USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 87
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Mr. Bunn was married November 7, 1871, to Miss Harriet A. Philips, who is a daughter of Dr. James J. Philips, for many years one of the leading physicians of North Carolina. Two of her brothers were ex-Judge Philips and Hon. Joseph B. Philips, men of unusual prominenee. Children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bunn are as follows: Mary, who is now the wife of Dr. George L. Wimberly; Harriet P., James P., Bessie; Annie Lee, who is now the wife of R. B. Davis, Jr., Benjamin H., Laura Maud, who is now the wife of K. D. Battle; and Catherine who is now the wife of W. C. Woodard, Jr.
Mr. Bunn may be said to have died in harness. During the last years of his life he was the senior member of the noted law firm of Bunn, Spruill & Bunn, the youngest member of the firm being his son, who also is a very prominent member of the Rocky Mount bar and equally well known in political eireles.
Mr. Bunn passed away August 25, 1907, leaving behind him a record of a well spent, honorable and happy life.
JUNIUS AYERS MATHESON, who is president of the Matheson-Wills Real Estate Company of Greensboro, was, up to a few years ago, one of
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the leading educators in the state, and has a num- ber of important achievements and honors to his credit as an active worker and leader in this field.
Mr. Matheson was born at Taylorsville in Alex- ander County, North Carolina, a member of an old and prominent family there. The founder of the Mathesons in North Carolina was Alexander Mathe- son, a native of Scotland, several of whose brothers also came to this country and settled in South Carolina and Georgia, while Alexander himself made his pioneer home in what is now Alexander County, North Carolina. There he was one of the founders of Taylorsville. His son, William Matheson, grandfather of Junius A., was born in Alexander County and became an extensive fariner and planter. Part of his land was in the Town of Taylorsville, and he owned some extensive tracts nearby. He lived all his life there. His wife was Jennie Bogle, of a well-known pioneer family of Iredel County. William Bogle Matheson, father of Junius A., was born at Taylorsville, acquired a good education, and besides farming was for a number of years a merchant, and on the organiza- tion of the Bank of Alexander was elected its president and filled that responsible office until his death in 1914. He was, without question, one of the best known men in his part of the state, was possessed of exceptional wisdom and judgment in business affairs, and his advice was often sought. He married Mary Ayers, who was born at Madison in Rockingham County, North Carolina, daughter of John and Mary (Webster) Ayers. Her father was a saddle and harness maker and conducted a business of that kind at Taylorsville during his active life. Mrs. William B. Matheson is still living at Taylorsville, the mother of four sons and two daughters: Robert Leon, Junius Ayers, Wil- liam Lafayette, James Pleasant, Mary Hessie, wife of Hon. Frank A. Linley, who was republican can- didate for governor of North Carolina in 1916, and Lucy Thurston, wife of H. Coleman Payne, of Taylorsville. The son, Robert L., now deceased, was for two terms sheriff of Alexander County. William L. is a successful farmer and cotton mill man at Mooresville, and has represented Iredel County in the Legislature. James Pleasant is a physician and is now giving his service to the Na- tional Army, a captain in G. R. C., American Ex- peditionary Forces. His home is at Charlotte, North Carolina.
Junins Ayers Matheson was liberally educated and in 1890 graduated from Davidson College. He forthwith began his active career as an educator, teaching in Wilkes County, later at Mooresville, Statesville and Durham. He was superintendent of city schools at Durham, and may well take pride in the fact that at the time of his superintendency Durham schools were conceded to be the best in point of equipment and general efficiency in the entire state. Mr. Matheson resigned his position at the head Durham schools to become head of the Department of Education of the State Normal and Industrial School at Greensboro, and in that position he was able to influence, train and direct a large number of young people who were equip- ping themselves for work as teachers and leaders in the life and affairs of the state. Mr. Matheson had to give up his position with the Greensboro Normal in 1914 on account of ill health, and it was with general regret on the part of the trustces of the schools and all its alumnae that he was obliged to retire. Seeking an occupation which would be less confining than the school room, he soon organized the Matheson Real Estate Company,
and conducted a good business under that name until 1917, when Mr. E. S. Wills became associated with him and the business was reorganized as the Matheson-Wills Real Estate Company, with Mr. Matheson as president.
