USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 86
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Mr. Roney was married December 20, 1880, to Miss Sally A. Lea, who was born in Orange County, North Carolina, daughter of William A. and Martha Lea. To this union there have been born two children: Ruby, who resides with her parents; and Mildred, who is now Mrs. Lawrence Britt, of Wilson, North Carolina. Mr. and Mrs. Roney and their children are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
JOHN PAUL LUCAS. While it has extended over only a short period of years in comparison with the large majority of sketches appearing in this work, the career of John Paul Lucas, of Char- lotte, has been an expression of practical and di- versified usefulness, and in its range has invaded the realms of journalism, real estate and agricul- ture, all of which have profited by the breadth and conscientiousness which are distinguishing fea- tures of his character and work. At the present time few men in the state are better known in agricultural circles, this because of the work he is doing both as a contributor to the leading agricultural journals and as president of the North Carolina State Farmers Convention.
Mr. Lucas started upon his independent life with the advantages of good birth and careful home training. Born in 1885, in Wilson County, North Carolina, he is a son of Dr. H. D. and Mon- tie (Boyett) Lucas, the former deceased and the latter still living. Dr. H. D. Lucas was born in Wilson County and when seventeen years of age enlisted in the army of the Confederacy and served with a North Carolina volunteer infantry regiment during the entire period of the Civil war. On his return he took up the study of medi- cine, and throughout his life was a practitioner of medicine and surgery, living in Wilson County until 1893, when he came to Charlotte and took up his residence in his home in the eastern sub- urbs of the city, the community now known as the Chatham Estates residence section, where his death occurred.
John Paul Lucas attended the public schools of Charlotte and proved a good and retentive scholar, being graduated from the high school when only sixteen years of age. Immediately after his graduation, in 1901, he secured a posi- tion with the Charlotte Observer, but, realizing the need for further literary training, took enough time from this work to attend special courses at Trinity College at Durham, North Carolina. From that institution he returned to the Observer, where he became assistant city editor, resigning from that position to go to Winston-Salem to become editor of the Journal, a morning newspaper of that place. He also acquired stock in that pub- lication, which he still owns. After two years with the Journal, Mr. Lucas returned to Char- lotte to become managing editor of the Evening
Chronicle, but eventually resigned from that po- sition to give his attention to farming and to his increasing real estate interests. In the lat- ter connection he maintains an office at Char- lotte.
Mr. Lucas is the owner of two farms in Meck- lenburg County, one being a small farm just west of the City of Charlotte and the other, a larger property, consisting of 386 acres, situated near Cornelius, sixteen miles north of Charlotte, the latter being the scene of his most important farm- ing operations. Mr. Lucas is a close student, both in theory and practice, of modern, scientific farm- ing, and stands with the front rank of ambitious, successful agriculturists. On the Cornelius farm there is some very fine creek bottom land on which he has had particular success with corn, and his is one of the few farms in Mecklenburg County that sells this product. In addition he raises cot- ton and grain, crops with which he has had re- markable and deserved success. In the direction of livestock Mr. Lucas is a raiser of fine hogs, and intends, at a not far future date, to go more extensively into livestock operations. He can be justly termed one of the leaders in agricultural development in Mecklenburg County.
Mr. Lucas is possessed of marked literary tal- ent, and this, combined with his knowledge of the subject whereof he writes, make his articles particularly interesting and valuable to the farm- ing contingent. He occasionally contributes ar- ticles to such leading journals as the Country Gentleman and the Breeders' Gazette upon vari- ous agricultural topics. It has been the princi- pal idea of Mr. Lucas in these contributions to give the people of the North and West some knowl- edge of agricultural progress in North Carolina, as well as the rest of the South, to correct erro- neous impressions and to disabuse their minds of the idea that the South is behind and unprogres- sive in matters pertaining to farming and stock raising.
