USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 77
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The record shows many speeches and debates in Congress in which he manifested his interest in the people of his district and state and of the South, and a knowledge of parliamentary rules resulting in the success of many measures for their benefit.
Among the monuments of his service were the bills, becoming laws, recognizing the history of North Carolina in the Revolution, for the erec- tion of the monuments at King's Mountain, Moore's Creek, and in memory of Gen. Nathaniel Greene at Guilford Court House, and his service in Congress was marked, as stated, by untiring energy and industry.
In 1887 he married Miss Laura Davis, and some years after her death was married to Mrs. Mary Ruffin Hill, daughter of Judge Thomas Ruffin of Hillsboro, and granddaughter of Chief Justice Ruffin. Of the first marriage Mr. Thomas has two sons, Charles Randolph Thomas, Third, and Francis Pasteur Thomas.
HENRY W. SPINKS, who died in 1891, was a prominent North Carolina educator, and his ca- reer, though brief, was one of constructive influ- ence at a period before the present school sys- tem was established, and a source of enduring in- spiration to many boys and girls who have since attained successful places in the world.
He was born at Old Brower's Mills in Ran- dolph County, North Carolina, in 1853, son of John Spinks. He was educated at Trinity Col- lege, graduating in 1875, and in the same year moved to Albemarle and founded Albemarle Academy. This school, which he conducted until 1889, had a part in the education of many young men who have since often confessed their debt
to the school itself and to inspiration for higher and better things derived from the character and example of Mr. Spinks. Many of the students of Albemarle Academy entered Trinity College and other higher institutions of learning. On leaving the academy in 1889 Professor Spinks went to Union County and became superintendent of the high school at Monroe, and while in the midst of his duties there death overtook him in 1891, at the age of thirty-eight.
Henry W. Spinks married Lucy Hearne, mem- ber of one of the oldest families of Stanly County. She was a cousin of Sidney H. Hearne of Albemarle, who with his father, Ebenezer Hearne, practically founded Albemarle. Ebenezer Hearne's mother gave the land for the townsite.
A son of the late Henry W. Spinks is John D. Spinks, who graduated civil engineer from the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Me- chanie Arts in 1905, practiced his profession at Albemarle, where he formerly held the office of city engineer, and is now located at Winston-Sa- lem. He is an associate member of the Ameri- can Society of Civil Engineers.
JOHN D. SPINKS. To the individual of aver- age accomplishment the varied and substantial achievements of John D. Spinks seem out of pro- portion to his comparatively brief tenure of life. Richly endowed with the qualities of resource and initiative, enthusiasm and concentration, and with his native city of Albemarle as the setting of his ambitions, his various responsibilities at the pres- ent time include the duties of the office of city engineer, a large professional business in civil en- gineering, and the secretaryship of the Piedmont Commercial Club.
Mr. Spinks was born at Albemarle, Stanly Coun- ty, North Carolina, in 1883, a son of Henry W. and Lucy (Hearne) Spinks. His father, the late Henry. W. Spinks, who died at Monroe, Union County, North Carolina, in 1891, was a noted educator, a man of the highest character, and one who did a great and splendid work in the instruction of young men. He was born at old Brower's Mill in Randolph County, North Caro- lina, in 1853, a son of John Spinks, and was edu- cated in old Trinity College, Guilford County, from which institution he was graduated in 1875. In that same year he came to Albemarle and founded Albemarle Academy, a private school, which he conducted until 1889. During that time he furthered the education of many fine young men who have since made their mark in the world and left their impress upon the valuable things of life. Professor Spinks particularly inspired them with a desire for higher education, and a large percentage of his students, after leaving him, en- tered Trinity College and through the excellence of their scholarship demonstrated the high quality of his training. He not only gave his students a thorough groundwork in education, but his lofty character was such that his pupils could not help receiving inspiration to build their own charac- ters up to a high plane. He was one of those who were educationally of great beneficence to the youth of North Carolina at a period before the present school system became established. In 1889 he went to Union County, where he became superintendent of the high school, and which position he was holding at the time of his death in 1891, at the age of only thirty-eight years, his fine and useful carcer be- ing cut short when he was just approaching the zenith of his power with apparently many more
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years of useful effort before liim. Professor Spinks married Lucy Hearne, a member of one of the oldest families of Stanly County, and a cousin of Sidney H. Hearne, of Albemarle, who with his father, Ebenezer Hearne, practically founded Albemarle, the latter's mother having given the land for the townsite. Like her hus- band, Mrs. Spinks possessed a high and inspirit- ing character, and her memory is fondly cherished by those who knew her.
