USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 90
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ASHBEL BROWN KIMBALL is a prominent lawyer, well known in the law and in business circles at Greensboro, where he has practiced for many years. To a more select circle he has almost a national reputation through his hog ranch in Granville County, which is widely famed for its Duroc Jersey hogs.
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Mr. Kimball was born on that plantation seven miles south of Oxford in Granville County, and it means much to him because it was the home of both father and grandfather. His grandfather, Edward Kimball, was born in that section of North Carolina, grew up as a farmer, and prior to the war operated his old plantation with slave labor. He remained there as a farmer and land owner until the war between the states. During a visit to his son Edward, then in the Confederate army in Virginia, he was taken ill and died, but he was laid to rest at his old home locality. He married Mary Lawson, who was born in the Lawson neighborhood of Rockingham County. They had one daughter, Susan, and two sons William D. and Edward, both of whom were Con- federate soldiers. Edward died in the service.
William D. Kimball was born on the old farm in Granville County October 10, 1838. As a soldier he was with Company E of the Forty- sixth North Carolina troops, serving with the rank of sergeant. He was with the regiment practically from the beginning to the end of the war, and saw a great deal of hard service in its various battles and campaigns. He finally sur- rendered at Greensboro. He succeeded to the ownership of the home farm and was success- fully engaged in general farming there until his death November 27, 1917, when in his eightieth year. He married Susan Frances Stark, who was born in Granville County, North Carolina, June 15, 1848, daughter of Kaysar Jackson and Susan Frances (Wilson) Stark. To their marriage were born three sons and four daughters: Edward I., Ashbel Brown, William R., Meta, Dora, Minnie and Alice. Meta married J. J. Wren of Oxford; Dora became the wife of Rev. B. C. Allred of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Ashbel B. Kimball while a boy on the farm attended district schools and prepared for college in the Oak Ridge Institute. From there he en- tered the University of North Carolina and grad- uated Ph. B. in 1895. Mr. Kimball made a splen- did record as a scholar and in other student activities while at university. He was noted for efficiency in mathematics, which was one of his special subjects. During his junior year he won honors in debating and he also received special mention for his work in civil and electrical engi- neering, Latin and German. After graduation he taught mathematics at Oak Ridge Institute for two years. On resuming his studies at the State University Law Department he graduated LL. B. in February, 1898, and at once began practice at Greensboro. For many years the firm of King & Kimball of which he is a member has handled some of the most important cases in the local courts.
Mr. Kimball has never lost his love for the farm and country life. The old homestead of which he is owner comprises several hundred acres, bordering the Tar River, and is about seven miles south of Oxford. While it is conducted as a general farm proposition its specialty is thorough- bred hogs of the Duroc Jersey type. In 1916 the secretary of the National Association of Duroc Jersey Hog Breeders paid the Kimball farm the compliment of stating that with one exception there were more registered hogs sold from that herd than from any other one farm in the United States.
Mr. Kimball was one of the organizers of the Southern Life Surety and Annuity Company of Greensboro, that being the first life insurance com-
pany in the city. He organized the Greensboro Life Insurance Company and was influential in securing the consolidation of these two organiza- tions with the Jefferson Standard Insurance Com- pany, now the largest insurance company in the South. He is also a director in the Greensboro Loan and Trust Company.
December 23, 1902, Mr. Kimball married Miss Cora Donnell, who was born at Oak Ridge, Guil- ford County, daughter of William O. and Martha (Lanier) Donnell. Her mother was a cousin of Sidney Lanier, the greatest poet produced by the South and one of the greatest in America. Mr. and Mrs. Kimball are members, of the Protestant Methodist Church. He is affiliated with Greens- boro Lodge No. 602, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Buena Vista Lodge No. 21, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
VOLNEY B. MORGAN is one of the young men of vigor and enterprise who have already established themselves in business affairs. Mr. Morgan is sec- retary and treasurer of the El Rees So Cigar Com- pany of Greensboro.