Recognizing Mr. Lucas' ability and enthu- siasm as a farmer and the good work he is do- ing for agriculture in the state, the North Caro- State Farmers' Convention, in annual session at Raleigh in the latter part of August, 1916, hon- ored him by electing him president of the organ- ization, which is doing a splendid work in ad- vancing the agricultural interests of the state. This association devotes itself to such subjects as extension work, co-operating with the Agricul- tural and Mechanical College, the Farmers Union, etc., and the position of president is one which entails an immense amount of labor, which Mr. Lucas has cheerfully undertaken, as well as a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of every department of agriculture.
But in the last two years still further respon- sibilities and honors have come to Mr. Lucas. It was natural that the authorities should look to him for leadership in the great campaign begun with the entrance of our country into the Euro- pean war for increased agricultural production. In 1917 Mr. Lucas was a leader in the educational and practical propaganda for increased produc- tion and conservation under the State Conserva- tion Commission. Early in 1918 he was made executive secretary for the State Food Adminis- tration at Raleigh.
Mr. Lucas was married to Miss Alice Charles- Craft, of Wilmington, North Carolina, and they are the parents of three children, namely: John Paul, Jr., Edith and Charles-Craft Lucas.
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
HON. EMORY JUNIUS STAFFORD. Conspicuously identified with the administration of the municipal affairs of Greensboro, Hon. Emory J. Stafford, now serving his second term as mayor of the city, is a man whose influence has been felt in manu- facturing, political and financial circles, and whose success in life has been of a marked order, attained through his own honest efforts. A native of Forsyth County, North Carolina, he was born in Kernersville, not far from the birthplace of both his father, Francis Marion Stafford, and his grandfather, Levi Stafford.
Zadock Stafford, Mr. Stafford's great-grand- father, was born and reared in England. He came to America with two of his brothers, one of whom located in Virginia and one in South Caro- lina. Zadock settled in North Carolina, and hav- ing bought land in the Bunker Hill neighborhood, in what is now Forsyth county, he was there engaged in general farming during the remain- der of his life.
Born on the home farm in the Bunker Hill neighborhood, Levi Stafford succeeded to the occu- pation to which he was reared, and as a planter met with decided success. He became an extensive landholder, and operated his farms with slave labor. He married a Miss Haines, who, like him- self, was a life-long resident of Forsyth county. They reared five sons, as follows: Robert, Zadock, Oliver, Francis Marion and Junius. The three older served in the Confederate Army, and Francis Marion would if he had not been exempt on account of physical disability.
Francis Marion Stafford was born on a planta- tion in the vicinity of Kernersville, Forsyth County, and from his youth up was interested in agriculture. He became the owner of two valuable farms near Kernersville, and in addition to super- intending the management of both was successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits in Kernersville, where he resided until his death, at the age of seventy-three years. He married Sarah Elizabeth Teague, a native of Deep River Township, For- syth County. Her father, Hon. Elijah B. Teague, who served as a soldier in the Confederate Army, was a life-long resident of Deep River Township, and one of its more successful agriculturists. He was also otherwise occupied, having been engaged in mercantile pursuits and in the manufacture of tobacco and lumber, giving to each industry his personal attention. Active and prominent in pub- lic affairs, Mr. Teague was a member of the convention that formulated the present State Con- stitution. Both he and his wife, who before marriage was a Miss Dean, died at the age of sixty-eight years. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Francis M. Stafford, six children were born, as follows: William C .; Emory Junius; Abram G .; Charles S .: Jerome H .; and Viola M., wife of Dr. R. R. Watkins.
After his graduation from Oak Ridge Institute Emory Junius Stafford was for a while employed as a bookkeeper in Tatum, South Carolina. Re- turning to Kernersville, he embarked in the mann- facture of tobacco, and later was similarly em- ployed in Statesville, where he remained until 1896. Coming then to Greensboro, Mr. Stafford continued his former business as a tobacco manufacturer until 1916, being quite successful. He is promi- nent in financial affairs, and is a director of the Arctic Ice and Coal Company. He was vice presi- dent of the Greensboro Commercial and Savings Bank, and when it was merged with the American Exchange National Bank he was elected as one of
.
its directors and a member of its finance com- mittee.
