USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 48
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THOMAS. LEE BLAND. There are probably few men in Eastern North Carolina any better known or more popularly considered than is Thomas Lee Bland, who is the genial host and owner of the Ricks Hotel at Rocky Mount, an imposing struc- ture, and one of a number of hotels, either owned or leased, operated by Mr. Bland. He is one of those fortunate business men who has found his certain talent and has had the courage to formulate and carry out the plans that his natural instinct and practical wisdom have suggested.
Mr. Bland was born in Pitt County, North Caro- lina, December 17, 1882. His parents are Chris- topher Columbus and Elizabeth (Boyd) Bland. His father follows an agricultural life and also is a preacher in the Primitive Baptist ministry.
Thomas Lee Bland attended the public schools, later the University of Kentucky, where he re- mained for three years, and also Carolina Christian College in this state. On January 1, 1904, Mr. Bland embarked in the mercantile business at
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Greenville, North Carolina, where he remained one year and during the next year was on the road representing a mercantile house. It was in 1906 that Mr. Bland came to Rocky Mount prepared to go into the hotel business, securing the present site of the Ricks, and for two years conducted the Cuthrell Hotel, where he had twenty-two rooms for the accommodation of guests.
In the meanwhile Mr. Bland had let the contract for the erection of the Ricks, which called for eighty guest rooms. While the Ricks was in course of construction he found it necessary to rent or lease the Cambridge Hotel. The Ricks Hotel, the finest and most modern at Rocky Mount, was opened on June 1, 1909, and its comforts, con- veniences and cuisine so quickly became known that Mr. Bland found it necessary to conduct the Cambridge as an annex, and now has 140 guest rooms that are seldom untenanted. Mr. Bland evidently thoroughly understands the business of hotel-keeping, and in that way has won the esteem and gratitude of numberless travelers.
The Ricks Hotel proving so fortunate a venture, Mr. Bland leased the Louise Hotel at Washington, North Carolina, in June, 1910, and the Bland Hotel at Raleigh, with 120 rooms, and in October, 1912, leased the Gaston Hotel at Newbern. All these caravansaries are under his personal supervision and are all paying properties because of his de- tailed knowledge of the business and his natural gift of commercial wisdom. Mr. Bland has addi- tional business interests and is the owner of the Bishop Laundry, and is a director of the First National Bank of Rocky Mount and is otherwise concerned.
Mr. Bland was married in North Carolina, on July 22, 1903, to Miss Queenie Victoria McGowan, who was born at Greenville, North Carolina, and they have one son, Alton Lee, who was born August 22, 1904.
Mr. Bland is an active citizen and his enterprise has been very helpful to Rocky Mount. He is a valued member of the Commercial Club. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and belongs also to the Mystic Shrine, and additionally is a member of the Capital and the Country clubs of Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Onslow Rod and Gun Club of Jackson, Onslow County, North Carolina. Mr Bland is a man of engaging personality and well fitted for the business in which he has found so much success, and he has a wide circle of personal as well as business friends in "this strip of woods. "'
WESCOTT ROBERSON, whose name is one of the most prominent in its associations with the busi- ness and professional affairs of High Point, was born at Chapel Hill in Orange County, North Carolina, son of Dr. Abner Benton and Cornelia (Stone) Roberson.
He grew up in the academic atmosphere of Chapel Hill. and after a thorough preparation entered the State University, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1896 and receiving his law degree in 1898. In the latter year he was admitted to the har and in October located at High Point, where he has taken first rank as a lawyer and business man.
Mr. Roberson is senior member of the firm Roberson, Dalton & Smith. This firm in addition to a large general practice represents as special counsel the Southern Railway Company, is general counsel for the Carolina & Yadkin River Railroad Company, and among others attorney for the
North Carolina Public Service Company, the Southern Bell Telephone Company, the Wachovia Bank & Trust Company, Southern Express Com- pany and Arctic Ice & Fuel Company.
Mr. Roberson is personally identified with a number of business corporations, being a stock- holder in the Wachovia Bank & Trust Company at Winston-Salem and chairman of its board of di- rectors of the High Point branch, is president of the Amos Hosiery Company, a director of the Southern Mirror Company, the Central Ice Com- pany of Birmingham, Alabama, the Atlantic In- surance Company of Raleigh, the Ring Drug Company, the Marsh Furniture Company, Pied- mont Building and Loan Association, and is vice president of the Carolina & Yadkin River Railroad and vice president of the North Carolina Public Service Company.