He was born on a farm in Deep River Town- ship of Guilford County September 4, 1891. His great-grandfather, Thomas Morgan, came to Guil- ford County from the state of Ohio, bought land and gave his later years to farming. Andrew Mor- gan, grandfather of Volney B., was a planter and lifelong resident of Guilford County. He married Nancy Harris, a native of Person County, North Carolina.
David B. Morgan, father of Volney, was born in Deep River Township in 1862, grew up on a farm, and after reaching mature years bought a place of his own in Deep River Township. He continued farming actively until 1906, when he entered the Government service as rural mail carrier. He still carries the mail over a country route and is also owner of his old homestead. David B. Morgan married Miss Mary V. Bowman, daughter of George W. and Elizabeth (Pitts) Bowman, and granddaughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Pitts. David B. Morgan and wife reared six children, David Edmond, Grace Helen, Volney B., Carrie Belle, Ruth Elizabeth and Carlton Douglas.
Volney B. Morgan grew up chiefly on his fath- er's farm, attended district schools and spent one year in Elon College. At the age of twenty-one he came to Greensboro and went to work as sales- man in the store of John T. Rees. He acquired a thorough knowledge of merchandising, and in 1913, upon the organization of the El Rees So Cigar Company, he was appointed its secretary and treas- urer and has handled much of the business both locally and in building up outside connections, and enjoys much of the credit for the substantial suc- cess of this concern.
January 23, 1914, Mr. Morgan married Stella Violet Atkins. She was born in Deep River Town- ship, daughter of S. J. and Addie Atkins. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have one son, Volney B., Jr. Mr. Morgan is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and is affiliated with Greensboro Lodge No. 602, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, with the Knights of the Maccabees and with Kernersville Council, Junior Order of United American Me- chanics. He is a Presbyterian, while Mrs. Morgan is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ.
OWEN MERIDITH POWERS. It has been said and some times it seems to have been proved that one of the greatest friends of youth is personal re-
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sponsibility. If there is strong fiber there this will bring it out and in the development of resource- fulness and self esteem a confidence is created that leads to the path of success. Had Owen Meridith Powers, now one of the representative men of Chad- bourn, North Carolina, had his early road smoothed for him by a less stern father he might have made his way more rapidly, perhaps, to the front, but he would never have felt the exhilaration that is one of the rewards of self-made progress.
Owen Meridith Powers was born in Columbus County, North Carolina, July 27, 1879. His parents were Haynes and Helen (Barnes) Powers who be- came parents of the following children besides the subject of this sketch: Luther R., Hezzie L., Eliza B., Ellen I., MacDonald, Thomas T., Roy H. and Bunyan. His father's occupation was farming. In his early boyhood he had private school in- struction and afterward attended a high school, but when he approached his father with the idea of securing financial assistance in furthering his education he found his reply in a recommendation to apply himself to the tilling of the soil. As this did not appeal to Mr. Powers, having no inclina- tion in the direction of an agricultural life, he accepted the gift of five dollars from an uncle and left home to make his own way and provide for his own self support.
Mr. Powers was then eighteen years old and already he realized that a sound education was necessary in order that he could take his place beside other trained workers of the great world. As capital was his first need, he accepted the earliest position that offered itself and, although it was the humble one of cook in a camp, he per- formed his duties faithfully and satisfactorily. From that position he succeeded to others and alternating work with school attendance, in the course of a few years attended as a student a num- ber of the substantial educational institutions of this section of the state, including the South River Baptist Institute in Sampson County and the Rob- inson Institute in Robinson County, and was cred- itably graduated from the normal course in the latter in 1899.
Although he had accomplished the object of his ambition and was well equipped educationally, Mr. Powers had, perhaps, applied himself too closely to his books, for after teaching school for three years he found his health failing to such an extent that he decided to give up that profession, although it was one that interested him greatly. Subse- quently he embarked in the mercantile business, in which he continued for six years, following which, in 1905, he came to Chadbourn. Here he estab- lished the first garage in the place and gradually became identified with numerous business and pub- lic interests. For eleven years he has been presi- dent and manager of the Chadbourn Telephone Company. Entering the political field, in the in- terests of general reform, he was elected mayor of the town and approval was shown of his adminis- tration by re-election, and his service of two terms at the head of municipal affairs brought about many very essential changes redounding to his credit and benefitting the people of this city. In other ways in public office he has served capably and honorably, notably as a member for one year of the town board.