Mr. Stafford married, in 1885, Lula Roberta Lowery, who was born in Winston, North Carolina, a daughter of William A. and Laura Lowery. Mr. and Mrs. Stafford have seven children, namely : Laura L., wife of J. M. Apple, of Roanoke; Vir- ginia, has one child; Frances Mildred; Donald M .; Lowery C., who has received his commission as lieutenant and is now somewhere in France with General Pershing's forces; Lula Mildred; Made- line; Clara; and Emory Junius, Jr. Mr. Stafford has been an official member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, for forty years, and has always been interested, either as scholar or teacher, in its Sunday School, his wife also belonging to the same church. For three terms Mr. Stafford rendered his city valuable service as an alderman. He had the distinction of being a member of the committee of five that originated the present char- ter for the city government. In 1909 he was elected mayor of Greensboro and served acceptably in that capacity for two terms. In 1917 he was honored with another election to the same high position, and is performing the duties of the re- sponsible position with credit to himself and to the advantage of the city. Fraternally Mr. Stafford is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
HON. THOMAS JACKSON GOLD. In the legal fra- ternity of Guilford County there is found no name more worthy of distinction than that of Hon. Thomas Jackson Gold, who for ten years has been a prominent figure in many of the legal contro- versies in the state and federal courts, in which his unerring judgment and ability to provide the solution of many complexities have proven his right to be numbered among the distinguished members of the bar of this part of the state. As a citizen and public official, through his high and able character he has carried the good name of his community into national councils.
Judge Gold was born at Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina, in April, 1879, and is a son of W. F. and Margaret (Elliott) Gold, who are both still living at Shelby, natives of North Carolina and honorable, industrious farming peo- ple. Thomas Jackson Gold was reared and re- ceived his early education at Shelby, where he attended the public schools, following which he spent two years at Wake Forest and two years as a student at the University of North Carolina, being graduated in the class of 1903. He next studied law, received his license to practice, and in 1905 began the practice of his profession at High Point, which community has continued to be the scene of his professional labors to the present time. He is a splendidly equipped lawyer of unusual success in his profession, in which he is looked upon as one of the leading lights in the state. In addition to having a large general prac- tice in the state and federal courts, he represents legally a number of important local corporations. As a lawyer, conducting cases from their earliest consultation through their preparations in his office and conflicts at the bar to the final engross- ment after the last decree of the last tribunal, Mr. Gold is systematic. patient, vigorous and power- ful, and is appreciated as an associate of value and respected as a worthy antagonist.
Not long after taking up practice at High Point Judge Gold was recognized as being made of judi-
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cial timber, and in 1911 was made judge of the High Point City Court, in which position he served faithfully and impartially in that and the following year. In 1913 he was sent to the Lower House of the State Assembly, where he proved himself an energetic and capable representative of his constituents' interests, and in 1916 received further honors when he was sent by the democratic party as presidential elector for the Fifth District of North Carolina. He is an orator of ability, with a fine voice and a forceful delivery, and is often called upon in this capacity in state cam- paigns and upon occasions of important civic and other gatherings. Withal, he is a young man of many activities, belonging to the public-spirited group of citizens who are developing High Point into one of the big industrial centers of the South. Fraternally Judge Gold is a Mason of high rank, being a Shriner, and also holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is president of the Commercial Club, chairman of the High Point Chapter of the American Red Cross and the present nominee of the democratic party for the North Carolina General Assembly from Guilford County.
Judge Gold married Miss Nina Wheeler, and they are the parents of two children: Thomas Jackson, Jr., and Robert W. With his family Judge Gold belongs to the Presbyterian Church.
ERIC PARSON, A. B., headmaster of the Pine- hurst School for Boys, is the founder of this institution, which is now in its second successful year.
The location of the school is ideal. Pinehurst is a noted winter resort owned and conducted by Leonard Tufts of Boston, and possesses climatic and other advantages that are unexcelled in the United States. The school is located in what is known as the Sand Hills region of North Car- olina, where the long leaf pine is native. Pine- hurst is 650 feet above the sea and the mild cli- mate, the picturesque surroundings are not among the least advantages of a school where work and wholesome play out of doors and nature study are emphasized.