John D. Spinks was educated in the North Car- olina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, from which he was graduated as a civil engineer, with that degree, in 1905. He immediately en- tered upon the practice of his profession, at Al- bemarle, and has continued to be engaged therein ever since, having attracted to himself a large and constantly growing business. In 1914 he was placed in charge of the city department, in the capacity of city. engineer, one of great responsi- bility, owing to the remarkable expansion and industrial growth of the city. Particularly in the way of street paving and the building of sewers a great deal of municipal work has been done and is still being carried on under his direc- tion: Mr. Spinks has otherwise taken a keen in- terest in the growth and development of the city, and is at this time secretary of the local business organization, the Piedmont Commercial Club. He is a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Spinks married Miss Sarah Boals, who was born at Covington, Tennessee, and they are the parents of two children: Mazie and Geraldine.
CHARLES FAWCETT TOMLINSON, an executive of- ficer in one of the largest of those factories which have made High Point the Grand Rapids of the South, is a member of an old North Carolina family, was formerly an educator and resigned as superintendent of the schools at Winston-Salem to take up the role of manufacturer. As to his stand- ing and prominence in business circles it is only necessary to refer to the fact that he is president of the Southern Furniture Manufacturers Asso- ciation and that for five years he was a director and in 1915 was elected president of the National Travelers Protective Association of America.
Mr. Tomlinson has an interesting family record. He was born at Bush Hill, now Archdale, in Ran- dolph County, North Carolina, on December 24, 1871. His great-grandfather, William Tomlinson, was born in England in 1747 and came to America in colonial times, accompanied by his two brothers. These three brothers landed at Charleston, South Carolina, one of them remaining in that colony, another moving to Pennsylvania, while William soon afterward came into the wilderness of what is now Randolnh County and acquired a grant of land from the Crown at Bush Hill. That remained his home until his death in 1813. In 1770 he married Martha Coppcek. They rcared seven sons, named: Joseph, Josiah, William, Moses, Robert, Zachariah and Allen U., and two daughters, Elizabeth and Martha.
Allen Unthank Tomlinson, grandfather of the High Point manufacturer, was born at Bush Hill in 1802 and after reaching manhood, accepting the inheritance of his father, was busily engaged in general farming and also operated a tannery and shoe factory. He lived a uscful life in that com- munity until his death in 1879. In 1833 he mar- ried Rachel English, who was born in Randolph County, and was likewise a member of an old family there. She died at the age of sixty-six. They had nine children, named: William Sidney,
John Milton, Samuel Finley, Allen J., Jerome B., Julius L., Josephine, Martha and Adaliza.
Allen J. Tomlinson, father of Charles F., was born at Bush Hill in 1843, and his life was a long and useful one. He was educated at the New Garden Boarding School, now Guilford College, and also attended Haverford College in Pennsyl- vania. From college he went west to Damascus, Ohio, and was principal of a Friends school there for two years. Returning to Bush Hill, he became associated with his father and brother Sidney in farming and operating the tannery. During the war this family institution manufactured shoes for the Government. Allen J. Tomlinson was quite prominent in public affairs. He served several years as chairman of the board of county com- missioners and it was while attending to his official duties at Ashboro, the county seat, that he lost his life, being struck by lightning. This tragedy occurred in July, 1900. He and his wife were faithful members of the Society of Friends and he served as trustee of Guilford College. Allen J. Tomlinson married at Damascus, Ohio, Anna Faw- cett. . She was born in that Ohio village in 1848, daughter of Simeon and Deborah (Miller) Fawcett, both of whom were Quakers and spent their lives in the West, where they died when well upwards of eighty years of age. Mrs. Allen J. Tomlinson died in 1914. She reared six children: Charles Fawcett, Roberta, Sidney Halstead, Deborah, Annie and Allen Unthank, all living except the last.
