USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 82
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June 19, 1902, Doctor Michaux married Miss Cornelia Roberson. who was born at Guilford Col- lege, daughter of Dr. D. A. and Fannie (Barker) Roberson. Mrs. Michaux was educated at Guilford College and at Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Doctor Michaux is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife belong to the
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Presbyterian Church. Politically he is a democrat. Doctor Michaux's family in all its branches have taken part in military affairs. In France some were martyrs for the sake of religion. The motto on the Michaux coat of arms: "So yez firme"' (Be Steadfast) suited well for the trials they had to endure. In America they fought in the Indian wars and in the Revolutionary and Confederate armies. Harrison Macon, Revolutionary ancestor, was captured and imprisoned at Charleston, South Carolina, and the day was appointed for him to be shot. The British officer in charge, learning he was a Mason and being one himself, set him free and allowed him to return to his home in North Carolina. The descendants of Harrison Macon served in the Confederate army and were among the last to surrender arms. In the present World war the family is well represented, among those serving being Lieut. Edward Randolph Michaux, nephew of Doctor Michaux of this sketch.
JOHN HOUSTON SHUFORD. There are turning points in every man's life called opportunity. Taken advantage of they mean ultimate success. The career of John Houston Shuford is a striking illustration of the latter statement. Diligent and ever alert for his chance of advancement, he has progressed steadily until he is recognized today as one of prominent business men of Charlotte, where he is manager of the Berlin Aniline Works of New York. Here he is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens, who honor him for his native ability and for his fair and straightforward career.
The Shufords are one of the notable families of Western North Carolina and for several generations they have been leaders in agricultural, commercial and industrial life, many of its members being men of wealth and affluence. The family is of German origin. Its progenitor in North Carolina was John Shuford, who left the State of Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution and settled in the western section of this state. The beautiful farm on which he located, still owned and occupied by his de- scendants, is situated on the west bank of the South Fork River, in what is now Catawba County. The year of his arrival here is supposed to have been 1766. He spoke the German language fluently and before his advent in North Carolina his home was in York, Pennsylvania. He was fitted by nature to be a pioneer, not easily discouraged, and his sons were tall, strong and of stout heart and well capable of holding the land their father had found for them and for their offspring.
A prominent member of the family who should be given particular attention in this sketch is John J. Shuford, great-grandfather of John H. Shuford. He was a son of Jacob Shuford, a grandson of Martin Shuford, and a great-grandson of John Shuford, the pioneer mentioned above. John J. Shuford was the discoverer, the developer and the owner of the famous Shuford Gold Mine, located near his home, about six and a half miles south of Catawba Station, in Catawba County. This was one of the most prominent mines in the ante- bellum period when gold-mining was a flourishing industry in Western North Carolina. John J. Shu- ford was also one of the pioneer cotton-mill build- ers and operators in North Carolina, having erected and operated the old Long Island Mill on the Catawba River during the '40s. He also carried on extensive planting operations, operated grist mills and cotton gins, sawed lumber, conducted a
store and altogether was a man of large and varied affairs, a pioneer in all activities-a leader who stood out from among his fellows, a strong and able man in every respect. He also conducted a tanning yard, a marble yard and was the owner of threshing machinery. He manifested a deep and sincere interest in all matters projected for the good of the general welfare and was a public- spirited citizen in every sense of the word. In re- ligious matters he was a devout member of the Reformed Church.
The paternal grandfather of John H. Shuford was Marcus Shuford, who married Martha Custis Houston, a daughter of Dr. A. Q. Houston. The Houston family is a notable one of Scotch-Irish origin, and among its famed members are Gen. Sam Houston, of Texas, and Dr. David Franklin Houston, Secretary of Agriculture in the present administration. The Houstons came to North Carolina from Rockbridge County, Virginia, and their descendants have lived in Catawba, Iredell and Union counties, this state.