Pinehurst School is both an elementary and secondary school. It furnishes training to boys between the ages of eight and eighteen. As nearly as possible the curriculum represents the interests of present day life and the work at all stages is designed to enrich the pupil's experi- ence. There is both a lower and an upper school, the former for boys between the ages of eight and twelve, and the latter for instruction equiva- lent to that furnished by the college preparatory schools.
Mr. Parson was born in Washington, D. C., in 1888. He is a son of Rev. Dr. William E. and Anna (Naille) Parson, both deceased. His fa- ther, a native of Pennsylvania, spent a. number of years in the City of Washington. He was a minister of the Lutheran Church. He was a man of brilliant character, and successful both as a minister and edncator. For four years he was professor of Hebrew in the University of Tokio, Japan. He was among the first Americans to be honored by the Japanese authorities with a chair in that institution. Doctor Parson was an inde- fatigable traveler, a man of cosmopolitan learn- ing and knew the old world as well as the new. His travels had extended through European lands
and also the Holy Land and the Orient. His
death occurred in 1905.
Eric Parson was educated in the schools of Washington and at Harvard University. He was graduated from Harvard A. B. with the class of 1910. In the Pinehurst School he has three capa- ble assistants, each one a graduate of noted American universities, respectively, Yale, Harvard and Wesleyan. For three years Mr. Parson was head master at Groton School at Groton, Massa- chusetts. This is one of the most noted prepa- ratory schools in New England. It was for the purpose of founding a school which would give in the South advantages similar to the noted prepa- ratory schools of New England that Mr. Parson came to Pinehurst and founded the school in the fall of 1915. The school has already proved it- self. Most of its pupils come from the best families of the northern states, and the school has gained the endorsement and approval of many men and women whose names are familiar words in American life.
Mr. Parson married Miss Eleanor Dana of Phil- adelphia. Two of her brothers, Paul Trumbull Dana and William Dana, have located in Moore County, North Carolina, and have extensive agri- cultural and livestock interests in that section. Mr. and Mrs. Parson have one daughter, Eleanor.
WILLIAM JAMES COURTS, M. D., has the grate- ful memory of all the older citizens of Rockingham County. He was a very able physician and sur- geon and was equally effective as a public spirited citizen and leader of his community.
He was born at Mount Airy in Surry County, North Carolina, in 1833, a son of Daniel W. and Eliza Allen (Waugh) Courts. Daniel W. Courts was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, of early English ancestry. His father George Courts, a native of the same county, came to North Carolina in 1806, accompanied by his wife and children, and located about five miles north of Reidsville in Rockingham County. He acquired large tracts of land, and at one time had three hundred slaves. That was his home until his death and his remains were laid to rest on the old plantation. Daniel W. Courts was six years old when brought to North Carolina, and was given the best advantages in the schools of his time. He graduated in both the literary and law courses of the University of North Carolina, and as a lawyer his practice spread over several counties. He was one of the big men of the state in the middle period of the last century. From 1837 to 1839 and again from 1852 to 1862 he was state treasurer of North Carolina. In 1848 he was elected to the House of Representatives and served in the State Senate in 1850 and 1864. During President Van Buren's administration he served as United States consul to the Island of Cuba. His last days were spent in the home of a daughter in Wake County. He died in April, 1883, in his eighty-third year.
Eliza Allen Waugh, his wife, was born at Waughtown in what is now Forsyth County, . daughter of James and Eliza Waugh. Her parents were natives of Adams County, Pennsylvania, and came to North Carolina on horseback as a feature of their wedding journey. They located on land then in Stokes County, now known as Waughtown, a suburban district of the city of Winston-Salem. Eliza Allen Waugh received her finishing education in Salem College. She died at the age of thirty- six years.
Vol. VI-21
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
The late Doetor Courts after graduating from the University of his native state entered the medi- cal department of Tulane University at New Orleans, from which he received his degree, and later took post-graduate work in Jefferson Medi- eal College at Philadelphia. In February, 1862, he raised a company for the Confederate service and was commissioned captain. This company was Company H of the Forty-third North Carolina In- fantry. In April, 1862, he was promoted to surgeon of the regiment, and continued in aetive service until the elose of the war. He succeeded to the ownership of the old plantation and prior to the war had employed some of his father's slaves in eultivating it. As a physician he lived on the plantation, but the demands for his pro- fessional service kept him busily riding and driving over several counties. He continued his pro- fessional work for fifty years. In 1891 he was eleeted a member of the State Legislature, repre- senting Rockingham County in the Senate.