Charles Fawcett Tomlinson during his boyhood attended the Academy at Bush Hill and Guilford College, graduating Bachelor of Science with the class of 1893. For a year he was principal of the graded school at Ashboro, and then completed his education in the University of North Carolina, from which he graduated Ph. B. in 1895. Taking up his work as an educator, he was principal of the West End graded school in Winston until 1899, then became superintendent. of the city schools of Winston, and resigned that office in 1904 to join his brother Sidney H. in business at High Point.
His brother had established in the meantime the Tomlinson Chair Manufacturing Company, of which Charles became secretary and treasurer. This business has had a remarkable growth. In 1904 its capital stock was $12,500.00 and the value of goods manufactured was about $60.000 a year. At the present time the capital is $400,000 and the manu- factured products per year represent a value up- wards of $1,000,000. The many carloads of goods that go out from its factory and warehouses every year contribute not a little to making the name High Point synonymous with the furniture industry of the South. Along with his business responsibilities in this company Mr. Tomlinson has enjoyed the appreciation and estecm of his fel- low business men in the offices already noted, and has also served as president of the Commercial Club of High Point, and is his father's successor on the Board of Trustees of Guilford College. He is affiliated with High Point Lodge No. 1155 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was a charter member of Winston Lodge No. 449, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and while affiliated with that lodge was successively elected to three of the chair offices in the Grand Lodge. For seven years he was a member of the City . School Board. As a recreation he plays an occa- sional game of golf. Mr. Tomlinson is a demo- crat and has been faithful to the religion in which he was reared, that of the Friends church. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian church. In 1914 he married May Lovelace, of Wilson, North
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Charles Forhis
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Carolina, who was born at South Boston, Virginia, daughter of J. P. and Sarah (Lacey) Lovelace. They have two children, Charles Fawcett, Jr., and Sarah Lacey.
THOMAS ROSWELL FOUST, a North Carolina educator whose work is especially appreciated in Guilford County, where he has served as county superintendent of schools for a number of years, was born on a plantation near Graham in Ala- mance County. He is a son of Thomas Carbry Foust, a native of the same county, and grandson of George Foust, who was also born in that local- ity, where the family have lived for a number of generations. George Foust owned and occupied a plantation near Graham in Alamance County, had slaves to cultivate his fields, and spent his life there as a very successful and progressive farmer. He married Maria Duffy Holt, a lifelong resident of that section of the state. Thomas Carbry Foust after reaching manhood was given a plan- tation by his father, and he has occupied it ever since. His success as a farmer has enabled him to acquire an extensive property around his orig- inal homestead. He married Mary" Eliza Rob- bins, who was born near Old Trinity in Randolph County, daughter of Ahai Robbins. The eight children of Thomas C. Foust and wife are: Julius Isaac, Thomas Roswell, Lettie Amelia, Mattie, Frank Lee, Mamie Robbins, James Alexander and Jessie.
For his work as an educator Thomas R. Foust was equipped with a liberal training during his youth. After leaving the country schools he pre- pared for college at Graham Academy and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina with the degree Ph. B. He did his first work as a teacher at Clinton, North Carolina, subsequently taught at Newbern and Goldsboro. It was through his work and influence that the present system of graded schools was established in Newbern. He was the first superintendent and served in that position for seven years. He went from there to Goldsboro and served as superintendent for three years. In 1904 he came to Greensboro to ac- cept the office of county superintendent of schools. He has been continued in that position of use- fulness for fourteen years, and the satisfactory status of public education in the state is largely attributed to his carefully conceived plans and progressive administration. He has been vari- ously honored in educational affairs, having served as president of the North Carolina City School Superintendents Association, and president of the North Carolina Teachers Assembly.
In 1896 Professor Fonst married Elizabeth Har- ris, who was born in Pittsboro, Chatham County, North Carolina, daughter of Dr. Thomas W. and Sallie Harris. They are the parents of four children : Thomas Roswell, Jr., Elizabeth Duffy, Julius Eugene, Sarah Holt. Mr. and Mrs. Foust are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Foust has membership in Phi Gamma Delta in college fraternity and Greensboro Council No. 13, Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
DAVID EZEKIEL HENDERSON is a prominent lawyer at Newbern and has become widely known all over the state through his prominence in fraternal or- ganizations, and as an eloquent and forceful leader in the democratic party. The success Mr. Henderson has gained as a lawyer has been chiefly gratifying to him because it opens opportunities for doing good in a broad and efficient way, and considering his connections and his activities the
remark would be justified that his whole thought and purpose is to make his life of broad and beneficent value to others rather than to himself.
