USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 76
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Collegiate Institute is fortunate in its location. Mount Pleasant is a small town, not far from Concord, and besides the natural beauty and scen- ery of the topography the town is an ideal place for a school. It has -been a school and college town for more than half a century and the peo- ple and community represent that culture and intelligence which serve to emphasize and fortify the lessons of morality and faithfulness to duty taught within the school grounds. The campus comprises sixteen acres and the buildings of the institute are four in number, two frame and two brick. These buildings are substantial and com- fortable. The main building was in 1917 rebuilt within and equipped with all the modern conven- iences-steam heat, electric lights and water works. But the growth and prestige of the insti- tute has justified a campaign recently undertaken to secure a more adequate endowment and a fund sufficient to carry out the plans for enlargement which will provide for the future.
GEORGE F. MCALLISTER, A. B., M. A., principal of the Collegiate Institute at Mount Pleasant in Cabarrus County, has devoted himself to a great and worthy cause, the education of young inen; and altogether in the atmosphere and environment of an institution which stands pre-eminent in its class, and of which he is himself a graduate and with which from the day of graduation he has been connected in some official capacity. On other pages will be found an appropriate historical and descrip- tive sketch of the Collegiate Institute.
Mr. McAllister was born at Mount Pleasant in 1874 and has always lived in that picturesque and beautiful locality of North Carolina. He is a son of H. C. and Fannie (Cook) McAllister. The Mc- Allisters were Scotch-Irish people who originally settled in Pennsylvania, and came from that state to North Carolina prior to the Revolutionary war. Their names are found on the rolls of Revolu- tionary patriots who served with the Carolina and Pennsylvania troops in that struggle. H. C. Mc- Allister was born in Gaston County, removed from that county to Mount Pleasant about 1870 and followed the business of contractor and bnikler until his death.
Mrs. Fannie (Cook) McAllister, who died Jan- uary 2, 1918, was of German stock and a member of the well known Cook family prominently rep- resented by her brother, Hon. J. P. Cook of Con- cord, elsewhere mentioned in this publication.
George F. McAllister carly resolved to acquire a liberal education and fit himself for the work which his natural talents plainly indicated. He was graduated from old North Carolina College, now the Collegiate Institute, at Mount Pleasant in June, 1897. He received the degree A. B. and on commencement day was elected principal of the preparatory department. He has been with
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the Institute ever since as co-principal and prin- cipal, and has been princial since 1903. In the meantime he has improved opportunities for wider traming elsewhere, having studied in the Univer- sity of North Carolina, summer session, 1904. He holds the degree Master of Arts from Newberry College in South Carolina.
Mr. McAllister is a college man of the most modern type. He is a scholar, but is not a man of books and theories only. The wholesome and well balanced life is his ideal, and it has been his aim to apply that ideal to the school of which he is the head. He is ambitious, enthusiastic, and has performed a great work for boys. The splendid record of the Collegiate Institute is in no small part the record of his individual achieve- ments as an educator. The fact that a larger percentage of the institute's students enter col- lege than is true of any other secondary school in North Carolina and that his students are eager- ly sought by all the colleges and universities of the South speaks better than anything else of his educational leadership. His reputation as a scholar and educator is indicated in the fact that within recent years he has been offered a profes- sorship in three different colleges in the South and was in 1918 tendered the presidency of a lead- ing college in the Carolinas. Mr. McAllister mar- ried Miss J. Ethelyn Crabtree. Her father is Superintendent Crabtree of the Lutheran Orphan Home at Salem, Virginia. They are the parents of three children : Virginia Shirey, Franklin Grady, and Elizabeth Kate.
HOLDEN CALDWELL MCKEEL is a resident of Newbern whose activities and influence have been steadily growing for a number of years in the North Carolina lumber field. Of the big lumber- men of the state none excells him in all around practical ability and experience. It is said that even today he would have no difficulty in keeping up the pace if he were out in the woods with the cruisers and loggers, and without stopping to think he could step into a general office and at once become an executive director of an entire system of business.
