansil and Bertha Emily, wife of J. Elwood Cox, a North Carolina business man . and citizen whose career is sketched on other pages.
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ALTON R. MOFFITT is one of the resourceful and energetic younger business men of North Carolina. Not yet thirty years of age, he has attained the station of an independent business man and is manager and one of the owners of the Fayette- ville Light & Power Company.
He was born at Sanford in Lee County, North Carolina, in 1892, son of W. B. and Mary (Mat- thews) Moffitt, both now deceased. The Moffitt family has long been identified with Lee County and especially with the Deep River section of that county. W. B. Moffitt was born there and for thirty-five years, up to the time of his death, was in active business at Sanford. He and his broth- ers were owners of the Moffitt Iron Works, one of the large and important industries of Sanford. At the beginning W. B. Moffitt had associated with him four of his brothers, and two of them are still continuing the irou works.
As the son of well to do parents Alton R. Mof- fitt had good advantages both at home and at school, but in early life showed his self reliance by choosing a career in which he might achieve his own success. He was educated in the gram- mar and high schools of Sanford and Elou Col- lege. Mr. Moffitt has been a citizen of Fayette- ville since 1912. He became connected with the Fayetteville Light & Power Company, and in 1915 was made manager, secretary and treasurer, and is one of the owners of the business. His talents for business and technical affairs have found an active outlet through work which has engaged him at Fayetteville.
The Fayetteville Light & Power Company was organized in 1912 to take over the property of the old Fayetteville Gas & Electric Company. The gas plant of this company, forming a prominent part of its business in Fayetteville, is an historic local industry, having been established in 1867 and having been in continuous operation ever since. The new company since taking over the properties has installed many miles of new mains to take care of increased patronage, and the gas plant has been equipped with modern machinery and a new 50,000 cubic foot steel holder. The gas furnished is of the highest quality. The company has modern offices and display room up town in the Smith & Sandrock Building. In efficient and economical operation and in quality of service rendered its patrons this is one of the leading pub- lic utilities of the state.
Through his work with this company Mr. Moffitt has already rendered important service and has identified himself with every other organization and movement for public advancement and bene- fit. He is one of the working members of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Moffitt married Miss Irene Allen, of Fayetteville.
ROBERT GALLOWAY VAUGHN. Some of the largest and most important financial and business responsi- bilities at Greensboro are borne by Robert Gallo- way Vaughn, who is himself a man of achievement and enjoys some of the best social and family connections in the state.
He was born at Madison in Rockingham County, North Carolina, where his grandfather spent his life as a successful planter, and near where his father, Joseph Mitchell Vaughn, was born on Janu- ary 1, 1834. Joseph M. Vaughn when a young man engaged in the manufacture of tobacco and subse- ·quently was a merchant at Madison, looking after both his store and his farm in that vicinity. He lived to a good old age and died at Madison in
his eighty-second year. He married Cassandra Jarrell Black, who was born in Madison, North Carolina, January 24, 1842, and is still living at Madison, where her father, Pleasant Black, was one of the old-time planters and merchants. Jo-' seph M. Vaughn and wife had three sons and one daughter, Edgar D., James M., Robert G. and Loula, wife of Harry J. Penn.
Robert Galloway Vaughn was educated in public and private schools at Madison, and from there entered the University of North Carolina. How- ever, before going to the university he had two years of experience as clerk in a bank at Reids- ville, and this definitely decided him in his choice of business instead of a profession. Therefore iu order to get into business life as early as possible he abbreviated his work at the university to two years. Subsequently he took a course in Bryant & Stratton's Business College at Baltimore, and from there came to Greensboro and accepted a position in the Piedmont Bank, of which he sub- sequently became cashier. In 1900 Mr. Vaughn resigned to become treasurer of the Southern Life and Trust Company. In 1907 the American Ex- change National Bank of Greensboro was organ- ized and took over the banking department of the Southern Life and Trust Company. Mr. Vaughn went with the new institution in the capacity of cashier, and in 1910 was elected its president, the office he holds today.
He is also chairman of the board of directors of the Hunter Manufacturing and Commission Company of Greensboro and New York, is vice president and treasurer of the Southern Life and Trust Company, vice president of the Southern Real Estate Company, a director in the Justice Drug Company, the Underwriters of Greensboro, the Southern Underwriters of Greensboro, the Southern Stock Fire Insurance Company, the Greensboro Securities Company, the North Caro- lina Trust Company, and the Irving Park Com- pany. Mr. Vaughn with all these numerous interests, has that type of business mind which functions readily without confusing and with a thoroughness and precision that are the admiration of his business associates.