Doetor Courts died in 1913, at the age of eighty years. He married Fanny Carter, who was born in Caswell County, daughter of Ben H. and Martha (Mills) Carter. Mrs. Courts is still living at the age of seventy-four. She reared a family of twelve children.
HON. BENJAMIN H. BUNN. A nseful and beau- tiful life elosed with the death of Benjamin H. Bunn, one of great achievement along many lines. He was not only respected and honored but was universally trusted and beloved. He was a sol- dier, lawyer and statesman of renown, and in ad- dition was a faithful, loyal friend, a benefactor to the poor and needy and a husband and father who ever set an example of truth, honor and man- liness.
Benjamin H. Bunn was born in Nash County, North Carolina, October, 19, 1844. His parents were Redmun and Mary Hickman (Bryan) Bunn. For many years Redmun Bunn was a large plant- er and prominent merchant. When the great dis- aster of war fell upon the country three of his gallant sons entered the Confederate army, and but one lived to return. The father of Redmun Bunn was also a native of North Carolina. He died at the age of twenty-six, leaving Redmun his only ehild.
Benjamin H. Bunn had just finished his college preparatory course when the conflict between the North and the South flamed out. He was bnt seventeen years old at that time, but nevertheless he enlisted for service and entered the Thirtieth North Carolina Infantry, C. S. A., and fought eourageously through the entire war, winning praise and promotion and reached the rank of
first lieutenant. When the war was over he entered upon the study of law, his preceptors being his unele, William T. Dorteh, and Judge George V. Strong of Goldsboro, and he received his County Court license in June, 1866, and one year later his Superior Court lieense.
Mr. Bunn then came to Rocky Mount and at once took high rank as a lawyer, and during the many years of professional life his achievements at the bar brought him marked distinetion. He had the dignified presenee that belongs to one's favorite eoneeption of a great lawyer, and pos- sessed also the gift of oratory. It is conceded that his praetice at the time of his death was one of the largest, most representative and most luerative of any North Carolina praetioner, and
that in all essentials of his profession the state has never possibly known his superior.
Mr. Bunn was not only a great lawyer, but he was a great political leader. He first entered the politieal arena as a sub-eleetor on the Sey- mour-Blair ticket in 1868, and in 1875 was a member of the Constitutional Convention that framed the present Constitution of North Caro- lina. In 1882 he was sent to the State Legis- lature and was made chairman of the joint eom- mittee on the eode, an unusual honor and indi- cative of great legal ability. In 1884 he was elected for the Fourth North Carolina District for the national democratic tieket of Cleveland and Hendrieks, and was chosen as the messenger to convey the vote of North Carolina to the United States Senate at Washington. Still earlier, in 1880, Mr. Bunn was a deligate to the National Demoeratie Convention that nominated General Haneoek for the presidency.
In 1886 Mr. Bunn consented to be the democratie candidate for nomination for Congress, and led the convention through 212 ballots, bnt Hon. John W. Graham was nominated on the 213th ballot, but in the election following Mr. Graham was defeated by the republican candidate. In 1888 Mr. Bunn was unanimously nominated for Con- gress and was elected by a large majority and two years later he was reeleeted (1890). So well and faithfully did he serve his distriet that he was onee more, in 1892, sent to Congress, where he continuously ranked with the strong men of the party, ever working with fearless voiee and pen for the futheranee of measures in which he conseientiously believed. He was one whose voiee was frequently heard in debate, for seldom was he absent from what he rightly considered his post of duty, and some of his speeches were sueh notable doenments that they were made use of as campaign literature all over the country. His associates were men of equally high eharacter, and many of the friends he formed ties with in Washington continued close and affectionate re- lations with him until his death. Mr. Bunn was not a candidate for re-election in 1894, the rest of his life being devoted to his profession.
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