Mr. McKeel was born at Marlboro in Pitt County, North Carolina, July 12, 1875, a son of George Washington and Sophie D. (Morris) Me- Keel. His people were farmers, and were in only moderate circumstances, so that the son after getting his education in the public schools had to shift for himself. He soon went to work as a lumberman, and for nine years he was employed as a logging contractor by the Blades Lumber Company of Newbern.
In 1905 Mr. McKeel engaged in business for himself, establishing a small mill at Northeast along the Atlantic Coast Line. The mill had a capacity of 10,000 feet a day, he owning a half interest. That was the beginning of the Hammer Lumber Company, with general offices in Newbern. In 1905 Mr. McKeel took an active part in the organization of the Clarks Lumber Company, which took over the mill at Northeast. He is now president of this company. The Hammer Lumber Comrany, with which Mr. McKeel has been con- nected since 1906, has owned extensive tracts of standing timber in and around Little River, South Carolina. Mr. McKeel is general manager of this large and well known lumber corporation. In 1912 he organized the McKeel Lumber Company, of which he is president. In 1912 he also organ- ized the Willis Grocery Company at Newbern and
is president of that company. He is connected with the Hyman Supply Company and is secretary and treasurer of the Newbern Flue Cleaner Com- pany. He is general manager of the various lumber companies, and is a practical man whose work has been largely responsible for their growth and prosperity. The various lumber mills have a daily capacity of 100,000 feet of North Carolina pine lumber. Much of this lumber is marketed through Philadelphia, and it is shipped up and down the coast as far north as Canada. Besides the manufacture of lumber in the usual forms, the companies operate box factories and planing mills and the various enterprises represent the invest- ment of an immense sum of money in standing timber and land and in machinery and equipment.
Mr. McKeel has long been one of Newbern's most public spirited and best liked citizens. He is active in the Chamber of Commerce, is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Mystic Shrine and also belongs to the Wood- men of the World.
On October 28, 1898, he married Maud Eleanor Moore, of Craven County, North Carolina. Their family consists of six children, Sophie D., George Washington, Eleanor, William Caldwell, Janie Ethel and Maud Moore.
HON. FRANCIS I. OSBORNE. During the more than forty years in which Judge Francis I. Os- borne has been a member of the bar of Charlotte, he has emphasized in his life not only his great natural talents, the thoroughness of his train- ing and the profundity of his knowledge, but also those characteristics which must be possessed by a lawyer if he hopes to succeed, and a judge if he conscientiously desires to wield the immense power and responsibility placed in his hands. A man of courteous dignity, as well as of invincible determination, he has ever been fearless in his handling of the problems presented to him, and his solutions have been clear and concise, whether as judge or lawyer.
Judge Osborne was born at Charlotte, Meck- lenburg County, North Carolina, May 29, 1852, and is a son of Judge James Walker and Mary Ann (Irwin) Osborne, both of whom are de- ceased, and a grandson of Edwin J. Osborne. Judge James Walker Osborne, who died in 1869, was one of the distinguished North Carolinians of his day, generation and locality. The following eulogy of his life and services was written by Gen. D. H. Hill, the great Confederate leader: "The nations of the earth, the most distin- guished in history for prowess in the field, wis- dom of legislation, progress in science and art, purity of taste in polite literature, and refinement in the social circle, are precisely those which have most cherished the memory of their heroes, statesmen, scholars and patriots. It has been well said that the land which erects no monuments to its illustrious dead will soon cease to produce men worthy of a place in history. To neglect de- parted greatness is to degrade living eminence. The Bible, with its wonderful adaptation to the wants of our race, sanctions cherishing tender recollections of the saints of the Lord. 'The right- eous shall be in everlasting remembrance.' 'The memory of the just is blessed.' Here we have a prophecy and a command, both involving a high obligation and a glorious privilege to keep fresh and green in the minds of men the memory of those who died in the full hone of a blessed immortality. And thus the friends of the late
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Hon. J. W. Osborne feel that in attempting a tribute to his exalted worth they are discharg- ing a sad but gracious duty. It is meet that we should revere the memory of a man of mighty intellect, of profound scholarship, and of match- less eloquence, who brought all his rare and va- ried gifts and accomplishments and laid them as an humble offering at the foot of the cross. There remains nothing now of his manly person and noble mien, of his vast learning and attain- ments, but
" 'The knell, the shroud, the coffin and the grave, The deep damp vault; the darkness and the worm.'