In 1910 Mr. Matheson married Miss Jean Booth, a native of Oxford, North Carolina, and daughter of Dr. T. L. Booth. Mr. and Mrs. Matheson are members of the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Matheson has been prominent in all things pertain- ing to educational affairs, and has been a member of various educational and learned societies. He was president of the North Carolina City Superin- tendents' Association and also was executive head of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly.
DANIEL STEPHEN ALDERMAN. The interests controlled and directed by Mr. Alderman show him to be a man of no ordinary business capacity. Any one with the slightest inclination to farming and country life would envy him his splendid plantation in a peculiarly rich and fertile section of Hoke County. His home is in the town of Wagram, and a magnificent home it is in all its appointments and architectural features. Alto- gether he has a great deal to show for a life of business activity covering nearly forty years.
He was born in the northern part of Pender County, North Carolina, in 1853, a son of James H. and Elizabeth (Williams) Alderman, both na- tives of Pender County. The Aldermans are of English ancestry and have been residents of the lower Cape Fear region for a number of genera- tions. James H. Alderman, a son of Daniel Al- derman, had his home in Pender County, but his farm lay just over the line in Duplin County, near the town of Wallace.
On this farm and in all that its environment implied Daniel S. Alderman grew to manhood, and spent his early life not without advantage and profit in that region until 1883. In that year he came to Robeson County, and bought land in the extreme northwest part of the county, in what has been since 1912 Hoke County, created from original portions of Robeson and Cumberland counties. His present possessions here comprise about a thousand acres, and between five hundred and six hundred are cleared and in cultivation, producing large crops of corn and cotton. While it is one of the largest and best plantations in this part of the state, its real value could not be measured in the land and crops alone. This farmn has in fact set the pace for a large community. Methods and results on adjoining farms have been tested and approved and disapproved largely by the outcome of the same at Alderman's. Mr. Al- derman has in fact been a pioneer in the develop- ment of this region. When he settled there almost any land could be bought for $5 an acre. Ordi- nary improved farms are now worth $100 an acre, and such a place as Mr. Alderman's is of course worth much more than that.
This ranch or farm is two miles from the town of Wagram, which is just over the Hoke County line in Scotland County. It is a new town, and Mr. Alderman and his brother-in-law, Mr. W. G. Buie, put up its first store building. The show place of Wagram and of a large part of the state for that matter is "Rosewood," the home which Mr. Alderman built in 1911. It retains the best lines of the old Southern colonial architecture, combined with some of those compact and sub- stantial features commended by modern taste and comfort. While the taste of the owner insured
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harmonious and attractive exterior lines, his means were also wisely and liberally expended in obtain- ing the very highest quality of material. The interior contains many fine and costly woods in the finish. Mr. Alderman and his family moved from the plantation to occupy this residence as soon as it was completed.
Until Hoke County was created the Alderman farm was in Robeson County, and for four years, from 1908 to 1912, Mr. Alderman was a member of the board of county commissioners of Robeson. He has also served as a town commissioner of Wagram. He was one of the organizers and is a director of the Bank of Wagram. In politics he is a democrat, and a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Alderman married Miss Lyda Purcell, daughter of the late Archibald Purcell and mem- ber of a prominent old family of Robeson County. The five children constituting the Alderman fam- ily circle are Misses Lillian and Margaret, Mrs. Ella McLean, Mrs. Lyda Jones and Dorothy.
CHARLES LABAN ABERNETHY. Since he secured a license to practice law in the State of North Carolina in 1895 Charles L. Abernethy has found his time taken up with a growing general practice and his ability and services have been in increas- ing demand for many large and important inter- ests. At one time he was general counsel of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railway. He also served as county attorney of Carteret County, and about ten years ago he was appointed solicitor for the Third Judicial District. In 1908 he was elected to that office, and has been continuously employed in that capacity. The old Third Dis- triet is now the Fifth Judicial District.