Mr. Roberson was elected a member of the State Legislature from Guilford County for the sessions of 1901, 1903 and 1905. During the first term he was chairman of the committee for elec- tion of trustees of the University of North Caro- lina and in the second term was chairman of the committee on corporations, and the third term chairman of the committee on appropriations. He is a member of the High Point Commercial Club, is a Baptist, and is affiliated with High Point Lodge No. 208, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
ROBERT GILMER GLENN is a business man of long standing at Greensboro, was formerly in the drug trade but for over thirty years has been one of the reliable real estate dealers, whose service and experience have counted in many of the larg- est transactions in realty in that part of the state.
Mr. Glenn, who was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1850, is a member of a very interesting family and a family of unusual attain- ments and abilities. His grandfather was Robert Glenn, who married a Miss Jackson. They died leaving their son Robert W. Glenn an orphan child, dependent entirely upon his own exertions to realize the objects of his ambition and make the best of his very considerable talents. Doctor Glenn was one of the forceful and greatly honored characters of Greensboro. As a boy he thirsted for knowl- edge and spent a number of years acquiring a liberal education. His earnestness in the matter was what eventually enabled him to achieve his desires. It is said that one time, though with only fifty cents in his pockets, he approached a noted North Carolina educator, Professor William Bing- ham, who at that time was teaching at or near Hillsboro, and by a straightforward talk so con- vinced Professor Bingham of his industry and good character that Mr. Bingham accepted him as a student and agreed to defer payment of tuition. By this means he acquired sufficient training to teach, and by alternate teaching and attending school was able to pay his board and tuition and finally squared up all his debts. From teaching he finally accumulated the modest sum which car- ried him through his courses of lectures at Phila- delphia in the Jefferson Medical College. Thus after many years of hard and self sacrificing effort he possessed a medical license and began practice with his lodgings and office in the Fentress home in Clay Township of Guilford County. After ac- quiring the means to do so he bought a farm and became engaged in merchandising with J. W. Gilmer. During the war between the states he was appointed medical examiner for the Confed-
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erate Government, and these duties took him to many counties of North Carolina.
Following the war Doctor Glenn located at Greensboro, then a small city with only one rail- road line, and set up in the drug business, having as his partner Dr. Andrew C. Caldwell. He soon bought the interest of his partner and became sole proprietor. His store did a large and flourishing business, and the only obstacle to his acquiring a substantial fortune was his too great liberality in signing his name to security notes for his friends. That finally proved his undoing, and in order to recuperate he returned to Philadelphia and took a position on the road as a traveling salesman. Some years later he was able to return to Greensboro, and resumed the practice of medi- cine and enjoyed a large clientage. He died here in 1881.
Doctor Glenn first married Julia Ann Gilmer, sister of Hon. John A. Gilmer. His second wife was Fannie E. Reynolds. The four children of his first marriage were Robert Gilmer, Joseph Whitfield, Charles M. and Edwin Forbes. Joseph Whitfield studied law with Judge Pearsons at Richmond Hill and practiced law in Reidsville, North Carolina, and Greensboro. Charles M. graduated from the medical department of the University of New York and has been a successful physician. The youngest son, Edwin Forbes, is a distinguished army officer and was born at Greens- boro January 10, 1857. From Who's Who in America his military record is noted as follows: Graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1877, second lieutenant 25th In- fantry June 15, 1877, first lieutenant December 4, 1884, captain July 5, 1895, major 5th Infantry April 22, 1901, lieutenant colonel 23d Infantry January 1, 1907, and colonel March 11, 1911. He has attained still higher promotion and has been employed upon some highly exacting and re- sponsible duties during the present war with Germany.
Robert Gilmer Glenn was well prepared for his life's career, attended district schools, was a pupil of the New Garden School, later Guilford College, and at the age of nineteen gave up his books to become associated with his father in the drug busi- ness at Greensboro. That was a business which claimed the most of his attention until 1884, since which date he has been handling real estate and insurance.
In 1879 Mr. Glenn married Miss Helen May Jones, who was born in Greensboro May 29, 1860, daughter of Turner and Lucy (MaGee) Jones. Her father, Rev. Turner Jones, was a Methodist Episcopal minister and for a number of years was president of the Greensboro Female College. Mrs. Glenn was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and was always a devout attendant at the worship of her church. She died in 1888, the mother of three children: Lucy MaGee, who married Frank P. Hobgood, Jr .; Julia Gilmer, wife of Robert G. Sloan; and Robert W. The son Robert is now a second lieutenant in Company C of the Sixth Regiment Infantry, Na- tional Army. Mr. Glenn is a deacon and for several years was treasurer of the First Presby- terian Church at Greensboro.
