USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 57
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At the age of twenty-seven Mr. Wharton sold his dairy business and moved to Greensboro to give his energies a larger and broader field of activity. Here he entered the lumber business under the firm name of Wharton, Hunt & Com- pany, and bought a large tract of standing timber in Moore County, shipping the logs to mill at Greensboro. In 1887 Mr. Wharton organized the Guilford Lumber and Manufacturing Company, of which he was chosen vice president. This corpo- ration has continued a successful business now for thirty years. In 1888 Mr. Wharton engaged in the real estate and insurance business, with his father as a silent partner, under the firm name of E. P. Wharton & Company. In 1890 the business was reorganized as the Wharton Real Estate & In- vestment Company, of which Mr. Wharton was first secretary and treasurer and later president. This company later merged into the Southern Life & Trust Company.
With Mr. A. W. McAllister Mr. Wharton organ- ized the three first fire insurance companies in Greensboro, all operated under one management, with Wharton and McAllister as general agents. Later he organized the American Exchange Bank, now the American Exchange National Bank. He served several years as president and is now a director. Later he organized and was elected presi- dent of the Standard Table Company. Is presi- dent of the Consolidated Warehouse Company, president of the Home Building and Loan Associa- tion, and president of the Lang Cigar Company. Mr. Wharton was one of the men who organized the Carolina Steel Bridge & Construction Company of Burlington, was its first president and since the business has been consolidated with the Vir- ginia Bridge & Iron Company he remains as one of the largest stockholders and is a director in the corporation, which does business in seventeen states. Mr. Wharton is president of the Greens- boro National Bank, is chairman of the board of trustees of the Greensboro Public Library, is mem- ber and ex-president of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Merchants and Manufac- turers Club, the Rotary Club, and a director in the Young Men's Christian Association.
This brief outline- suffices to indicate the wide range of his interests and the effective part he has played in the business life of his native state. In 1889 Mr. Wharton married Ida M. Murray, daughter of William R. and Mary (Weatherby) Murray. Mr. Wharton died in August, 1915, leav- ing two daughters, Margaret and Annie L. There
El. Wharton
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are now two grandchildren. Margaret is the wife of M. F. Douglas and has a son, Edward Wharton. Annie married Walter F. Cole and has a son named Walter F., Jr.
JAMES JACOB WOLFE, professor of biology of Trinity College at Durham, is one of the dis- tinguished scholars of the state and his work has served to make North Carolina institutions still better known over the country at large.
Mr. Wolfe is a native of South Carolina, born at Sandy Run September 14, 1875, son of John Archibald and Frederica Anne (Geiger) Wolfe. Through his mother he is of German descent while his father was of English family.
Mr. Wolfe graduated A. B. from Wofford Col- lege at Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1896. The next four years were spent in teaching as principal of schools of Fork, South Carolina, and at Marion from 1898 to 1900. From 1900 to 1902 Mr. Wolfe was a student of the University of Chicago, and did the work leading up to his Doc- tor's degree there, and was at Harvard University from 1902 to 1904. He was awarded the Ph. D. degree in 1904. Since that date he has held the chair of biology at Trinity College.
Mr. Wolfe is member and was president in 1914-15 of the North Carolina Academy of Science, is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Micro- scopical Society and the Botanical Society of America. For a number of years he has been in- terested in investigation of biological phenomena, and the lines along which his name is spoken with most respect by scholars is in the field of diatoms, algæ cytology and heredity. He is author of sev- eral contributions to this field of research. During the summers of 1903 to 1906 Mr. Wolfe was an instructor in the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and since 1910 has been an investigator at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Beaufort, North Carolina. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Watts Hospital at Durham, is a democrat, belongs to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon college fraternity and is a member of the Methodist Church.
June 18, 1904, at Montclair, New Jersey, he married Miss Cornelia Wilhelmina Lehrmann, daughter of Henry and Anna Lehrmann, of Ger- man ancestry.
CHARLES FISHER was born in Rowan County, October 20, 1789. He was the youngest son of his father, Frederick Fisher, who came to North Caro- lina from Shenandoah County, Virginia, before the Revolution, and served with credit as a militia officer in that war. We find a Resolution of the Legislature in his favor in 1787.