A native of North Carolina, he was born in Onslow County September 3, 1879, and is still a very young man, with a promise of his best work and achievements still ahead of him. His parents, Joseph Franklin and Mary Elizabeth (Shepard) Henderson, were substantial farming people of Onslow County. Mr. Henderson grew up on a farm, attended common and high schools and also a business college. His first experience for him- self was as a school teacher and he taught two years before taking up the study of law. He read law in private offices and then finished his course in the law department of the University of North Carolina. He was admitted to the bar in August, 1905, and has since been in active practice at Newbern. He handles a general practice and in December, 1916, was elected county attorney of Craven County. Mr. Henderson still retains the great vitality and rugged physique which he ac- quired during his early life on the farm. It is said that when he was a youth ou the farm he could split as many as 500 rails in a single day.
In 1908 Mr. Henderson was elected president of the North Carolina Baraca Association at its or- ganization and he called the first association meeting at Greensboro in 1909. He is a member and has held all the offices in the local and state bodies of the Improved Order of Red Men. In the spring of 1915 he was elected Great Sachem at Moorehead City. He was president at the Great Council at Asheville in 1916 and was elected Great Representative of the Great Council of the United States which met at Wildwood, New Jersey, in 1916. He will also be one of the prominent mem- bers in the National Council at Hot Springs, Ark- ansas, in 1918. Another order in which he has been prominent is the Woodmen of the World. He has served as consul commander of Elmwood Camp No. 11 at Newbern, in March, 1915, was elected to the head camp at Durham, and was there elected delegate to the state head camp in March, 1917, and from that was chosen delegate to the sovereign camp meeting at Atlanta in July, 1917.
For eight years Mr. Henderson served as a member of the board of stewards of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He served four years as secretary of the Craven County Demo- cratic Committee. In 1916, at the state democratic convention in Raleigh, he was nominated for presi- dential elector, and during the following campaign he went into every county of the Third District and presented and discussed the great fundamental issues of the campaign before thousands of voters. After the election he was chosen by the electoral college at Raleigh as special messenger to carry the vote to the United States Senate in February, 1917, and when he delivered the vote of the North Carolina delegation his young son acted as page to carry the vote to the presiding officer of the Senate. His boy received marks of special grati- tude from President Wilson.
Mr. Henderson is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Craven County and North Carolina Bar associations. He is a director and attorney for the Home Building and Loan Association and attorney for the Citizens Savings and Trust Company of Newbern.
On August 29, 1912, he married Miss Mattie Jane Jenkins, of Aulander, North Carolina. Their son, above mentioned, is David Henry, born Octo- ber 31, 1914.
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Mr. Henderson has distinguished himself as a leading factor in the anti-saloon movement of North Carolina, and he prosecutes all liquor cases free of charge, His wife is an active member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson have done much for delinquent children, have been generous in their support of the Salvation Army and recently Mr. Henderson drew a bill to be presented to the Legislature for the purchase of a farm that should prove a home for delinquent and fallen women. .
JAMES WILLIAM FERRELL is a prominent real estate man, with offices both at Greenville, North Carolina, and Petersburg, Virginia, much of his time being spent in the Virginia city
Mr. Ferrell was born at Durham, North Caro- lina, June 17, 1884, son of William Lykurgus and Mary Sarilla ( Walker) Ferrell. His father was also extensively engaged in the real estate and tobacco business, James W. Ferrell was edu- cated in his native town, in the graded schools and in the Trinity Park High School. His first business experience was as a tobacco buyer, an occupation to which he gave seven, years between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four.
Realizing the imperative need of the subdivision of large farms in the South so that the farmer of small means might own a home, in 1910 Mr. Fer- rell gave up the tobacco industry and engaged in that line of the real estate business. Soon thereafter he organized the Atlantic Coast Realty Company, of which he is president. This com- pany was operated throughout the entire South and a part of the middle western states. In 1917 their sales of farm lands amounted to a little more than 60,000 acres, at about an average of fifty acres to the farm.
