USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume VI > Part 93
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"Prof. B. B. Dougherty, Principal.
Appalachian Training School, Boone. "Dear sir:
"The joint committee on appropriations of the Senate and House, after hearing reports from all institutions of the state receiving state aid, have directed us to convey to you the sincere apreciation of the committee on the work your School is doing, and of the admirable management it is receiving. While many of our institutions are splendidly managed, yet your school alone is singled out by the Committee as especially de- serving of commendation. It is with very great pleasure that we convey to you the unqualified approval of this Committee and heartily con- gratulate you upon your record of accomplish- ments.
"Cordially yours, " (Signed) "Henry A. Gilliam, "Chairman Senate Committee Appropriations. "Gallatin Roberts, "Chairman House Committee on Appropriations. "
NEILL A. GRAHAM is representative of an old and honored family name in Richmond County, where the Grahams have lived and done their part as worthy and respected citizens for several gen- erations. They are typical of the strong, sturdy Scotch who in North Carolina and elsewhere have impressed their character and energies upon the world's activities.
Mr. Graham is a grandson of Neill Graham and a great-grandson of Archie Graham. Both of them were born in Scotland. They immigrated to America and settled in North Carolina in 1802, first in Cumberland County and three years later removing to the northeast section of Rich- mond County on the Lumber River. There the Grahams established a large plantation, and for over a century the lands in that vicinity were owned and operated by members of this family.
It was on the old homestead along the Lumber River that Neill A. Graham was born in 1854. He is a son of William W. and Jane (Jenkins) Graham. His father, also a native of Richmond County, served as captain of a company in the Confederate Army. By profession he was a civil engineer, had a fine education, and was said to have been the best mathematician in the state in
his day. He was a graduate of Donaldson Acad- emy at Fayetteville, for several years was sheriff of Richmond County and after the war was coun- ty surveyor. He died in 1899, in his eightieth year.
Neill A. Graham acquired a good education considering the time and opportunities of his youth. He learned surveying and civil engineer- ing under his father, and has combined that occu- pation with practical farming. Since 1897 he has continuously filled the office of county sur- veyor of Richmond County.
His work as a farmer is done on a fine planta- tion which he has occupied since 1889. It com- prises 233 acres and is located on the Capital Highway, which extends from Washington to At- lanta, and is six miles north of the county seat of Rockingham and in Mineral Spring Town- ship. Between his profession and the manage- ment of this farm Mr. Graham has found ample interests and, occupation for his time and ener- gies and he is one of the very substantial citi- zens of the county. Mr. Graham has always taken great interest in local history and is considered an authority on historical questions in his part of the state.
He married Miss Rachel Covington, a daughter of Walter K. Covington. The Covingtons are an old and influential family in both Richmond and Anson counties. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have three children: Essie Jane, Sallie May and Wil- liam Walter.
TAYLOR L. RAWLEY. A retired resident of Winston-Salem, Taylor L. Rawley began his career as a soldier in the war between the states, and after a gallant and faithful service of nearly four years he took up the varied business activities which engaged his attention for so many years.
Mr. Rawley was born on a farm near the Virginia state line, in Rockingham County, De- cember 4, 1841. His grandfather, James Rawley, was born in England, December 23, 1774. A brother preceded him to America and settled in Maryland. The descendants of both of them are now numerous and found in various states of the Union. The name is spelled differently by dif- ferent branches of the family. James Rawley came to North Carolina, and bought land in Rockingham County. He lived there the typical life of the planter and slave owner until his death on February 15, 1851. He married Frances Nichols on July 22, 1795, and her death occurred October 11, 1839. They reared twelve children named Daniel, Elizabeth, David, Martha, Talitha, James E., John, William, Nancy, George W., Thomas, Robert P. and James 2d, James E. having died young.