In his early life Mr. Fisher studied law, and obtained a license to practice, but being absorbed in other pursuits, never practiced the profession. "Had he done so," a writer who knew him well, (John H. Wheeler) remarked, "he would from his natural quickness of perception, his ready tact, his strong and comprehensive reason and laborious research, have attained the highest eminence. For- tune, however, had marked out for him another career, in which his elementary knowledge of the law was an important aid; and in this he shone conspicious. "
He first entered public life in 1818 as a senator in the State Legislature from Rowan. In 1819 he was elected a member of the Federal House of
Representatives to fill the unexpired term of Hon. George Mumford, who had died December 31, 1818. In 1820 he was again elected to Congress for a full term by a large majority over Hon. John Long. After serving through the remainder of the fifteenth Congress, for which he had been elect- ed, and during the whole of the sixteenth, he de- clined further election. But the people would not allow him to remain abstracted from their service. In 1821 he was elected a member of the House of Commons (State Legislature) from Rowan County. From this time to 1836 he served almost con- tinuously in the Assembly, either from the county of Rowan or the borough of Salisbury, a long and unusual period of public service. In 1831-32 he was chosen speaker of the House, and presided with great dignity and ability over the delibera- tions of a body composed at that time of the foremost men of the state.
In 1835 he, with the Hon. John Giles, was a delegate from Rowan in the convention called to amend the Constitution of the State-the first con- vention held in the state after her independence was achieved. It was an important occasion. Vital issues had arisen, conflicting interests were to be reconciled, and great principles discussed. The people felt this, and sent their ablest men, such as Nathaniel Macon, William Gaston, John Branch, Daniel Swain, Richard Spaight, Weldon N. Ed- wards, and others to the convention. In this re- markable assembly Mr. Fisher's talents and ac- quirements shone conspicuously. The debates of the body show that he took a most active part in its proceedings, and his views on all questions, especially those relating to religious freedom and popular rights, were liberal and statesmanlike. He was one of the committee which drafted the constitution finally adopted; and was in all re- spects one of the most prominent and useful mem- bers of the convention.
In 1839 he was again brought forward as a candidate for Congress. This campaign was re- markable from the fact that his party was greatly in the minority in the district. Nevertheless, Mr. Fisher carried his party to victory, being elected by a ·considerable majority.
After serving through the twenty-fifth Congress (1839-1841), he retired to give his attention to his private affairs, which had suffered from his constant and unremitting labors in public life. But he was not allowed to remain in retirement. In 1845, while absent from the state, he was nomi- nated by a distret convention of the democratic party as a candidate for Congress. He refused at first to allow his name to be used, but finally con- sented much against his wishes and private in- terests. Having consented, he entered into the canvass with great energy, and so thoroughly did he conduct the campaign, so able and forceful were his arguments, that he finally lost the election by only twenty-seven votes in a district which when the contest began was supposed to contain an over- whelming majority against him. This was the only election in which he was ever defeated.
At various times he was balloted for in the Legislature for United States Senator, and on one occasion (1839) missed election by only a few votes. In 1846 he was the unanimous choice of his party as candidate for governor, but on account of his private affairs declined the nomination.
He married in 1814 Christina Beard, daughter of Lewis Beard, son of John Lewis Beard, one of the oldest settlers in Salisbury, who had married Susan Dunn, daughter of the well known lawyer
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John Dunn (an Englishman by birth), who before the Revolution was attorney for the Crown in Salisbury, and with whom Andrew Jackson studied law for a time. Mr. Fisher died in 1848. Three children survived their parents, two daughters and a son. The last, Colonel Charles F. Fisher, was killed at the first battle of Manassas in the war between the states.
Mr. Fisher had large business interests in the Southwest, which necessitated long periods of ab- sence from home. On his return from one of these trips he was taken ill at Hillsboro, Mississippi, where he died on May 7, 1849.
It is impossible to enumerate, even partially, the various public measures which Mr. Fisher originated and advanced during his long service in the Legislature of the state and in Congress. Always an unyielding advocate of state's rights against Federal encroachment, as a statesman and leader of men in his generation no man in North Carolina ever surpassed him.