Mr. Abernethy was born at Rutherford Col- lege, North Carolina, March 18, 1872, a son of John Turner and Martha Anna (Scott) Aber- nethy. His father was for many years promi- nent as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and also taught as a member of the faculty at Rutherford College. It was in the halls of this old institution of Burke County that Charles L. Abernethy received his early education. He studied law at the University of North Caro- lina, and was admitted to practice in 1895.
In the meantime he had taken up a career as a newspaper man and was editor of the Beaufort Herald for eight years, from 1893 to 1901. He is now associated in the practice of the law in Newbern with D. E. Henderson and George T. Willis, under the firm name of Abernethy, Hen- derson and Willis.
He was a former president of the Chamber of Commerce of Beaufort. While in that office he was influential in securing the appropriations for the improvement of the Inland Waterway and the construction of a breakwater.
Mr. Abernethy served as presidential elector from the First Congressional District in 1900 and again from the Third District in 1904. He has also been a member of the state executive committee of the democratic party.
On December 19, 1895, the year he was ad- mitted to the bar, he married Miss Minnie M. May of Greene County, North Carolina. They have one son, Charles Laban, Jr., born Decem- ber 9, 1899.
Mr. Abernethy is well known in fraternal cir- cles, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Ma- son and a Knights Templar Mason, and also a
member of the Mystic Shrine, and has affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World, the Knights of Harmony. He and his family are members of Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Newbern.
WILLIAM HIGHTOWER. The Hightower family of North Carolina was established in Caswell County in the early years of the nineteenth century by William Hightower, who was born in Virginia, a son of Joshua Hightower. William Hightower bought land in what is now Hightower Township of Caswell County, and was a planter and slave holder there until his death. He married Mary Anderson, who was born in Orange County, North Carolina. They reared sons named Joshua, Wil- liam, John A., and Daniel, and three daughters named Eliabeth, Jane and Permelia.
John A. Hightower inherited land and brought more in Hightower Township, and spent his life there as a farmer. He married Mary Jackson, a native of Caswell County, daughter of Daniel Jackson, who was born in Dinwiddie County, Vir- ginia. John A. Hightower and wife reared eight children: William D., Susan Ann, Alexander C., Sarah J., Fannie E., James R., John S. and Bettie.
William D. Hightower was born in Caswell Coun- ty and on January 1, 1863, enlisted in Company B of the Fourth North Carolina Regiment. He was with that regiment in many of its battles, in- cluding the great conflict at Gettysburg. He was near Petersburg when Lee surrendered. After his parole he returned home and was identified with farming in his native county for ten years. He then removed to Rockingham Township and farmed for several years in Reidsville Township, and since then has been a resident of Reidsville. For a number of years he was a merchant and is now filling the offices of justice of the peace, notary public, game warden and deputy register of deeds for Rockingham County.
EDWIN THEODORE CLEMMONS. One of the most prominent families of Western North Carolina is that of Clemmons, whose name is retained in the Village of Clemmonsville in Forsyth County. One of the most conspicuous members of the family was the late Edwin Theodore Clemmons, who was a man of great business enterprise and left his property to wise and beneficent use and in such a way as to influence the lives and characters of many of the coming generations.
He was born at Clemmonsville October 17, 1826, a son of William and Mary (Hanes) Clem- mons. He was a grandson of John Clemmons, and a great-grandson of Peter Clemmons. Peter Clem- mons came from England to Virginia and subse- quently settled in what is now Forsyth County, North Carolina. He was one of the pioneers there and his descendants acquired great bodies of land and many other possessions. Peter Clemmons the founder of the family was a Quaker.