John H. Shuford, of this sketch, was born on the Shuford ancestral place in the eastern part of Catawba County in the year 1876, and he is a son of Frank and Susan (Howard) Shuford, the for- mer of whom is deceased and the latter of whom is now a resident of Newton. Mrs. Shuford is a kinswoman of the Hoke family of Lincoln County and Hon. Hoke Smith of Georgia. Mr. Shuford lived in the place of his nativity until his tenth year, when his mother married her second husband, Mr. James Monroe Grice, a very prominent citizen and farmer of Mecklenburg County, whose home was ten miles west of Charlotte on the upper Tuckaseege road. Here he resided until he was seventeen years of age, and during his boyhood he attended the Paw Creek High School of Mecklen- burg County and Bellwood Institute in Cleveland County, where he was prepared for college. He spent four years in the North Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College of Raleigh, in which ex- cellent institution he was graduated in chemistry as a member of the class of 1903, with the degree of bachelor of science. He had many college honors and was selected to represent his literary society as commencement orator at his gradua- tion. Immediately after leaving college he ac- cepted a position as foreman of the dyeing depart- ment of the P. H. Hanes Knitting Company at Winston-Salem, remaining with that concern for two years, at the end of which he resigned to ac- cept the position as instructor of dyeing and textile chemistry in the textile department of his alma mater. He has been permanently located in Char- lotte since 1908, holding various positions of re- sponsibility with the local branch of the Berlin Aniline Works of New York. In June, 1917, he was appointed manager of the Charlotte office of the above concern. He is a thoroughly skilled and highly proficient technical expert in the use and sale of dyestuffs and chemicals and is considered one of the South's leading men in this industry. He has many friends throughout cotton manufac- turing centers of the South.
The Berlin Aniline Works is a strictly American corporation and up to the time of the declaration of war was an agency for factories in Germany. Among the employes of this concern are good Ger- mans, Englishmen, Irish, Scots, Swedes. Swiss, Poles and Spaniards. Employes of the Charlotte office are mostly Southerners. The company are international sellers of dyes, with offices in all
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important textile centers of the world-Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Calcutta and Hong Kong. A specialty is made of quality, reliability, expert laboratory work and good de- livery. As per their advertisement, "Politics and war are not topics in our business."
In the year 1909 Mr. Shuford married Miss Helen Alleott, of Paducah, Kentucky. Mrs. Shu- ford is a native of Clarksville, Virginia, being re- lated to some of the oldest and most prominent families of that state. She is also a relative of Louisa Alcott, the authoress. She was educated in schools and colleges of Virginia. She is a bril- liant woman and holds a splendid social position in Charlotte. Mr. and Mrs. Shuford have two children, Helen Allcott and Martha Houston.
Mr. Shuford is an influential business man and a progressive citizen. His achievements thus far worthily illustrate what may be attained by per- sistent and painstaking effort. He is a man of enterprise and initiative; although versatile, he is not superficial; exactness and thoroughness charac- terize all his work; his intellectual possessions are unified and assimilated: they are his own. His relations with his fellow man are marked by sin- cerity and he is held in high esteem by all with whom he has come in contact.
OTTIS EARL MENDENHALL, who for many years was identified with manufacturing, lumber and other interests, is still a factor in the business life of High Point. He represents one of the oldest and best known families in this part of North Carolina.
His ancestry goes back to John and Esther (Dix) Mendenhall. The family history states that John Mendenhall, accompanied by two brothers, Moses and Benjamin, emigrated from England to America in colonial times and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania. All of them were Quakers, and their descendants to the present time hold to the same faith. Aaron Mendenhall, son of John and Esther, married Rose Pierson. Their son James Mendenhall was the pioneer of Guilford County, North Carolina. He bought land, in- cluding the present site of Jamestown, and there improved a water power and built a grist mill. He was living there in the time of the Revolu- tionary war, and when the county was overrun by the army of Cornwallis and British redcoats took charge of the mill. James Mendenhall late in life removed to Wilkes County, Georgia, and spent his last days with his son Marmaduke. His widow, whose maiden name was Hannah Thomas, after- ward returned to Jamestown, North Carolina, and died there.
James Mendenhall, great-grandfather of Ottis E., was a farmer in High Point Township, and also had a store and tannery. He was a lifelong resident of Guilford County. He married Mirriam. Hockett, and had fifteen children, one of whom was Elihue E. Mendenhall.