As a man he was of the type which has passed away-the dignified and genial Southern gentle- man, whose fine courtesy of manner was the ex- pression of high intellectual culture, with great kindliness of heart. He was of stainless character in every relation of life, and with regard to his commanding ability and influence John H. Wheeler has said of him very accurately in his History, "An untiring energy of character, a clear and comprehensive intellect, a penetrating and persua- sive eloquence, knowledge deep and varied both of men and books, elevated him to high and re- sponsible positions in our republic, and his merits were always equal to his position."
CHARLES FREDERIC FISHER was born in Salis- bury, Rowan County, North Carolina, December 26, 1816, and was the only son of Hon. Charles Fisher. His early education was obtained in the classical schools of Salisbury. He matriculated at the Uni- versity of Yale in the autumn of 1835, but owing to ill health was unable to complete his collegiate course.
He did not adopt a profession, but devoted him- self to business connected with his father's' large landed estates, and for several years edited The Western Carolinian, a paper supporting the demo- cratie party and which was very influential in its day. In this work he exhibited marked ability, great clearness of thought and a vigorous, elo- quent style. Although deeply interested in politics, he held no political office until in 1854, when he was elected to the State Senate, and served in that body during the session of 1854-5, at which time much important legislation was passed notably, and largely through his efforts, the first charter of the Western North Carolina Railroad.
In 1855 he was elected president of the North Carolina Railroad, and he discharged the duties of that important position with great ability and energy, bestowing an extraordinary degree of time, labor and personal supervision on the work. Although attacked more than once by partisan influences, he held the position and the absolute confidence of the stockholders until his resignation in 1861 to enter the army. He had been ever since the presidential election of 1860 an enthu- siastic advocate of secession; and recognizing that the course of events would force North Carolina to take her place with the Southern States already seceded, he began as early as April, 1861, to re- cruit a regiment for service, and was the first man in the state to raise troops for the Confeder-
acy. In this connection it may be added that he was also the first officer to lay down his life for the cause. His regiment-the cost of the equipment of which he himself defrayed-was in fact not only the first raised, but the first of the state's original ten regiments that was already for the field, although called the sixth.
The material of which the regiment was com- posed was unusually fine, being largely made up of men whom Colonel Fisher knew personally, many of whom had served under him in various capaci- ties, and in whom he had a confidence which the regiment throughout the war proved to have been well founded. For it fought gallantly, and covered itself with glory on almost every battlefield of Virginia, from Manassas to Appomattox.
On leaving North Carolina early in July, 1861, the regiment was ordered to Winchester, Virginia, where it was assigned to the brigade commanded by General Bernard E. Bee. Soon after its arrival this brigade, with the rest of the army of the Shenandoah under General Joseph E. Johnston, was ordered to reinforce General Beauregard at Manassas, where the famous battle of July 21, had begun. It was at this juncture that Colonel Fisher was able to render a service which had the most important and far-reaching results, for as the troops were about to eutrain at Winchester, a serious delay in their transportation occurred, owing to an accident in which a train had been derailed and wrecked, thus blocking the line, Colonel Fisher, having a large force of railroad men in his regiment, volunteered to remove the obstruction, and by his energetic work, did so in a very short time. As a reward for this service the Sixth Regiment was allowed to embark on the next train that left for Manassas, and reached there in time to be ordered into action by General Beau- regard at the most critical period of the battle, when their help was sorely needed. In an address on the life and services of Colonel Fisher, delivered in Charlotte, North Carolina, October 12, 1901, Hon. John Henderson said of this incident:
"If the Sixth Regiment had reached the field an hour later, or if Kirby Smith's command had been delayed another hour, the battle of Manassas would in all human probability have been lost by the Confederates. For at this time the day was going against the Southern army. Ricketts' and Griffin's batteries, massed into one, were pouring an incessant fire upon the Confederate ranks, which had no artillery at hand to engage them. The posi- tion of the battery was on the extreme left of the Confederate lines, and to this part of the field the Sixth Regiment was sent as soon as it arrived, with orders to silence the guns which were working such havoc. The Regiment immediately upon coming into position opened what the Federal reports de- scribed as 'a deadly and murderous musketry and rifle fire,' followed by a charge in which the battery was not only silenced but captured. It was while leading this charge that Colonel Fisher was instantly killed. But," Mr. Henderson adds, "the guns which had been doing such deadly work were captured by the Sixth Regiment, and never re- captured by the enemy. The battery which had been so fatally destructive to the Confederates up to that time was silenced, and from that minute the Federal army went down to defeat. It never rallied in any strength. Up to the capture of this battery, McDowell had commanded a victorious and advancing army. The position of the Con- federate forces was perilous in the extreme, and Generals Beauregard and Johnston had almost
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given up in despair, when suddenly the Sixth Regi- ment appeared upon the field, went at once into action, and under the superb leadership of Colo- nel Fisher, by a movement as brilliant and rapid as it was sudden and terrific, in the course of a few minutes changed the course of the battle. The battery being silenced, broken Confederate columns rallied and confronted the enemy with irresistible power, and the victory was won for the Con- federates. Colonel Fisher died in the hour of his triumph. If he had lived he promised to be a great and skillful military leader. But although dead, his noble spirit and that of his men who fell with him, cry aloud to us for proper remem- brance. "
Quoting later from a letter of General Thomas L. Clingman, who was a spectator of the battle, in which the latter says, "The service of Colonel Fisher and his regiment on this occasion cannot be overestimated. Neither then nor at any time since have I doubted that this movement saved the day to the Confederacy; and if the gallant and noble Fisher by this charge lost his life, who did more during that long and arduous struggle?" Mr. Henderson remarks, "The tribute paid by General Clingman is as beautiful as it is true. It would be difficult to exaggerate in describing the nobility, purity and steadfast adherence to every high ideal of public and private duty which marked Colonel Fisher's character from his earliest boyhood to his death. While he lived, his character and repu- tation were pure and unsullied-he was a man lit- erally 'without fear and without reproach.'-
""" And when he died he left a lofty name, A light, a landmark on the cliffs of fame.' "'
Colonel Fisher married in 1845 Elizabeth Ruth Caldwell, daughter of Hon. David F. Caldwell and Fanny Alexander, daughter of William Lee Alex- ander and Elizabeth Henderson. She died in 1850. Colonel Fisher at his death left three children-a son and two daughters.
HON. LUTHER THOMPSON HARTSELL. In the county where he was born and reared, and where his ancestors have lived from Revolutionary times, Hon. Luther Thompson Hartsell has gained a dis- tinctive merit and reputation as a lawyer and has also acquitted himself with credit in numerous pub- lic responsibilities.
Mr. Hartsell has been in active practice at Con- cord in Cabarrus County for over twenty years. His birth occurred on his father's farm on Rocky River eight miles south of Concord in 1870. The date of the coming of the Hartsells to Cabarrus County was prior to the Revolutionary War. The Hartsells came to North Carolina from Pennsyl- vania. They were part of a large colony of Penn- sylvania Germans who established homes in the eastern part of Cabarrus County. The family tra- dition states that eight Hartsell brothers came out of Germany and settled in Pennsylvania and four of these brothers subsequently located in Cabarrus County. From one of these four is descended Luther T. Hartsell. Mr. Hartsell is a son of McDonald J. Hartsell and a grandson of Andrew Hartsell. MsDonald Hartsell, who died in 1910, spent all his life in the neighborhood of his farm on the Rocky River. He was a substantial citizen of splendid worth, of fine type of character, and during the war served in Company B of the Sev- enth North Carolina Infantry. This regiment was made up almost entirely of Cabarrus County inen. McDonald J. Hartsell married Sarah Boger, and
her people were also of German origin and early settlers in Cabarrus County.
Luther Thompson Hartsell came into his pro- fession with the wholesome vigor and early train- ing of a farm boy. He had lived with his father on the farm in Cabarrus County until completing a .college course. Besides the local schools he at- tended Trinity College, where at the end of four years he was graduated in 1894. Mr. Hartsell then entered the law department of the University of North Carolina, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1896. He almost immediately located at Concord, the county seat of his native county, and has prac- ticed there with so much success that he is re- garded as the foremost lawyer of his city and coun- ty and his reputation also extends widely over the state. .