David I. Rawley, father of Taylor L., was born near the present site of Ruffin in Rockingham County, February 8, 1802. His early life was spent on a farm and after his marriage he bought land adjoining the estate of his wife's father. He had a few slaves, and lived contentedly and with sufficiency of prosperity until his death on June 15, 1863. David I. Rawley married Catherine Stubblefield, who was born near the present site of Ruffin. Her father Hugh C. Stubblefield was probably born in the same vicinity. Her grand- father Wyatt Stubblefield formerly lived in Cas- well County, but in March 1809 decded to his son Hugh the land in Rockingham County where the latter spent his life. Hugh C. Stubblefield was not only a planter, but also operated a grist
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mill which was on the land given by his father. He lived there until his death. Hugh Stubble- field married a Miss Lindsay. Mrs. David Rawley died in 1875. She reared six sons, James W., Hugh S., Taylor Lindsay, Rufus L., David Albert and Joseph P. Of these sons James, Hugh, Taylor, and Rufus all served as Confederate soldiers. Hugh lost his life in a skirmish near Charlestown in Jefferson County, West Virgina, and now sleeps there in the Confederate Cemetery.
Taylor L. Rawley had his early education in the rural schools of Rockingham County, and at the age of twenty he was attending a preparatory school near Hillsboro, taught by Professors Hughes and Norwood, and it was his intention to join the sophomore class at the University of North Carolina in 1861. However, war broke out and he responded to the call of the government and on May 10, 1861, enlisted in Company G of the Fourteenth Regular North Carolina Troops, In November, 1863, Mr. Rawley was commissioned First lieutenant in Company K of the Thirteenth Regiment. In the battle of Seven Pines he was wounded, but after several weeks in the hospital rejoined his command. He saw some of the hardest fighting of the war, and was almost con- tinuously in service until the close. Among the great battles in which he fought was Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Petersburg, etc., etc. He was at Appomattox at the final surrender and he still has the parole granted him there, April 10, 1865.
Like many of the Southern soldiers, he took up the duties of civilian after the war with a steadfast courage and patience, and obtained his own share of the rising fortunes of the South. For several years he sold tobacco on the road, and afterwards with a brother built a grist mill on the site of the one owned by his grandfather in Rockingham County. In 1884 Mr. Rawley re- moved to Reidsville and became active as a tobacco manufacturer with William Lindsay & Company. In 1892 Mr. Rawley came to Winston, and for a few years was engaged in the leaf tobacco trade. For ten years he had active charge of the Winston-Salem waterworks, but since giving up business responsibilities has lived quietly retired. On December 5, 1865, a few months after the close of the war, Mr. Rawley married Sallie P. Lindsey of Reidsville, daughter of Jolin and Tabitha Lindsey. Mrs. Rawley after more than forty years of married life died April 20, 1909. They reared seven children: Edgar L., Bertha May, Annie Julia, Josie B., Lelia L., Katie and John L.
Mr. Rawley has always sought to do his duty as a citizen and in 1879 he was the choice of the people of his district for membership in the state legislature. He took an active part in the de- liberations of that legislature which readjusted the state debt of North Carolina. Mr. Rawley is a member of Norfleet Camp of the Confederate Veterans.
CHARLES GASTON LEE was successful in business before he took up the law, and naturally since he orened his office at Asheville ten years ago a num- ber of substantial business interests have been submitted to his care in all matters and respects where a good and safe lawyer was required.
Mr. Lee is a native of Buncombe County, North Carolina, born at the Village of Leicester, January 9, 1874. son of William I. and Adelaide (Wells) Lee. He spent his boyhood on his father's farm,
attended district schools, and also two well known local institutions of learning, Weaverville College and Judson College. From college he entered into an active business career in the wholesale fruit and produce business at Asheville, and for fifteen years was head of the firm of Lee-Bryant Company. Commerce did not satisfy all his desires and am- bitions and he finally took up the study of law, pursued it with diligence and ability, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1908. His law studies were directed by William M. Davies, a well- known member of the Asheville bar. After his admission Mr. Lee practiced as a member of the firm of Tucker & Lee until the death of Mr. Tucker in 1912. He then formed his present partnership with Joseph F. Ford, under the firm name of Lee & Ford.
Mr. Lee is past state president and is serving now as state attorney for the Travelers Protective Association in North Carolina and has been a dele- gate to various meetings of the National Associa- tion. He is a director of the Azalea Woodworking Company, the Jackson Manufacturing Company, the Home Building and Loan Association, and is attorney for the above named concerns and for a number of other corporations. At one time he was city attorney for West Asheville. Mr. Lee is a member of the Asheville and North Carolina Bar associations and the Commercial Law League of America. In Masonry he has received the thirty- second degree of Scottish Rite, is a member of the Mystic Shrine, is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and is past state councillor of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.