Mr. Ferrell is also a director of the United States Camp Company of Petersburg, Virginia, which owns and controls the property that Camp Lee is built on, a director of Walnut Hill Land Company of Petersburg, of the Petersburg Sav- ings & Insurance Company, the Virginia-Carolina Land Corporation, and the Tri-County Building Company.
Mr, Ferrell is a Rotarian, also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is recognized as one of the leading men of affairs in his home city.
April 8, 1903, he married Miss Loulie Witcher Poindexter, of Rocky Mount, Virginia, a descend- ant of the Witcher family on her father's side, and the Wills family on her mother's side. They have two children, James William, Jr., and Mary Lou.
JAMES H. SPARGER, long and prominently known in the business affairs of Greensboro, is member of that family of Spargers that from co- lonial times to the present has been identified with North Carolina and in many ways the name Sparger is one of the oldest and most influential among the notable families of the state
For a number of generations the Spargers have lived in Surry County, where James H. Sparger was born on the plantation in Mount Airy Township September 10, 1849. His grandfather was John Sparger and his father Murlin Snarger, both na- tives of the same locality. Murlin Sparger was born in 1811. The latter made the best of his very limited opportunities to attend school. How- ever, he managed to obtain an education sufficient for business purposes. He grew up on a plan- tation, and when a young man bought a farm
in Mount Airy Township. He also acquired a saw mill and grist mill and divided his time between superintending his land and its crops and the op- erations of the mills. His character as well as his business activities made him a man of promi- nence and influence in that locality. For several years he served as chairman of the Board of Coun- ty Commissioners of Surry County. He was an ardent prohibitionist and was one of the first officials in Surry County to refuse a license to sell liquor, an action which created a great deal of discussion at the time, since it was practically unprecedented. During the war between the states he served as a member of the conscription board. Murlin Sparger died in 1878. He married Be- thania Cook, who was born in Medfield Township of Surry County and died in 1886. They reared ten children: Elizabeth, John H., William A., Margaret F., Edith E., James H., Sarah P., Ben- jamin F., Mary and George W.
James H. Sparger during his youth attended rural schools and also the Mount Airy schools. At the age of twenty-two he began his independ- ent career as a farmer and manufacturer of to- bacco. At that time tobacco manufacture was a seasonal industry, carried on chiefly during the summer months. For the first two years he re- mained on his farm and then moved to Mount Airy, where he continued tobacco manufactur- ing on a large scale. In 1897 Mr. Sparger sold his interests as a tobacco manufacturer at Mount Airy and went into general merchandising. In 1903 he came to Greensboro and developed a large business as a wholesale grocery merchant. He retired from that in 1914, and since then has de- voted his time chiefly to dealing in leaf tobacco. In 1917 he also acquired an interest in a retail grocery business at Greensboro.
In 1873 Mr. Sparger married Laura D. Mitchell. She was born in Henry County, Virginia, daugh- ter of Henderson and Laura (Casey) Mitchell. When she was two years old her parents re- moved to Surry County, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Sparger have seven children: Samuel W., Alice, Elizabeth, Annie Louisa, Frederick J., Ed- win M. and Alma. Samuel W. is now a resident of Durham, engaged in the insurance business. Alice is the wife of E. H. Kochtitzky and has a daugh- ter named Laura. Elizabeth married O. W. Koch- titzky and has two children, Caroline and O. W. Jr. Annie Louisa is the wife of S. S. Steele, and her two daughters are Mary Elizabeth and Annie Louise. Frederick J. married Matilda Tatum, and has four children, Frederick J., Jr., Hamilton Ta- tum, Elizabeth and Jean Webster. Edwin M. married Kate Hollingsworth.
The Sparger family have a beautiful home on West Market Street in Greensboro. Mr. Spar- ger is active in the West Market Street Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and while at Mount Airy was chairman of the board of trustees of the church. Like his father, he is a prohibitionist, and fraternally is affiliated with Corinthian Lodge No. 342, Free and Accepted Masons.
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