ASA THOMAS GRIFFIN, of Goldsboro, has for many years been a factor in the lumber manu- facturing industry of North Carolina, and is now head of one of the largest concerns of that kind at Goldsboro. Success has come to him in large
measure, and it is due to the possession of sound business ability and also to an unflagging atten- tion to the work in hand.
Mr. Griffin was born in Martin County, North Carolina, January 15, 1867, and grew up on a farm. His parents were Joseph and Louisa (Perry) Griffin. He attended the country schools and also Greenville College, and he early looked beyond the horizon of his immediate opportunity to a larger participation in commercial life. As a young man he did logging contracting for a time, and for seven years was connected with a large lumber milling concern. In 1897 Mr. Grif- fin came to Goldsboro, and established the shingle and saw mill factory on Nense River. In 1905 he organized and established the A. T. Griffin Manufacturing Company, of which he has since been secretary, treasurer and general manager. Besides his connection with this large concern Mr. Griffin is also a director of the Utility Manufac- turing Company.
He has never neglected his interests as a pub- lic spirited citizen, and for 21/2 years was a mem- ber of the board of public works at Goldsboro. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and is a steward of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church.
On April 26, 1895, Mr. Griffin married Susie Barwick, of Lenoir County, North Carolina. They are the parents of five children: Verna, Elbert Alonzo, Lloyd Bennett, Ashton Thomas and Wil- liam Barwick.
GEORGE D. WILLIAMS has been a factor in the business affairs of Reidsville for a great many years. He is a man of that community by birth and family associations, and possesses a name that has been honored several generations in Rocking- ham County.
He was born on a farm in New Bethel Town- ship of that county, and his father, William P. Williamson, was born there. His paternal grand- father was Billy Williams, who married Fanny Pierson. The maternal grandparents of George D. Williams were Cummings and Linnie (Moore) Witty. William P. Williamson grew up on a farm and increased his inheritance by the purchase of additional land. He spent all his life in New Bethel Township as a practical farmer. He mar- ried Emily R. Witty, born in New Bethel Town- ship, and died when about sixty-eight years of age. She reared five children, named George D., Thomas, Samuel G., James W. and Josephine.
George D. Williams had good advantages during his youth. From the district schools he attended Yadkin College, and among early experiences taught one term of school. For about three years after leaving college he remained on the home farm, and then moved to Reidsville, where he clerked in a general store three years. He then invested his capital and experience in a business of his own, and has continued to sell goods in that locality for about twenty years. For a num- ber of years he also did a thriving business as a dealer in leaf tobacco. In 1918 he sold the last of his stock on hand and is practically retired from that industry.
Mr. Williams is a member of the Reidsville Methodist Protestant Church and is a trustee and treasurer of the society.
SAMUEL WILLIAM SMITH, who was appointed postmaster at Wilson in 1915, has for many years
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Gen D, Williams, Words
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been actively identified with business affairs in that city, and has handled his present office as a strictly business proposition and with the same regard for its systematic workings as he exercised in the building up of his own private enterprise.
Mr. Smith was born at Oxford, North Carolina, October 31, 1874, a son of Richard Thorp and Mollie (Thorp) Smith. His father was a tobacco buyer and the family has been identified with the tobacco business for many years. Samuel W. Smith finished his education in Horner's Military Institute. He then entered the tobacco industry and for fifteen years was manager of a tobacco company and is now general manager and half owner in the Smith Warehouse Company, Incor- porated. He also has some extensive farming in- terests.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Commonwealth Club and the Country Club of Wilson, and is a vestryman in St. Timothy's Episcopal Church.
He was married December 14, 1894, to Miss Cora Taylor, daughter of W. R. Taylor of Oxford, North Carolina. They have six children: Gladys, Annie Jack, Charles Kersey, Mary Thorp, Cora Grandy and Samuel William, Jr.
WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM SHORES, who died August 9, 1914, was an ex-Confederate soldier and for many years was successfuly identified with farming and general industrial enterprise in the country around Jonesville.
He was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, August 19, 1839, a son of Martin and Nancy (Cunningham) Shores and a grandson of Simon Shores, an old time planter in Wilkes County. Martin Shores succeeded to the ownership of a portion of his father's estate located about a mile and a half west of Jonesville in Yadkin County, and lived the life of an agriculturist. His wife survived him and died in Jonesville.
William Cunningham Shores early in life bought land near Jonesville, began its cultivation before his marriage, and lived on it until his death. When a young man of twenty-two in 1861, he en- listed in the Confederate army and was a soldier throughout the entire struggle. He participated in many battles, escaped wounds, but at one time was made a prisoner of war and held in a northern prison for some months before exchanged.