Elihue E. Mendenhall married Anna Hill, and they were the parents of James Mendenhall, who was born on a farm in High Point Township. James Mendenhall was educated in the West Town Boarding School at Westtown, Pennsylvania. He left that school when the war broke out between the states, and after some employment on a farm in l'ennsylvania went west to Carthage, Indiana, where he entered the service of his uncle, Bettle Hill, a banker and inerchant. He was clerk in his uncle's store until the close of the war, when he returned to North Carolina and became associ-
ated with his father in business. He took the management of a farm at Jamestown, but later returned to a farm near his father. In 1883 he moved to Lexington, where he engaged in the manu- facture of spokes and shutters and afterward in the manufacture of furniture, and was active in business until his death in August, 1917. He mar- ried Martha Florina Wheeler, who was born in High Point Township. daughter of Cyrus J. and Mary Ann (Mullen) Wheeler. She died in 1906, mother of two sons, Ottis Earl and Walter Hill, who is now cashier of the Bank of Lexington.
Ottis Earl Mendenhall was born on a farm near Jamestown in Guilford County, was edu- cated in the Lexington schools, and in 1898 re- ceived his Master of Arts degree from Haverford College in Pennsylvania. During the next year he taught Latin and History in a Dunkard College at Bridgewater, Virginia. He resigned that posi- tion to become secretary and treasurer of the Central Manufacturing Company of Lexington, and gave all his time and energies to the affairs of that business until the plant was burned. He then conducted a lumber business until 1909, when he came to High Point as secretary and treasurer of the Southern Live Stock Insurance Company. From this he also resigned in 1912, and established the insurance agency of which he is sole proprietor.
He has always taken a keen interest in public affairs and from 1912 to 1914 was a member of the Board of Aldermen of High Point and is now vice chairman of the Democratic Executive Com- mittee of Guilford County.
Mr. Mendenhall married in 1907 Lizette Brown, who was born at Winston-Salem, daughter of Capt. John and Blanche (Gilliam) Brown. Her pater- nal grandfather, Dr. William Carter Brown, was a country physician of extensive practice and also owned a large amount of land and many slaves in Davie County. Mrs. Mendenhall's father was for many years a merchant at Winston-Salem and was a captain in the local militia. He is now deceased. Her mother is a native of Dan- ville, Virginia.
JOHN W. RAGLAND. Among the distinctively prominent and brilliant lawyers of the State of North Carolina none is more versatile, talented. or well equipped for the work of his profession than John W. Ragland, who maintains his home and business headquarters at Newland in Avery County. Throughout his career as an able at- torney and well fortified counselor he has by rea- son of unimpeachable conduct and close observ- ance of the unwritten code of professional ethics gained the admiration and respect of his fellow members of the bar, in addition to which he com- mands a high place in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.
A native of the Old Dominion Commonwealth, John W. Ragland was born at New Ferry, Hali- fax County, Virginia. in 1877. He is a son of C. J. and Lucinda (Guthrie) Ragland. of old Virginia stock. The family originated in Wales and mem- bers of the name settled in America in the colo- nial epoch of our national history. C. J. Rag- land distinguished himself as a soldier of the Confederacy during the war between the states, serving in General Mahon 's brigade. Both he and his cherished and devoted wife are deceased.
John W. Ragland passed his boyhood days at New Ferry in Virginia, and he rounded out his early education with a course of study in Roanoke College at Salem, Virginia. He studied law in
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the University of North Carolina, in which worthy institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1905, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Immediately thereafter he entered upon the active practice of his profession at Bakers- ville in Mitchell County, North Carolina, whither he had come as a young man. He maintained his residence and professional headquarters at Bak- ersville until he located at Newland, the county seat of the County of Avery, newly established from portions of Mitchell, Caldwell and Watauga counties. In Newland Mr. Ragland has continued his eminently successful career as a lawyer and here is well known as a member of the brilliant coterie of lawyers which lends distinction to the bar of Western North Carolina. He is an active spirit in public affairs and is one of the enter- prising and progressive citizens who are building up Newland and Avery County and bringing their advantages and resources to the attention of this section. The Town of Newland is most happily situated in the heart of the Blue Ridge Moun- tains, set amidst the scenic grandeur that has made this section of the state famous the world over. Governor Bickett appointed Mr. Ragland a mem- ber of the Federal Exemption Board for Avery County and he is serving with efficiency on that board at the present time. He was one of the organizers and is a director of the Avery County Bank at Newland, which was established in 1914.
In 1900 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ragland to Miss Annie Mundy, of East Rad- ford, Virginia. Mrs. Ragland is a charming host- ess and is a leader in the various feminine affairs of Newland and Avery County. Mr. and Mrs. Ragland have four children : Ruth and Jack (twins), Dorothy and Roger.