On May 23, 1905, Mr. Powers was united in mar- riage with Miss Edna Baggett, who is a daughter of Silas E. and Winifred (Wilson) Baggett, and they have two sons: Walter Baggett, who was
born in February, 1908, and Owen Meridith, Jr., born March 23, 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Powers are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. He has always been a great church worker and has been particularly interested in Sunday school work and was one of the promoters of the first county edu- cational and farmers "rally" ever held at Chad- bourn. He has served as assistant superintendent of the Chadbourn church and is now one of the Sunday school teachers. For six years he has been superintendent of the Sunday School Institute of the county and was its secretary for seven years. He is widely known over the county and the esteem in which he is held is universal.
STERLING R. HOLT. North Carolina has always taken much interest in her native sons abroad. Many of them have gone to other cities and com- munities after achieving at least the foundation of success in their home state. But the spirit of ad- venture and the determination to achieve success caused Sterling R. Holt to leave his ancestral home in Alamance County when a mere boy, and it is the province of the following paragraphs to relate briefly how he became known as the "ice king" of Indiana, a former chairman of the Democratic State Executive Committee of Indiana, and one of the best known capitalists of Indianapolis.
He was born on the Haw River within two miles of Graham, Alamance County, March 26, 1850, son of Seymour P. and Nancy (Clendening) Holt. His father is still living in Alamance County at the age of ninety-two. His grandfather, Isaac Holt was a cousin of Edwin M. Holt, whose portrait is found on other pages of this publication and who is famous for having established the cotton mill in- dustry in the Old North State. For several genera- tions the Holts have been leaders in the industrial and commercial development of North Carolina. Grandfather Isaac Holt was clerk of the Federal court of North Carolina at the time Judge Ruffin was on the bench.
From the date of his birth it will be perceived that Sterling R. Holt lived in North Carolina at a time when the country was practically poverty stricken as a result of the war. The only college he ever attended was an old log schoolhouse in Ala- mance County. After the war North Carolina had no industrial opportunities to offer its rising sons. It was this situation that confronted Sterling R. Holt about the time he was eighteen years old. In 1869 he came to Indianapolis, having borrowed the money with which to make the journey from his log cabin school teacher, who also gave him a letter paying a splendid tribute to his worth and high character, and furnished the names of two or three North Carolinians who had emigrated to Indiana. From Indianapolis young Holt walked to Plainfield in Hendrix County, a distance of fifteen miles, to look up a Mr. Lauder and a Mr. Hussey who had come here from North Carolina. On the farm of the latter he was given a place as farm hand at a salary of twelve dollars a month. There are few men in Indiana who began life with more meager opportunities and have more completely satisfied their ambition and in a broader or more effective way than Sterling R. Holt.
From the farm he went to work in a grocery store in the north part of Hendrix County at sixteen dol- lars a month. A year and a half later a merchant at Danville, Indiana, offered him a better place at thirty dollars a month. When in 1873 a wholesale
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millinery house at Indianapolis furnished him em- ployment at fifty dollars a month, he felt that in- deed he was on the highway to victory and pros- perity.
About that time Mr. Holt carried out a real es- tate deal which netted him $250, and this com- bined with his careful savings of $600 gave him the capital which in 1874 he embarked in a drug business on Washington Street. In the meantime he had supplemented his early educational advan- tages by a course in the Bryant and Stratton Busi- ness College. The drug store was largely left to the management of his partner, a practical pharmacist, while Mr. Holt kept himself alert to new business opportunities.
In 1875 he bought a thousand tons of ice that had been stored in the basement of the building where now stands the Claypool Hotel on Illinois Street. That was the beginning of his long and notable career in the ice business. Besides giving some attention to his drug business he arranged for the sale and distribution of his ice. He paid eleven dollars for a little second-hand one-horse wagon, thirty-five dollars for a horse and three dollars for harness, and hired a man to make deliveries in the city. Through his friendship with a local banker who had taken a liking to him and placed great confidence in him, during the summer of 1876 Mr. Holt was loaned $800 additional capital, and in that one year cleared $16,000 on the ice business. That was his first "big" money making. In the same year he cleared $2,000 dollars on his drug store.