Mr. Vaughn and his wife are active members of the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, in which he is a trustee and elder. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Greensboro Country Club. In 1893 he married Margaret Virginia Smith, a native of Greensboro and member of an old and prom -. inent family of North Carolina and Virginia. Mrs. Vaughn's father was the late Rev. Jacob Henry Smith, D. D., one of the foremost divines and educators of the last century, being pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro for thir- ty-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn have five children, Mary Watson, Josephine M., Robert G., Jr., Margaret Smith and Cynthia Norris.
GEORGE ALLAN HOLDERNESS. For many years George Allan Holderness has been the man around whom centered big movements in business and in- dustry and civic progress in Edgecombe County. His influence and activities are by no means con- fined to that one section of the state, and he is in fact one of the big men who are pushing for- ward the wheels of progress for the entire com- monwealth.
Mr. Holderness was born in Caswell County, North Carolina, June 15, 1867, but for many years his interests have been centered in and around Tar-
Princessly la
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boro. Mr. Holderness is a pioneer in the develop- ment of the telephone in this state, is a prominent banker, and perhaps even more prominent as a farmer.
In the spring of 1895 he and W. H. Powell began agitating a telephone system for Tarboro, and in the fall of that year the Tarboro Telephone Com- pany was incorporated with a capital stock of $2,500. They started with a very small plant and with facilities for only seventy-five telephones. Even men as foresighted as they could not antici- pate the rapid growth which successively made their equipment behind the demand in Tarboro. On May 24, 1897, the Tarboro Telephone and Tele- graph Company was incorporated with a capital of $10,000, and the same interests were behind the Carolina Telephone Company, which had been or- ganized in February, 1896. From this there fol- lowed a rapid development of individual companies and consolidation, until in January, 1900, the Caro- lina Telephone and Telegraph Company was incor- porated with $50,000 capital, consolidating the old Tarboro Telephone and Telegraph Company with the Carolina Telephone Company, the Fayetteville Telephone and Telegraph Company, and the Scot- land Neck Telephone Company. In the new cor- poration Mr. Holderness became secretary, treas- urer and general manager. The system continued to grow by the purchase of outlying exchanges, and in October, 1903, the first contract for long dis- tance service was made with the Southern Bell Tele- phone and Telegraph Company. In 1905 the operating department was put under charge of a telephone engineer, while Mr. Holderness was made secretary and treasurer, the office which he still holds. Thus in twenty-two years he has made a dream which he dreamed on a street in Tarboro come true in a business which today is one of the most up to date organizations and corporations in the South.
A couple of years ago a special correspondent of the News-Observer of Raleigh came to Edge- combe County to make a survey of business and agriculture and had a great deal to say in his article on Mr. Holderness as a farmer, proprietor of two splendid farms, the Panola Farm and the Cotton Valley Farm. Mr. Holderness is a farmer on more than 2,200 acres of land, and in farm- ing as in everything else has gone in for the best of everything. He is one of the leading hog raisers of the state, keeping about 2,000 head, fed from the crops grown on his own land of peanuts, corn and soy beans. He also keeps a herd of seventy-five dairy cows and markets the product chiefly at Tarboro. Other stock interests include about 175 head of beef cattle, 100 sheep and some fifty mules. Mr. Holderness was the originator of the "Buy a Pig" movement in Edgecombe County. In 1914 this movement was represented by a car- load of hogs, while in 1917 it involved the handling of 30,000 swine. His business as a farmer is an example and inspiration for a large community. He was one of the first to build silos, and has thor- oughly convinced many hundreds of farmers of their usefulness and value. He has also invested a large amount of money in a thorough system of drainage and has about 850 acres of his farm underlaid with tile.
Mr. Holderness is president of the Farmers Banking and Trust Company of Tarboro, and in 1914 was president of the North Carolina Bankers Association. He is a director of the First National Bank of Richmond, Virginia, and is a director of the Williams Company, manufacturing sweet potato
breakfast food at Greenville, South Carolina. He was one of the organizers of the Jefferson Stand- ard Life Insurance Company and has made his judgment and influence count as a director in many other important business concerns.
Mr. Holderness is a member of the Capital Club of Raleigh, of the Tarboro Golf Club, and in an advisory capacity has been a factor in the success of the democratic party in North Carolina. He served four years as a member of the State Prison Board, and in 1916 was elected a member of the State Senate for two years. While in the Senate he was chairman of the appropriation committee.
November 28, 1899, Mr. Holderness married Miss Hattie Howard, daughter of the late Judge George Howard. Mr. and Mrs. Holderness have seven chil- dren, five sons and two daughters.
EDWARD MAYO LAND is a North Carolina lawyer of wide experience and growing reputation and is now in practice at Goldsboro, member of the firm of Dickinson & Land.