Mr. Ragland is a man of fine mentality and broad human sympathy. He thoroughly enjoys home life and takes great pleasure in the society of his family and friends. He is always courteous, kindly and affable, and those who know him per- sonally accord him the highest esteem. Mr. and Mrs. Ragland's lives have been exemplary in all respects and they have ever supported those in- terests which are calculated to uplift and benefit humanity, while their own high moral worth is deserving of the highest commendation.
AUGUSTUS ALEXANDER MACDONALD, M. D. A thoroughly equipped and widely experienced physi- cian and surgeon, Doctor Macdonald early in his career chose as his location, Jackson Springs in Moore County. His work as a physician and citi- zen have been prominent factors for years in this community. The famous Jackson Springs, which were discovered in 1813 and have ever since been a place of resort, have a most enthusiastic advo- cate in Doctor Macdonald. Through his own prac- tice he has many times proved the superior efficacy of these waters, and their value has been many times endorsed by the highest medical authorities.
Doctor Macdonald was born in Moore County, North Carolina, about ten miles east of Jackson Springs, in 1877. He is a son of M. A. and Eliza (Macdonald) Macdonald. His father was born about in the same locality of Moore County as his son, and the Macdonalds are a very old family in this section. Doctor Macdonald's grandfather was also a native here, the family having been founded in the county by the great-grandfather, a Scotch Highlander who arrived in this vicinity previous to the Revolutionary war. This great-
grandfather married three times. The Moore County Macdonalds are descendants from his last marriage, to a Miss Mckenzie. He was a kinsman of the famous Flora Macdonald and also of Dr. Kenney Black, a noted surgeon, graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and at whose home in Moore County Flora Macdonald spent a great deal of her time.
Doctor Macdonald spent his early life on a farm and acquired a very liberal education, both in literary courses and in medicine. He prepared for college in the old Eureka School about five miles from Carthage, under Prof. S. D. Cole. Later he spent four years in the high school at Quincy, Massachusetts, following which he entered David- son College in North Carolina, and took his medi- cal work in Davidson Medical College and its successor, the North Carolina Medical College at Charlotte, where he was graduated M. D. with the class of 1905. Doctor Macdonald spent one full year in the New York Polyclinic and has repeatedly taken up other post-graduate courses in that city.
In 1905 he located at Jackson Springs and has been a highly successful physician and surgeon, one of the leaders of the profession in the state. He is a member and former president of the County Medical Association, and also a member of the State Medical Society and the American Medi- cal Association. Doctor Macdonald is one of the physicians on the staff of the James McConnell Memorial Hospital at Eureka. With all the de- mands made upon him by his profession he has given much time and assistance to the cause of education and was one of the leading spirits in bringing to its present high state of efficiency the Jackson Springs public school, which now ranks as a state high school.
Doctor Macdonald is a member of the Presby- terian church, also of the Masonic Lodge No. 477, of Eagle Springs, North Carolina, the Woodmen of the World and the Odd Fellows. He married Miss Maude Carlton, of Springfield, Massachusetts. Their two children are Margaret Mott and Alex- ander Carlton Macdonald.
WILLIAM THOMAS LAPRADE, PH. D., who was awarded his doctor's degree by Johns Hopkins University in 1909, has since that date been a member of the faculty of Trinity College at Dur- ham. He was assistant professor of history from 1909 to 1915, and since then has been professor of English and European history in the same in- stitution.
For one thus busied with the responsibilities of the class room, Doctor Laprade has an imposing list of writings to prove his wide and diversified scholarship and his industry. Much of his work either as a lecturer or writer deals with problems of current interest in the field of history and economics. Since the outbreak of the European war he has been called upon to address many audiences in North Carolina as a ยท lecturer and speaker on topics connected with the war.