Edwin T. Clemmons learned the trade of cab- inet-maker as a young man, but never followed it for any length of time. He had both vision and purpose, and when a young man he ex- emplified his shrewd enterprise by walking to the City of Washington and securing a contract with the Government to carry mails. For many years he operated lines of mail coaches throughout this section of the country and made a fortune in
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that business. He continued the operation of these coaches until railroads were built, when he moved from Winston-Salem to Asheville, and was proprietor of a hotel in that celebrated re- sort city. Edwin T. Clemmons died at Salem December 20, 1896, at the age of seventy years. He had no children, and left his estate to found a church and school at Clemmonsville. He was baptized in the Hope Moravian Church and was later confirmned at Salem and always kept his mem- bership in the Home Moravian Church of that city.
HON. JOHN HUMPHREY SMALL. When a man has been continuously in public life for over thirty years, and continuously a member of Congress for twenty years, as has been John Humphrey Small, the record of his life and service is looked upon as one of the assets of the state. The representa- tive of the First North Carolina District has been written about and discussed so frequently that few citizens of his native state fail to appreciate at least his larger and more important services. But it is due him as a figure of national and state prominence that this publication should contain at least an outline of his very interesting career.
He was born at Washington, North Carolina, August 29, 1858, son of John Humphrey and Sallie Anne (Sanderson) Small. His father and mother were members of old time families on the eastern shore, where the Smalls and Sandersons had lived for generations.
Congressman Small was educated in the schools of Washington, his native town, and at Trinity College. He left school in 1876 and for the next four years was a teacher. In the meantime he studied law and was licensed to practice in Janu- ary, 1881. The outstanding points of his experience and service since then may be briefly enumerated : Elected reading clerk of the State Senate in 1881; elected superintendent of public instruction for Beaufort County in the latter part of 1881; in 1882 elected solicitor of the Inferior Court of Beaufort County, serving until 1885; proprietor and editor of the Washington Gazette 1883-1886; attorney for the Board of County Commissioners of Beaufort County, 1888-96; member of the City Council of Washington, May, 1887, to 1890, and for one year of that period acting as mayor of Washington; chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of the First Congressional District in 1888; chair- man of the Democratic Executive Committee of Beaufort County from 1889 to 1898; democratic presidential elector from the First Congressional District in 1896; has been for several years and is now chairman of the Public School Committee of Washington, North Carolina, and in 1898 was first elected to represent the First District of North Carolina in the National Congress. His services in Congress have been continuous beginning with the Fifty-sixth Congress to the present, Sixty-fifth Congress.
The First Carolina District comprises the fol- lowing counties: Beaufort, Camden, Chowan, Cur- rituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Pas- quatank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell and Washing- ton.
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There would be little significance in reviewing Mr. Small's membership on the various commit- tees of Congress during his twenty years of service, though it is proper to say that many of the most important committees have at different times en- joyed his membership and activity. A most fitting reward came for these services in the session of
the Sixty-fifth Congress in March, 1917, when he was chosen as chairman of the committee on rivers and harbors.
Mr. Small's big services to the state and nation might properly be summarized under the heads of inland waterway navigation, drainage and reclama- tion of swamp lands, and agricultural development.