March 24, 1897, he married Miss Lavinia Justice, of Asheville, daughter of Col. William D. and Susan (McCarson) Justice. Five children have been born to their marriage: The oldest, Christine Susan, is the wife of Grady G. Marler, vice presi- dent of the W. H. Marler Company at Winston- Salem. The other four children of Mr. and Mrs. Lee are Charles Gaston, Jr., William Ivey, Harold Kenneth and Lavinia Adelaide. During the sum- mer the family spend much of their time at their home, "Sleepy Hollow," in the country, near Asheville, a substantial farm of fifty acres. In politics Mr. Lee is a republican, and was in April, 1918, nominated by lis party for the position of judge of the Superior Court, Nineteenth Judicial District, and in the election held in November, 1918, he carried his district by a nice majority over his democratic opponent, but was defeated in the state at large.
RT. REV. LEO HAID was born at Latrobe, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1849. He joined the Benedictine Order in 1869, and was ordained a priest in 1872, serving as chaplain and a professor in St. Vincent's Abbey from 1872 to 1885.
In July, 1885, he was made Abbot of Belmont Cathedral Abbey at Belmont, North Carolina, a post he has since held. In 1887 he was also arpointed vicar apostolic of North Carolina and titular bishop of Messene. He was consecrated in that post July 1, 1888, and June 13, 1910, was designated abbot ordinary of Belmont Cathedral Abbey, and a member of Roman Patriciate and assistant at the Papal Throne, July 15, 1914.
WILLIAM DUNN, of Newbern, has had an un- usually long and active career as a railroad man, as farmer and banker, and is now the executive head of one of Newbern's most substantial finan- cial institutions.
NO Whining
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
He represents an old and honored name in this section of. Eastern North Carolina. He was born at Newbern September 7, 1847, a son of William and Margaret (Oliver) Dunn. His father was widely known in his time as a merchant and ship owner. The son was well educated in private schools and part of his boyhood was spent in the troublous times of the war. Soon after the war and at the age of nineteen he became clerk in a steamship office and he worked for shipping in- terests from 1866 to 1877. He then became agent at Newbern of the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, and was with that transporta- tion company until 1888, when he resigned the post of superintendent. Mr. Dunn then took up a line of business which he highly specialized and made very profitable. He became a truck farmer and for many years raised early vegetables for the market. That was his chief business interest until 1905.
On October 1, 1907, Mr. Dunn organized the People's Bank of Newbern and is its first and only president. He is also secretary and treas- urer of the Newbern Ice Company and presi- dent of the Home Building and Loan Associa- tion. As a successful business man he has done much for the welfare of his community and is now a member of the board of county commissioners. Mr. Dunn is affiliated with St. John's Lodge No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a trustee of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On September 3, 1912, he married Mrs. Mabel (Seabreel) Covington, of Wilmington, North Car- olina. Mrs. Dunn was born in Hamilton, North Carolina.
JULIUS A. LINEBACK, a veteran of the Confed- erate war, and for many years officially identified with the Moravian Church in Western Carolina, was born at Salem in Forsyth County September 8, 1834. He is now a man of venerable years and usefulness has characterized his entire life.
His father John Henry Lineback was born in Salem, North Carolina, February 12, 1796. His grandfather Lewis Lineback was born in Oley, Pennsylvania. The great-great-grandfather Henry Lineback, was born in the District of Langens- blatt, Germany, and never came to America, his son John settled in Bavaria, where his son John was born, who came over in 1723, and located at Oley, Pennsylvania, and from there came to North Carolina, and was one of the very first settlers in what is now Forsyth County. He was an active member of the Moravian Church and was closely identified with the organization of that religion in this part of the state. He bought for his own farm land about eight miles north of Salem and lived there until his death. He was the father of ten children. Lewis Lineback learned the trade of shoemaker. The trade of shoemaker was a much more dignified and important vocation in those days than it is at present, since the shoemaker was the shoe manufacturer as well as the repairer of footwear. All boots and shoes were then made to order, and shoemaking was an indespensible trade. Lewis Lineback followed that business in the neighborhood of Salem and lived there until his death in September 1800. His son John mar- ried Elizabeth Transon, who was born in Forsyth County and died July 25, 1843. She reared three sons and three daughters, John H., Traugott, William, Anna Dorothea, Regina and Anna.