An inclusive list of his subjects and titles of his authorship today is as follows: England and the French Revolution, 1789-1797, published at Baltimore in 1910, is so far his only formal book. Most of his contributions are in the form of maga- zine articles, as follows: William Pitt and West- minster Elections, in American Historical Review January, 1913; Public Opinion in the General Election of 1784, an English Historical Review, April, 1916; The War and the Historians of To- morrow, in Sewanee Review, April, 1917; National-
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ism, in Annual Report of American Historical As- sociation for 1915; The Nominating Primary, in the North American Review, August, 1914; The Present Status of the Home Rule Question, in American Political Science Review November, 1912. The following articles appeared in the South Atlantic Quarterly: Newspapers as a Source for the History of American Slavery, July, 1910; The English Constitutional Crisis, October, 1910; Some Problems in Writing the History of American Slavery, April, 1911; The New Amend- ment to the English Constitution, October, 1911; William Pitt and His Recent Critics, January, 1912; National Insurance in England, July, 1912; Undercurrent in Present British Politics, October, 1912; The European War, October, 1914; The Progress and Economic Influence of the War, October, 1915; The New Epoch, April, 1917. He also published a series of monthly articles on top- ics connected with the war running through the year 1914-15 in North Carolina Education, be- sides numerous reviews of books in the American Historical and other reviews.
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William Thomas Laprade was born in Franklin County, Virginia, December 27, 1883, son of George Washington and Mary Elizabeth (Muse) Laprade. His paternal grandparents were Wil- liam and Harriet Washington (Boatright) La- prade, the latter a native of Chesterfield County, Virginia. William Laprade was owner and op- erator of a flour mill in Franklin County, Virginia. Doctor Laprade's maternal grandparents were Thomas S. and Mary (Preston) Muse, the latter of the old and prominent Virginia family of Pres- tons.
Doctor Laprade was educated in public and pri- vate schools in Franklin County, received his A. B. degree from Washington Christian College in 1906, and did the work leading up to his doctor's degree at Johns Hopkins University. Doctor Laprade is still carried on the roll of ministers of the Christian or Disciples of Christ Church. While in school he was for three years pastor of the Antioch Christian Church of Vienna, Virginia, a small town in Fairfax County and a short distance from Washington. He is a Phi Beta Kappa and in politics entertains independent views.
Besides his work as a writer and educator he is now vice chairman of the Durham County War Savings Committee and Field Secretary for the American Red Cross in Central North Carolina. Doctor Laprade has spent four summers in Eng- land studying English history and politics. He is a member of the American Historical Association and on the committee on Bibliography of that or- ganization. In 1916 he was professor of history at the summer session of the University of Illinois.
June 11, 1913, at the home of the bride in Pu- laski County, Virginia, he married Nancy Hamil- ton Calfee, daughter of the late John Frank and Elizabeth (Sayers) Calfee.
HON. SPENCER B. ADAMS was admitted to the North Carolina bar in 1881. There has hardly been a year since then which has not conferred upon him some new success, dignity and achieve- ment, whether as a lawyer, as a man of public affairs, or of leadership and power in the republi- can party of his state. Mr. Adams is undoubtedly one of the best known men of North Carolina among the big men of the republican party in other states.
He is a native of North Carolina, born at Dob-
son in Surry County October 15, 1860. His grand- father, James Adams, was a native of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and according to a well estab- lished tradition was descended from one of three brothers who came to America in colonial times and settled one in Massachusetts, one in Virginia and one in Georgia. Grandfather Adams was a successful planter and spent all his life in Pitt- sylvania County, Virginia. He married Sarah Adams, a lifelong resident of the same county, and they reared five sons, named: Charles, who moved to Kentucky; Allen, James M. and Thomas J., who remained residents of Pittsylvania County; and John A., who came to North Carolina; also two daughters, Pauline, who married a Mr. Witch- er of Pittsylvania County, and Elizabeth, who married a Mr. Watson and moved to Mississippi.
John A. Adams, father of Spencer B., was born on a plantation in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, was educated there, and came to manhood with the environment and training of the old time plant- ing class of Virginia. In 1857, on account of ill health, he came to Surry County, North Carolina, and bought 11,000 acres of land, largely in and adjacent to the Town of Dobson. He had a num- ber of slaves and used their services to develop and cultivate this great domain, but had little more than begun the task when death stayed his hand in 1861. He married Sarah Adams, a native of Pittsylvania County. Her father, Johnson Adams, was owner and operator of a large planta- tion in that county and spent all his life there. He married a Miss Williams. Mrs. John A. Adams died in 1873, the mother of five sons and two daughters. The sons were James M., John A., Thomas J., William and Spencer B. The daugh- ters are Virginia, wife of Henderson Jones, and Sally, wife of John M. Calloway, of Pittsylvania County.
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