Since then he has been continuously in the ice business. At first his operations were of course confined to the storage and sale of natural ice. When ice making machines were invented and put on the market, he installed some of them in his own business. In 1880 he became associated with others in the organization of the Indianapolis Ice Company, and in 1888 Mr. Holt acquired the whole- sale department of this business. When at the high tide of his reign as the "ice king of Indiana, "' Mr. Holt owned and operated plants at Indianapolis, Evansville, Terre Haute. Crawfordsville, Logans- port and South Bend. He installed the first arti- ficial ice plant in the latter city, also at Evansville, the latter costing $40,000. The plants outside of Indianapolis he has since disposed of, and the In- dianapolis business is still conducted as the Holt Ice and Storage Company.
There are a great many people who know Ster- ling R. Holt neither as a successful business man nor as a power in Indiana politics, but as a former owner of some of the greatest race horses the world has known, including "Sidney Dillon" and other champions of the turf. Many of these horses were bred and trained at Mr. Holt's famous Maywood Stock Farm in Marion County, five miles southwest of Indianapolis. He built up a plant that was one of the showplaces of the state, equipped with seven fine barns, one of them over a thousand feet long, and other substantial buildings, besides a beautiful and costly residence. Maywood Farm was devoted to trotting horses, and his racing stable attained such fame that though the farm is no longer in existence it sill lives in the memory of all true sportsmen and lovers of horseflesh. The star attrac- tion of his stables was the noted trotting stallion "Sidney Dillon," which he purchased for $10,500, and for which he refused $50,000. "Sidney Dil- lon" is still alive. He is the sire of many blue
ribbon winners. Mr. Holt's string also included "Ruth Dillon," the world's champion in the four- year old filly class, and "Fleda Dillon," who holds the world's record at 2:0814 at two years old. For this farm Mr. Holt also imported a large num- ber of Percheron and Belgian horses. One of his Percherons took first prize at the International Horse Show in Chicago.
Mr. Holt now has another fine farm, which he considers his home farm, though he still resides in the city. It comprises 160 acres of very fine land, situated four miles west of Indianapolis. Mr. Holt has virtually retired from active business life, but maintains a private office in the Terminal Traction Building as a convenient place for the transaction of his affairs. He is one of the largest tax payers in Indianapolis, owning fifty-six pieces of prop- erty in the city. He helped organize the Union Trust Company and was one of its first directors. For a number of years he has been financially identified with business and industrial enterprises of his home city.
The people of his native state will take special pride in the fact that a young man of democratic training and rearing should exemplify his stalwart principles and allegiance to such good effect that he became a power in Indiana state politics. He entered the political arena about the same time as Mr. Thomas Taggart, and as a close friend and associate of Mr. Taggart Mr. Holt continued to exercise for a number of years a leadership in state politics. At one time he was president of the Board of Public Safety for Indianapolis, in 1890 was elected chairman of the Marion County Democratic Committee, and in 1892 was elected county treasurer, but declined a second term. In 1895 he became chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, but upon the nomination of Bryan at Chicago in 1896 and the adoption of the free-silver platform, he declined to support the ma- jority wing of the party. Among others he called a convention of gold standard democrats at Indian- apolis, and in that convention Palmer and Buckner were nominated on a platform of sound money, and carried on an active campaign for that ticket.
Mr. Holt is prominently identified with Masonic circles and various business organizations of Indian- apolis. September 18, 1874, he married Miss Mary Gregg. Her father Martin Gregg was at one time a successful business man of Danville, Indiana, and a county commissioner of Hendricks County.
FRANK ARMFIELD LINNEY of Boone has achieved the position and the fine and broad service of the successful lawyer, winning a high rank in private practice and responding time and again to calls for his public service.