His operations as a farmer and business man were conducted on a large and successful scale. He acquired a large amount of land including his father's old homestead. At one time he was owner of five farms, one in Surry County, one in Wilkes County and three in Yadkin County. He also owned a grist mill two miles from Jonesville and land investments in Kansas.
He married Elmira Ann Woodruff. She was born in Surry County, North Carolina, and died February 16, 1911. Her parents were William B. and Martha Hughes (Johnson) Woodruff. Mr. and Mrs. Shores reared six children: Charles W., Ida H., Martha Cora, Lela F., William Arthur and Walter C.
The daughter Ida married Clarence R. Cocker- ham, a son of Daniel Jasper and Bettie Cockerham. Mrs. Cockerham now lives in Elkin and is the mother of four daughters and one son, named Edith, Elmer C., Estelle, Hazel B. and Mossie Shores.
ERNEST C. LOWERY is a citizen and business man of Kannapolis. It is hardly necessary to refer to the fact that Kannapolis is the largest and most
modern industrial city of North Carolina, a town that has grown to something like 7,000 inhabitants since it was established in 1906.
In the upbuilding and development of the city since 1912 Mr. Lowery has taken an earnest and forceful part. His chief business interest is as a contractor and builder. To a new town such a business is of foremost vital importance. Mr. Lowery is a man of wide experience, has developed a large and thoroughly trained organization, and has the facilities for adequate performance of every class of building contract. He enjoys the reputation of thorough reliability and the work he has done in Kannapolis attests the value of his personal service and the substantial assets of the community at large.
Mr. Lowery was born in Yadkin County, North Carolina, in 1881, a son of A. and Sallie (Gregory) Lowery. His grandfather, Elijah Lowery, was of Scotch ancestry and came to North Carolina from Virginia, settling in Davie County. A. Lowery some years after the war removed to Yadkin County, but finally returned to Davie County, where he is still living.
It was in the latter county that Ernest C. Low- ery spent his youth. As a boy he had few ad- vantages of schooling, and it is evident that he possessed natural business talents and natural capacity in a high degree, otherwise his achieve- ments could not have been what they are. As a youth he learned the carpenter's trade and fol- lowed the trade together with contracting in differ- ent places. For several years his headquarters were at Winston-Salem, where a big volume of building business passed through his hands. Then in 1912 he located at Kannapolis, Cabarrus County, and since this became his permanent home he has been constantly engaged in erecting mills and additions to mills, business houses and many resi- dences in and around the city. He has a staff of experienced workmen and is equipped to do all kinds of building in both wood and brick.
About a year ago Mr. Lowery organized the Kan- napolis Lumber Company, of which he is presi- dent and principal owner. This company operates a lumber plant at Kannapolis and four sawmills . elsewhere, manufacturing vast quantities of build- ing material. The company is also headquarters at Kannapolis for all classes of building material, including lime, cement, plaster, brick, lumber, etc.
Mr. Lowery married Miss Rosie Morgan, and they have a fine family of six children.
HON. CLYDE R. HOEY. Some of the honors and distinctions usually accorded to mature age came to Clyde R. Hoey very early in his career. Mr. Hoey is still a young man, now forty, and has made a rather remarkable record as a lawyer, po- litical leader, campaign orator and newspaper man. His residence is at Shelby, the county seat of Cleveland County.
He was born at Shelby December 11, 1877, a son of Captain S. A. and Mary ( Roark) Hoey. The mother is still living. His father at the be- ginning of the Civil war organized a company in Cleveland County, and commanded it as captain throughout the long struggle between the states.
An explanation of the rapid rise of Clyde R. Hoey is to be found in the fact that he began his career when most boys are still attending grammar schools. He left the public schools at the age of twelve to go to work in a printing office at Shelby. He learned type setting at the case in
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the office of the Shelby Review. When only seven- teen he bought the Review, changing the name to the Star, and was its editor and proprietor for a period of twelve years, making it a very influ- ential paper and an important medium both for news and advertising.
During his newspaper career he studid law in the University of North Carolina, and in 1899 was licensed to practice, though he had been qual- ified some time before and was obliged to wait until he reached the age of twnty-one to take his active membership in the bar.
Legally he was still a minor when he was elected a member of the Legislature, and was the young- est man to take his seat in that body during the following two sessions. Before he was twenty-five years of age Mr. Hoey was clected and served as a member of the State Senate, and those who fol- lowed his work in both branches of the Legis- alture say that there was no immaturity of his ability in comparison with his older associates.