Mr. Land is a native of this state, having been born in Edgecombe County, August 26, 1878. His parents were Virginius W. and Mary (Mayo) Land, a prominent family of the state. His father was a large farmer and lumber manufacturer. His family moved to Littleton, North Carolina, in 1891, where both his parents died in 1899. Reared in a home of comfort, Mr. Land was given good opportunities in his early life. He entered the University of North Carolina in 1895, graduating and receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1899. He studied law in an office in 1900-01, and at the summer school at the University of North Carolina in 1901, receiving his license to practice in the fall of 1901.
In 1902 Mr. Land began the general practice of law at Kinston, North Carolina as a member of the firm of Land & Cowper (G. V. Cowper), con- tinuing this association until 1906, when he formed a partnership with Mr. N. J. Rouse. Mr. Land moved to Goldsboro in January, 1914, but the firm of Rouse & Land was continued until January 1, 1917. when the present firm of Dickinson & Land was formed.
Mr. Land served several years as county attorney in Lenoir County and was a member of Governor Locke Craig's general staff with the rank of major. He has been an active figure in politics, serving several years as secretary of the Democratic Execu- tive Committee of Lenoir County. He is a member nf the American Bar Association and of the North Carolina Bar Association.
On October 7. 1917, he married Miss Marie Long of Statesville, North Carolina, the youngest daughter of Judge Benjamin F. and Mary (Rob- bins) Long, a prominent family of North Carolina.
He is a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Kappa Alpha Fraternity (Southern), and formerly a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
CHARLES DAVID BENBOW. Public spirited, wide-awake and thoroughly progressive, Charles D. Benbow has achieved an honorable record as a promoter of all enterprises conducive to a bigger and better Greensboro, his home city, for which he believes nothing is too good, and for whose advancement and prosperity he is ever willing to freely contribute his time, energy and money, his loyalty as a man and a citizen being above re- proach. A native of North Carolina, he was born
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in Fayetteville, Cumberland County, and is of Welsh ancestry, being a descendant in the fifth generation from the immigrant ancestor, his line of descent being thus traced: Charles, Thomas, Charles, De Witt Clinton and Charles David.
Charles Benbow was born in Wales in 1704, and in 1718, a lad of fourteen years, came to America, accompanying his brother Gershom, who, it is said, settled in South Carolina. Having had no money with which to pay his passage across the ocean, the ambitious youth had sold his time while yet in Wales to A. M. Carver, of Pennsyl- vania, with whom he immediately went to live. Honest and eminently trustworthy, he secured the respect of the family with which he lived, and in due course of time married the daughter, Mary Carver. He subsequently bought land in Bladen County, North Carolina, and on the farm which he cleared spent his remaining days.
Thomas Benbow grew to manhood in Bladen County, but subsequently moved to Oak Ridge, in what is now Guilford County, locating near the spot on which the battle of March 15, 1781, was fought. Establishing a tannery there, he oper- ated it until his death. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and both he and his wife, Hannah (Stanley) Benbow, who was of the same religious belief, were buried in the Friends' Cemetery at Guilford College.
Charles Benbow was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, December 6, 1787. He succeeded to the business established by his father, and for a number of years operated the tannery at Oak Ridge. Removing later to Fayetteville, he owned and operated the Cross Creek Cotton Mill for a long while; later in life he returned to Oak Ridge, and was there a resident until his death, July 24, 1868. Both he and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Saunders, were members of the Society of Friends, but their bodies after death were laid to rest in the Methodist Cemetery at Guilford College. They reared five children, as follows: Paris S., Jesse, Thomas J., Julia Ann and De Witt Clinton.
Born at Oak Ridge, Guilford County, North Carolina, February 23, 1832, De Witt Clinton Benbow received good educational advantages, after leaving the public schools attending first the New Garden School, now Guilford College, and later the Friends' School, in Providence, Rhode Island. In the latter city he subsequently took up the study of dentistry, and after returning to North Carolina was engaged in the practice of his profession, having offices in Fayetteville, Greens- boro and Mount Airy, Greensboro at that time having been a small village. He was also inter- ested in a cotton mill at Fayetteville, where he resided a number of years. Removing to Greens- boro in 1866, he embarked in business as a mer- chant, putting in an extensive stock of general merchandise, and continued thus employed for ten years. In the meantime he had acquired valuable farm and city property, and in 1875 built the Benbow Hotel, now known as the Guilford Hotel.
He was one of the promoters of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad, of which he owned one-eighth of the stock. One of the very first to agitate the subject of good roads, he built at his own expense a road a half mile long, extending east from the city limits to his farm, making it from "nigger head" rock. He also built a macad- amized road extending south from the city limits to another one of his farms, a distance of two and one-half miles. He was a vigorous advocate of temperance at a time when teetotalers were rarely
seen in the state. He continued an active sup- porter of all beneficial enterprises until his death, which occurred at his home in Greensboro in 1902.