"His simple faith in Christ was worth a thou- sandfold more than all his talents and acquire- ments, and the lesson of his life comes home to every bosom, 'With all your gettings, get under- standing.' We can now think with grateful sat- isfaction that those great powers of mind, which were our pride and astonishment on earth, are ever expanding in knowledge, ever getting new revelations of Divine love and ever attaining new degrees of holiness. The saddest sight on our afflicted earth is that of a man of great gifts, culture and refinement, living out of Christ and deliberately choosing to spend his eternity with the coarse, the brutal and the depraved. With heartfelt gratitude we adore that distinguished love which made our illustrious countryman choose that good part which shall not be taken away.
"Judge Osborne was born at Salisbury, North Carolina, December 25, 1811, and died at Char- lotte on August 11, 1869, so that he hardly passed the meridian of life, and until a short time be- fore his death, 'His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.' He was a graduate of our State University at Chapel Hill, and studied law under Governor William A. Graham at Hills- boro. He was always an earnest student, de- voted especially to the sciences. The extent and variety of his reading was truly remarkable. There was scarcely a subject that he had not looked into, if indeed he had not mastered it. Few clergymen outside of our theological semi- naries were so well read in theology. He said on one occasion that there was a charm about the- ology that no other reading possessed for him, and he devoured huge volumes of theologic lore with the most eager relish. Fluency of speech was a natural gift with Judge Osborne, and this, combined with his vast acquaintance with books, made his language the very choicest Anglo-Saxon. His warm-hearted, genial, pleasant manner, and bright, kindly face added a charm to the whole, which was absolute. He had no equal as a con- versationalist, and his intimate friends can never forget the grace and fascination of his address. And so his ready command of the best words, his learning, his enthusiasm, his sonorous voice and graceful delivery, made him one of the very first orators in the land. The magic spell thrown around Judge Osborne in the social circle and on the hustings was his imperturable good tem- per, and that proceeded from his large-hearted humanity, his sincere and unaffected love for his race. He had a kind word and a pleasant smile for everybody, simply because he loved mankind. He needed not a veil of charity to cover their crimes and frailties; in his own simple guileless- ness he did not know their faults. Those who had known him for thirty and forty years say that they never saw him angry. He had not an enemy among the people with whom he lived since early manhood. The most remarkable thing in the ca- reer of this great man was the hold he had upon
the hearts of men of every creed and party, al- though in his official capacity he had often been opposed to the interests and wishes of the many. "Judge Osborne was admitted to the bar at Charlotte in the year 1833. He took a high stand in his profession at the very outset and main- tained it while he lived. This was not due mere- ly to his genius, his learning, and his eloquence, but in a large degree to his unselfish and sympa- thetic nature, which made him adopt his client's cause as his own and identify himself thorough- ly with the interest, the views and feelings of the client. He was twice elector for the state at large, first in the Clay campaign and then in the con- test between Seymour and Grant. He was ap- pointed by President Fillmore superintendent of the United States Mint at Charlotte, which office he held for four years. He was chosen by Gov- ernor Ellis to fill a vacant judgeship in 1859, and the General Assembly confirmed the selec- tion November 26, 1860. But it is as the Christian gentleman we love to think of our illustrious statesman. He was sincerely and unaffectedly devout; a lover of God and man. We who were in the belt of the late total eclipse of the sun, ob- served a black spot projected on the lower limb of the sun. Gradually, the shadow crept higher and higher. The cattle came lowing home. The bewildered fowls of the air sought their roosts. The black spot crept higher and higher, until darkness covered the sky, with here and there a star sending forth a ghastly and unnatural light. Then the sun, like a mighty giant, threw off the black mantle and came forth in all his strength, beauty and majesty, rejoicing our hearts with some glorious beams that had been hid for a time. And thus, as our friend was a star of the first magnitude, we contemplate his death as a temporary eclipse, and believe that when the shadows of earth have passed away the brilliant intellect that dazzled us below will shine out with renewed effulgence above."