Even as a boy Mr. Hoey showed decided incli- nation for and talents as a debater. He has since become one of the most widely known orators in the state. He is magnetic, has a splendid address, a winning personality, and has the true oratorical style. He is a brilliant speaker, and as such is called upon to take an active part in all the demo- cratic campaigns, and is also widely known as a speaker on general occasions. He has been called upon to deliver addresses upon timely topics, edu- cational meetings, civic gatherings and various "booster"' affairs in his home city.
For six years Mr. Hoey was chairman of the County Democratic Executive Committee, was made a member of the State Democratic Executive Com- mittee in 1902, and since 1910 has been a mem- ber of the advisory board of the state committee. He is engaged in a general practice of law and is also assistant United States district attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, an office to which he was appointed in July, 1913, by Presi- dent Wilson.
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Mr. Hoey is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World, and he and his family worship in the Methodist faith. He married Miss Bessie Gardner, daughter of the late Dr. O. P. Gardner, of Shelby. Their children are Clyde, Jr., Charles and Isabel Hoey.
HON. ROBERT H. RICKS. The limits assigned to this sketch of the life of one of Nash County 's most distinguished citizens, Hon. Robert H. Ricks, soldier, legislator, financier and agriculturist, are wholly inadequate to give even a cursory notice of the work which he has planned and executed, or of the military episode of a life which would alone entitle him to be enrolled among the bravest of the men who went forth to wear the gray during the war between the states. It must suffice to make allusion to those incidents of a long life and an active and diversified career which will afford the best clue to the character of the man and to his many achievements.
Robert H. Ricks was born in Nash County, North Carolina, within three miles of his present place of residence, April 4, 1839. He received his education in the public schools, and at the very outset of the war between the forces of the South and the North enlisted in the First North Caro- lina ("Bethel"') Regiment, an organization which never retreated from a charge in front. Twenty- one charges were sustained at Spottsylvania Court-
house, and at Cold Harbor the wheels of the gun Mr. Ricks was operating were actually shot down with minie balls so completely that new wheels had to be put on before the gun could be moved, the only instance of the kind on record, and Mr. Ricks was himself struck five times in this fight. He was one of the immortal six who offered to charge the house at Bethel, in which charge the life of Henry Wyatt, one of the number, was of- fered up as the first red sacrifice on the altar of the Southern Confederacy. Besides Mr. Ricks two of these heroes still live, these being John H. Thorpe, of Rocky Mount, and R. H. Bradley, marshal of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. During the last fighting around Appomattox, having charged further ahead than had been anticipated, Mr. Ricks' command in some way become cut off from the main body of Southern troops. Here they delivered their last artillery fire of the war, having an opportunity to fire point-blank in the face of Sheridan's charging cavalry, and did terrible exe- cution. Henry Biggs, uncle of the present Judge J. Crawford Biggs, was killed in this fight. When the last hope was gone and it became known to them that their beloved "Marse Robert" had at last become enveloped in the great mass of at- tacking hosts and had yielded to the inevitable, Mr. Ricks with two other kindred spirits "took to the mountains," determined that, as they had followed the Stars and Bars for four years without yielding, at that late day their arms should not be stricken at Federal command. For fourteen days Mr. Ricks, on foot and after a time having become separated from his companions, traversed the woods and mountains, keeping under cover and living as best he could. He crossed the Dan River at Leadsville and finally arrived home in Nash- ville, footsore and weary, but still unconquered and under no oath or parole. Thus was demon- strated the same indomitable spirit and courage that have meant so much since the war in this man's effort to build up his wasted and impover- ished South. At the time of his arrival Mr. Ricks secured employment with a bachelor named Joel Wells, with whom he had lived before the war, and began again at the salary of $10 per month and his "keep." In spite of the fact that money was scarce and all the necessities of life were high, he managed to save a large part of his earnings, and assisted by a raise in his wages accummulated $300, which he invested in stock of the old Wil- nington & Weldon Railroad, now a part of the Atlantic Coast Line system. This proved a fortune venture, showing even that early the sound busi- ness judgment of the young investor, and on a later sale netted him $600 profit. Mr. Wells died soon thereafter, leaving Mr. Ricks additional stock in the same railroad, which he sold for $1,600. In 1871 Mr. Ricks came to Rocky Mount and built a house on Church Street, hauling the timber in himself at night from the country, and after sell- ing this house at a profit of $300 continued to build houses and sell them. From that period his rise has been substantially rapid, and today he is the wealthiest citizen of his locality. It has
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