The maiden name of the wife of De Witt Clinton Benbow was Mary E. Scott. She was born in Greensboro, a daughter of David Scott. David Scott was born on a plantation lying six miles north of Greensboro, and there grew to manhood. Subsequently settling in Greensboro, he was here engaged in mercantile pursuits for a period of thirty-five years. At the same time he was inter- ested in agriculture, owning a farm, which he operated with slave labor until the outbreak of the Civil War. He continued a resident of Greensboro until his death in 1875, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. He was twice married. The maiden name of his first wife, the maternal grand- mother of the subject of this sketch, was Mary Wright. A daughter of William Wright, she was born on a plantation in Rockingham County, near Reidsville, and died in Greensboro in 1843. She was the mother of five children, Adolphus, Rufus, Mary, David and William. Mrs. Mary E. (Scott) Benbow died in 1898, leaving three children, namely : Charles David, the special subject of this sketch; Mary, wife of R. H. Crawford; and Lilly.
Following the educational path trod by his father, Charles D. Benbow attended both Guilford College and the Friends' School in Providence, Rhode Island. He afterwards took a course of study at Eastman's Business College in Pough- keepsie, New York. Soon after his return to North Carolina, Mr. Benbow went to Pinehurst to super- intend the erection of various buildings for Mr. Tufts, the founder of the now noted winter resort. At that time there was but one hotel in the place, a building containing thirty-two rooms, and twelve cottages. When he left there, five years later, there were accommodations in hotels and .cottages for upwards of 5,000 people. Returning to Greensboro, Mr. Benbow became associated with his father in the management of some of his prop- erties, and superintended the erection of the Ben- bow Building and managed the Benbow Hotel, at the same time having charge of the Grand Central Hotel in Columbia, this state.
The democratic convention that nominated Gov- 'ernor Glenn was invited to meet at Greensboro. The committee in charge said there were not suffi- cient hotel accommodations for so large a gather- ing. Mr. Benbow assured the committee that there would be at the date appointed, and immediately began the construction of the "Benbow Arcade," which was entirely completed in forty-six days, with its 126 rooms ready for guests. Like his father, Mr. Benbow has always taken a genuine interest in local affairs, and has heartily endorsed and supported beneficial projects of all kinds. He is interested in financial matters as one of the directors of the Greensboro National Bank.
Mr. Benbow married in 1880 Elizabeth C. Perry. who was born in Providence, Rhode Island, a daughter of Edward and Hannah Perry. Three children have been born of their union, namely: Mary, Charles D., Jr., and Edward Perry. Mary, wife of R. Watt Richardson, has three children, Robert, R. Watt, Jr., and Mary. Charles D. mar- ried Marjorie Long, and they have two children, Mary Long and Charles D., Jr. Edward Perry married Ann Riddick, and they are the parents of three children, Elizabeth, Edward and De Witt Clinton. Fraternally Mr. Benbow is a member of Greensboro Lodge No. 80, Knights of Pythias; of Buena Vista Lodge, Independent Order of Odd
ROMacheson
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Fellows; and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Religiously he belongs to the Society of Friends, and Mrs. Benbow is a member of the Baptist church.
LEMON LEE MATTHEWS. The subject of this sketch was born in Sampson County on March 15, 1871. He was the youngest child of William S. and Catharine (James) Matthews, both of whom were lineal descendants of Edmund Matthews and Mollie Price, who eloped from Virginia in 1768 and settled on Crane Creek in the southeastern part of Sampson County. Edmund Matthews was the father of twenty-two children, and, through these, he was the ancestor of more than two thou- sand people in Sampson and adjoining counties. The father of William S. was Lazarus, one of the twenty-two, and therefore Lemon L. Matthews was the great-grandson of Edmund and Mollie Mat- thews.
Lemon L. Matthews was reared on his father's farm in Turkey Township, and with his two brothers, W. L. and R. D. Matthews, endeavored to earn a living when farming was not at all profitable. During his early years, by careful and systematic reading, with such aid as he could secure from the free schools of the county, he ac- quired a liberal education far in advance of the average man of his day. He was a close thinker and, at the same time, blessed with a clear and accurate memory. He loved knowledge for its own sake and early in life determined to make teachı- ing his profession.
With a large brain, keen to every line of in- tellectual pursuit, he soon acquired a reputation throughout the eastern part of the state, and in 1907 he was elected superintendent of schools in his native county, which office he held with conspicuous ability until his death on June 23, 1918. Mr. Matthews was a pioneer in certain edu- cational lines, and to him perhaps more than any other man is due the credit for our county com- mencement system, which has become a recognized part of our educational policy in North Carolina. He also took a large interest in rural development and was in active co-operation with the various local organizations in Sampson County.
For several years prior to his death Mr. Mat- thews was engaged as an assistant teacher in the Eastern Carolina Training School at Greenville during the summer sessions of that institution. He was regarded as one of the state's best in- structors in this line of work, and he was never so happy as when aiding others to obtain a lib- eral education.
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