Judge James W. Osborne married Mary Ann Irwin, an exceptional woman of the finest intel- ligence, worthy in every way to be the wife of such an illustrious man. Her death occurred in 1906. She was a daughter of John Irwin, who was born in 1790, a Scotchman from the North of Ireland, who was one of the early settlers of Tredell County, North Carolina, to which locality he went when he was twelve years old, with an older brother. About the time he reached his majority he came to Charlotte and entered busi- ness in a small way, with a capital of $500, this starting him upon a splendid business career, his acumen and insight in business affairs being very exceptional. For a number of years he was presi- dent of the State Bank of Charlotte, and at the time of his death left an estate valued at least at $750.000, which at that time was considered a great fortune. Among the children of Judge and Mrs. Osborne is James Osborne, one of the fore- most members of the bar of New York City, where he has been engaged in a great many cases of major importance.
Francis I. Osborne attended school at Char- lotte, and was prepared for college under the tute- lage of his cousin. Fred Moore, of this city. He then attended the preparatory department of Da- vidson College, later taking the full academic course, and was graduated from that institution in 1872. He then took a year's academic course in mathematics and languages at the University of Virginia. and secured his legal training under Judge Richmond Pearson, ex-justice of the Su-
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preme Court, at Richmond Hill, Yadkin County, who conducted a small but famous law school. After two years spent under Judge. Pearson he began the practice of his profession at Char- lotte, and has since attained to a high degree of distinction, being known throughout the South as a lawyer of the greatest ability. In Charlotte he is the general attorney for the Southern Power Company, the Southern Public Utilities Company and affiliated companies, which own and operate the street railway system of Charlotte, the Pied- mont & Northern Railway, the electric power plants which supply electric lights to the city and electric power to the industries of Charlotte and in the Charlotte manufacturing district, etc., one of the largest public service corporations in the South.
Judge Osborne has long been prominent in the public life of Charlotte. He was only twenty- five years of age when elected mayor of the city, and even at that age displayed the possession of marked executive ability. Four years later he was elected solicitor of the Charlotte District, then the Sixth Judicial District. In 1892 he was elected attorney general of North Carolina and served four years in that capacity, after which he re- ceived the unanimous endorsement of his party for re-election, but was defeated by the combi- nation of republicans and populists of that year, 1896. In 1898 he was elected to the North Car- olina State Senate, serving in the session beginning in January, 1899. Judge Osborne did not hold office after this until he was appointed by Presi- dent Roosevelt as one of the judges of the United States Court of Land Claims, in which position he served for nearly three years. The duties of this position took him to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Denver, Colorado, at which places the court sat in hearing and adjusting claims to land in that section of the United States which had be- longed to Mexico prior to the Mexican war, the titles to which were often greatly involved and had to be traced back to early Mexican and Span- ish ownership. Judge Osborne, in addition to be- ing ,a thorough, finished lawyer, at home in all branches of his calling, has inherited much of his father's conversational ability and oratorical power, and is frequently heard on the rostrum dur- ing political campaigns. He has also often lent his voice in behalf of measures for the welfare of his community, and is constantly showing him- self to be more than a skilled and eloquent law- yer, more than a successful figure in political cir- cles, a loyal and public-spirited citizen.
Judge Osborne married Miss Mary Dewey, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, daughter of the well- known Thomas W. Dewey of that place. They have four children : Capt. Thomas D., a graduate of West Point, recently promoted to captain and now in service on the Mexican border; James W., of New York, a young attorney, one of the assist- ant United States district attorneys of that city; Mary Irwin, who is the wife of Captain Catron; and Miss Frances Rick, who resides with her par- ents.
CHARLES RANDOLPH THOMAS was born Beaufort, North Carolina, February 7, 1827; was educated at the Caldwell Institute, Hillsboro, North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1849; studied law at the celebrated Law School of Chief Justice Pearson, and was a lawyer of ability and prominence, dis- tinguished for his integrity as well as for his eloquence and intellectual vigor.