Besides a large general practice Mr. Hartsell is attorney for the Brown Manufacturing Company, cotton manufacturers; the Young-Hartsell Mills Company, also cotton manufacturers; the Concord National Bank; the Southern Loan and Trust Com- pany ; and for two of the local building and loan associations. He has broad business experience and is a man of force and capacity in either pub- lie or private life. His influence has had much to do with the upbuilding of the modern industrial city of Concord.
Mr. Hartsell is a leader in democratic politics. In 1898 he was elected a member of the Legisla- ture, Lower House, representing his native county, and served through the session of 1899. In 1910 he was elected to the State Senate and served in that body in the session of 1911. He is not an active seeker for political honor, and participation in public affairs involves a material sacrifice to a lawyer of his standing and prominence.
Mr. Hartsell is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He and his family are Presbyterians. Mr. Hart- sell married Miss Janie Ervin, of Concord, and their two children are Luther Thompson, Jr., and Nancy Young.
GEORGE EDWIN BUTLER has not only been a prominent lawyer of Clinton for many years but has been distinguished in his service to the state, both as a legislator and in military affairs. He is a veteran of the Spanish-American war and for years was actively identified with the North Carolina National Guard.
Mr. Butler was born in Sampson County, North Carolina, June 5, 1868, a son of Wiley and Roe- melia (Farrell) Butler. His father was a farmer and merchant. Major Butler was largely educated during his early childhood through the wise and capable direction of his mother. He also at- tended the Salem High School and then entered the University of North Carolina, where he pur- sued his literary studies from 1887 to 1891. Dur- ing 1890 he taught school and then returned to the university to complete his law course. Major Butler was admitted to the bar in September, 1893, and at once located at Clinton, where he has been a forceful and successful attorney for over twenty- five years. The early years of his practice he was elected county superintendent of schools, but re- signed that post upon his election to the State Senate from the Fourteenth District, where he served in 1897-98.
A few days after the war with Spain broke out Mr. Butler enlisted, April 27, 1898, and served
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with the First North Carolina Regiment of In- fantry in Cuba. While the regiment was at Sa- vannah and Jacksouville he was summary court officer of the regiment, and in Cuba he was presi- dent of the General Court Martial at Camp Colum- bia. He was mustered out April 22, 1899. The commanding officer of the First Regiment, J. F. Armfield, recommended his service as follows: "Service honest and faithful. Major Butler has performed the duties laid upon him with credit to himself and his regiment." Ou February 19, 1897, he was commissioned assistant adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard with the rank of major, and on April 2, 1903, his regiment elected him lieutenant colonel, an ap- pointment that was confirmed by Goveruor Aycock.
In 1905 Major Butler was elected to represent Sampson County in the Lower House of the Leg- islature. In 1910 and again in 1916 he was re- publican candidate for Congress. For a number of years he served as couuty attorney and was also attorney for the Road Commission of Samp- son County. From 1897 to 1901 he was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, and has served as secretary and treasurer of the board of trustees of the Clinton graded schools.
In 1907, while in the Senate, Major Butler se- cured legislation in behalf of public schools which marked the greatest advance made by any one leg- islative act since the year 1868.
Mr. Butler is vice president of the Bank of Clinton, and has many interests both in his pro- fession and civic and business affairs. He is a vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, is a charter member of the Psi Chapter of the Sigma Nu fraternity of the University of North Caro- lina and is a lodge and chapter Mason.
He was married January 8, 1902, to Miss Eva Boykin Lee, daughter of Dr. A. M. Lee of Cliu- ton. They have four children: Algernon Lee, Ed- win Elliott, Musette Lee and Frances Mariau.
LUNSFORD RICHARDSON, head of the Vieks Chem- ical Company, and otherwise prominent as a cap- italist and philanthropist at Greensboro, represents one of the well known and old colonial families of North Carolina.
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