Mr. Small, it will be noted, grew up and has always had his home on the eastern shore of North Carolina. Long before he was a candidate for Congress he was alive to the necessity of a water- way from the Sounds of North Carolina leading north into Chesapeake Bay. The importance and value of his work can perhaps be best appreciated from a study of the map of this section of the coast. People dwelling in inland communities may perhaps be surprised to know that there is no navigable outlet to the ocean between Cape Heury and Beaufort Inlet. Another significant fact is that 90 per cent of the water commerce of Eastern North Carolina, both outgoing and ingoing, is with the North. Beaufort Inlet is south of Cape Hat- teras and Cape Lookout. For many years Beaufort Inlet was not accessible either from Albermarle or Pamlico Sound or to the towns on the Pasquatank, Chowan, Roanoke, Pamlico, Neuse and other rivers of Eastern North Carolina. At that period the water-borne commerce from Eastern North Caro- lina, from Newbern north, had no outlet north to Chesapeake Bay except through two privately- owned canals. This was the geographical situation which made significant Mr. Small's entrance into Congress. He went to Congress cherishing as his chief ambition a plan to induce that body to pro- vide a free and adequate waterway connecting the sounds and rivers of North Carolina with Chesapeake Bay and its great commerce. He had hardly been sworn in as a member of Congress in December, 1899, before he started to work. It was a, long struggle. The Rivers and Harbors Committee and to a large extent public sentiment were then prejudiced against the construction of canals by the United States Government. Many other waterways east and west, north and south were receiving appropriations, but no favors were bestowed upon this project of Congressman Small. After many surveys and many disappointments and failures Congress finally authorized the cosntruc- tion of what is known as the Norfolk-Beaufort Inland Waterway. The first section constructed was a canal leading from the Neuse River to New- port River (Beaufort Inlet). The next section, expected to be completed during 1918, was be- tween Norfolk and Albermarle Sound. The dis-' tance between Beaufort and Norfolk is about two hundred miles. The siguificant value of this water- way, already suggested, is in the fact that it is behind both Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout. Barge transportation around Cape Hatteras is im- practicable. The stormy nature of that promontory is proverbial, and even the largest ships find it a menace to safe navigation. That difficulty is now in a fair way towards being overcome, and it lies within the realm of probabilities that the present Norfolk-Beaufort Inland Waterway will develop as part of that greater plan known as the Intra- Coastal Waterway from Boston to Florida, several sections of which have already been completed or are in process of construction.
The record of Congressman Small's usefulness in promoting drainage and bringing about improve- ments in the agricultural life and welfare of the farming classes is a combined achievement and influence that does not take second place in his
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efforts to promote inland waterway. When first elected he realized that from 80 to 85 per cent of the people of his district are directly or indirectly dependent upon agriculture. He therefore sought to bring the benefits of the great agricultural de- partment of the United States to the farmers of this district. He identified himself with the move- ments which have led to the present system of federal county demonstration ageuts, home dem- onstration agents, and the corollary movement of boys' pig clubs, corn clubs, home canning clubs, etc. Many of the splendid results obtained through these movements and the high standards set by North Carolina in agriculture are properly credited to Mr. Small's influence.
Beginning about 1900 and continuing until this country's entrauce into the European war, he au- nually secured practical farm experts from the Department of Agriculture and carried them into each county of his district, holding annual meet- ings in each county, and thus bringing directly to the people by spoken word aud demonstration new methods, primary knowledge of the soil, plant life, etc. Mr. Small was one of the men respon- sible for the legislation which has brought about closer relations between the Federal Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agriculture of his own state, particularly as related to the enactment of the present drainage law of North Carolina, regarded as one of the most beneficent measures ever enacted for the state.
For seven or eight years Mr. Small brought an expert on drainage to North Carolina to talk to his people about the necessity for and the methods of drainage. He also drafted the first modern drainage law for his native state. Enacted by the Legislature in 1909, this measure has resulted in the reclamation and drainage of hundreds of thousands of acres of swamp lands in Eastern North Carolina and river bottoms far into the central areas of the state. He also drafted all the amendments to this law prior to its passage. It was under the provisions of this measure that the great drainage project in Hyde County, in- cluding Mattamnskeet Lake, has been carried out. Many other similar projects have been perfected in Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender, Bladen, Cumber- land and other counties. In passing it should be stated that North Carolina's drainage law of 1909 was the first modern drainage legislation to be adopted by any state in the South except Louisiana.
It can only be a matter of pride and satisfac- tion to Mr. Small and to all his constituents that he has effected this pioneer work and has been so consistently active in bringing about agricul- tural extension movements by which the Federal Government cooperates with the states in bring- ing directly to the farmer all available and useful knowledge of agricultural science, better farm methods, and the improvement of the rural welfare generally.
But it should not be inferred that Mr. Small has concentrated his interests upon river and har- bor and drainage and agricultural legislation to the exclusion of all other interests. He has par- ticipated with all his ability in every movement that has made for betterment and progress. For a number of years he was active in the movement for Government purchase of a great national park in the Appalachian Range of mountains, including Western North Carolina and also in the White Mountains.
Mr. Small carried with him to Congress certain
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