He married Miss Emily Pitkin, of New Eng- land ancestry, and a graduate of Burlington Sem- inary, Vermont, related to many of her name who attained eminence in New England and the west- ern states.
In politics he was a whig, and in 1861 was elected a member of the Convention of North Carolina and with other Union men opposed se- cession, but in the convention with Governor Gra- ham, the whig leader, finally voted for and signed the secession ordinance.
In 1864, Zebulon B. Vance then being gov- ernor, he was elected secretary of state of North Carolina, residing at Raleigh, the state capital, until the close of the Civil war, when he removed to Newbern, becoming in 1866 president of the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad, a state rail- road, and resuming his law practice.
In 1868 he was elected judge of the Superior Court, resigning this office in 1871 upon his elec- tion to the Forty-second Congress; he was re- elected to the Forty-third Congress, serving until March 4, 1875.
With former leading whigs like Settle, Dick, Bynum and others, during this period Judge Thomas was a republican in politics, but in 1876, in the Vance and Tilden campaign, he again aligned himself with Zeb Vance and continued a democrat until his death in 1891 at Newbern, North Carolina. For many years he was a trus- tee of the State University.
Of his five sons one became a lawyer and suc- ceeded in later years his father in Congress; one, a physician, and three, ministers of the Presby- terian Church.
At college and the bar and in Congress Judge Thomas won an eminent place by reason of his native ability and power as an orator and de- bater.
Dr. Kemp P. Battle, former president of the State University, and a classmate, in his "Sketches of the Convention of 1861" and his "History of the University of North Carolina, " accords him the highest honors in this respect. He says, "Thomas had uncommon gifts as an orator, was Judge and Representative in Con- gress, member of the Convention of 1861, and Secretary of State His son of the same name in Congress inherits his gifts."
As a judge and in the practice of law he was "without fear and withont reproach; "' a man of pure life and unimpeached integrity.
CHARLES RANDOLPH THOMAS, JR., of Newbern, North Carolina, son of Judge Charles Randolph Thomas, was born at Beaufort, North Carolina, August 21, 1861; was educated at the Newbern Academy and the private school of Prof. Charles B. Young, known as Emerson Institute, in Washington, D. C., where he resided for some years during his father's service in Congress; in 1881 he graduated from the University of North Carolina with the degree of A. B., his class including Charles D. McIver, Judges Al- bertson and Adams, and many who became emi- ment, and his college associates including Gov- ernor Charles B. Aycock, Governor Locke Craig, Edwin A. Alderman, president of the University of Virginia, the Winstons. Battles, Mannings and other well-known North Carolinians.
Endowed with the gift of natural eloquence, he was singularly happy as a public speaker, and at the State University received by election of the student body every oratorical honor, being so- ciety representative, Washington and class orator.
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Dr. Kemp P. Battle in his "History of the University of North Carolina" says of him: "When his father, of the same name, graduated in 1849, he left the University with the reputa- tion of being the most eloquent orator in the in- stitution. His son has shown that he inherits his gifts.''
"The Biographical , Congressional Directory"' and "Who's Who in America" give the following sketch of his career. After graduation he studied law first with his father and then at the cele- brated Law School of Judges Dick and Dillard at Greensboro, North Carolina, and was admit- ted to the bar in October, 1882; was elected member of the House of Representatives of the North Carolina Legislature in 1887 as a demo- crat; served six years as attorney for the County of Craven, from 1890 to 1896; was elected by the State Legislature a trustee of the University of North Carolina in 1893; in 1896 was nomi- nated and elected from the Third Congressional District of North Carolina as presidential Elec- tor; in 1898 he was nominated and elected from the same district as a representative to the Fifty- sixth Congress; was re-elected to each succeeding one including the Sixty-first Congress; retired voluntarily on March 4, 1911, after a continuous service of twelve years, resuming the practice of the law at Newbern, North Carolina.
As lawyer, legislator and congressman, and in private and public life, his career has been marked by ability, industry and brilliant service rendered his county, district and state.
His speeches before the press of North Carolina and before the Alumni of the State University, and the nomination in Congress of John Sharp Williams as minority leader attest his oratorical powers.
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