Mr. Linney was born on a farm on the South Yadkin River eight miles from Taylorsville in Alex- ander County, June 29, 1874. His parents were R. Z. and Dorcas A. (Stephenson) Linney. The great-grandfather William Linney came from Eng- land and settled in Iredell County, North Carolina. R. Z. Linney, who was also a lawyer by profes- sion, served as a private in the Confederate army. He was also three times elected to the State Senate and served three terms in Congress from Western North Carolina. His mother was a daughter of Joseph Baxter and a sister of Judge John Baxter of Tennessee. Dorcas A. Stephenson was a daugh- ter of Franklin and Clarissa (Allen) Stephenson. Franklin Stephenson was the only member of his
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family who remained in North Carolina, his brothers moving to the west, some of them settling in East Bend, Indiana.
Frank Armfield Linney was educated at Trinity College, but left that institution five months be- fore he graduated. He studied law in college and privately and was licensed by the Supreme Court of the state in September, 1896. For over twenty years he has been busily engaged in his practice and his clientage has brought him an extensive busi- ness in five counties of the Seventeenth Judicial District. For eight years beginning January 1, 1906, he served as solicitor of the Seventeenth Judi- cial District. He was appointed a trustee of the State University of North Carolina and of the Appalachian Training School for Teachers by the Legislature of 1917. The governor appointed him a member of the Special State Tax Commission of 1917. When America declared war on Germany Mr. Linney made a campaign in many of the coun- ties of the state for the purpose of arousing the people to a realization of the issues involved and prompting them to appropriate co-operation with the Government. Mr. Linney did much to lead the way in a hearty support of all war measures. He also served on the local exemption board for Watauga County and on the Legal Advisory Board.
Mr. Linney is owner of 2,000 acres of farm lands in this section of North Carolina. He is a director in the Watauga County Bank of Boone and has lent his professional and private influence in behalf of many constructive enterprises. He did much toward securing the construction of a railroad into Watauga County, and has been a leader in the good roads movement in his district. Mr. Linney is a member of the Masonic Lodge.
He is one of the most prominent republicans of North Carolina. He was district elector for Mc- Kinley in 1900, a candidate for Congress from the Eighth Congressional District in 1914, and in 1916 as candidate for governor received the largest re- publican vote ever given a candidate of that party, the vote for him being 120,121. Again in 1918 he was a candidate for Congress. He was elected chairman of the Republican State Executive Com- mittee in 1914, 1916 and 1918.
January 24, 1900, at Taylorsville Mr. Linney married Mary Hessie Matheson, daughter of W. B. Matheson of Taylorsville. Her father, was a well known banker of that town. Mrs. Linney is a sis- ter of Dr. J. P. Matheson of Charlotte, J. A. Matheson of Greensboro, W. L. Matheson of Mooresville, and R. L. Matheson of Taylorsville. Her only sister is Mrs. Coleman Payne of Taylors- ville. Mr. and Mrs. Linney have four children : Baxter, Margaret, Kenneth and Mary Frances.
WINFIELD CHADWICK WILLIS has had a rather diversified experience, at first as a boatman and eventually as a boat owner, and afterwards enter- ing a larger business field and rapidly accumu- lating experience and authoritative knowledge of insurance. He is now a resident of Newbern and manager of the insurance department of one of the leading banks and trust companies of that city.
Mr. Willis was born at Smyrna, North Caro- lina, April 30, 1881, a son of Simeon and Fan- nie (Watson) Willis. His father was both a farmer and merchant. The son was content with the education supplied by the public schools, and in his mature life has done much to fortify him- self educationally and make up for early defi- ciencies.
His life was spent on a farm until he was eighteen years of age, and then he began sailing on the boats plying the inland waters and around the coast of North Carolina. At the age of twenty he made purchase of a small boat, and began transporting passengers and goods as a vessel owner. With increasing capital he bought power boats, both for freight and passenger serv- ice, and in time had a rather extensive business. At the age of thirty he removed to Morehead City, where he conducted a line of passenger boats for a year. While at Morehead City Mr. Willis con- tinued his education with an International Cor- respondence School course and for a time was lo- cal representative of that school at Newbern. He resigned to take up general insurance work, and did business in that line at Morehead City for four years. In May, 1916, he returned to New- bern and became manager of the insurance de- partment of the Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company.
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