Henry Lineback, father of Julius A., also learned
the trade of shoemaker and followed it throughout his active career. His death occurred in August 1870. He married Elizabeth Snider, who was born in Forsyth County and died in July 1865. Her six children were named Edward W., Emma, James T., Robert P., Julius A. and Henry A.
Mr. Julius A. Lineback attended the Boys School in Salem and when a young man became a clerk in a general store and from that entered his main profession as bookkeeper. In 1862 he enlisted in the Twenty-sixth Regiment of North Carolina Troops as a musician and was with the command in its various marches and battles until practically the close of the war. On the day before Lee's surrender he was captured and was taken to Point Lookout Prison in Maryland, where he was detained until the 30th of June. On being released he returned home and continued his work as bookkeeper until 1876. He then entered the service of the Moravian Church in its administra- tive offices, at first as bookkeeper and later as secretary and treasurer, and continued to serve the church in those capacities until March, 1914. He retired at the age of eighty, but is still an active worker and handles fire insurance.
He was married in 1866 to Miss Anna Sophia Vogler. Mrs. Lineback was born in the West Indies during the residence there of her parents, Rev. Miles and Sophia Dorothy (Ruede) Vogler, mis- sionaries of the Moravian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Lineback have five children named Harry Vogler, William, Caroline, Bertha and Clarence. Harry married Pearl MeKnight and has a son, Harry. William married Grace Roberts, and has four sons, William, Waller, Harold and Vann. Bertha is the wife of R. B. Diehl and her three children are James Lineback, Helen and Caroline. Mr. Line- back and wife and family are active members of the Moravian Church.
HENRY P. WHITEHURST, a young and capable lawyer of Newbern, began practice four years ago, and in that brief time has done much to es- tablish a reputation and a successful position.
He was born at Newbern December 7, 1887, a son of Moses E. and Maria Jane (Bailey) White- hurst, his father a well known Newbern merchant. From the public schools of Newbern he entered Wake Forest College, where he spent four years, part of the time in the law department. Mr. Whitehurst was licensed to practice in August, 1913, and practically all his experience as a law- yer has been in his native city.
He is a member of the North Carolina Bar As- sociation and of the Missionary Baptist Church. He was married March 17, 1914, to Miss Robbie Sams, of Madison County, North Carolina. She is a daughter of John Robert and Loduska (Car- ter) Sams.
W. S. WHITING. If those who claim that for- tune has favored certain individuals above others will but investigate the cause of success and fail- ure, it will be found that the former is largely due to the improvement of opportunity, the latter to the neglect of it. Fortunate environment en- compass nearly every man at some stage of his. career, but the strong man and the successful man is he who realizes that the proper moment has come, that the present and not the future holds his opportunity. The man who makes use of the Now and not the To Be is the one who passes on the highway of life others who started out ahead of him, and reaches the goal of prosperity in advance
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HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA
of them. It is this quality in W. S. Whiting that has made him a leader in the business world and won him an enviable name in connection with the lumber interests of the country. At present he is president of the Boone Fork Lumber Company, one of the leading industries in Watauga County, North Carolina.
A native of the Wolverine state, Mr. Whiting was born at St. Clair, Michigan, in 1872, and he is a son of Henry W. and Mary Throop (Rice) Whiting, both of whom were born and reared in the State of New York. It is a matter of interest to note that the father was graduated in West Point in the same class with General Grant and General Sherman. He participated in the Mexican war and during the Civil war he was colonel of the Second Vermont Infantry. Long before the war, in 1848, he had gone to St. Clair, Michigan, and established a lumber mill on Pine River. He was one of the pioneers of the great lumber in- dustry, which for a number of years was the lead- ing industry of Michigan.
Mr. Whiting was educated in the public schools of St. Clair and in the University of Michigan, at Aun Arbor. He entered upon his business career as a lumberman and has confined his attention to this line of enterprise to date. In 1890 he and his brother, F. R. Whiting, now of Philadelphia, came to North Carolina and located at Hickory, in the heart of the timber country of this state, and there established the Catawba River Lumber Company, in connection with which they operated a large mill. This concern afterward became the present Hutton & Burbonnais Company, of Hick- ory. The two brothers remained at Hickory for five years, building up an extensive lumber-manu- facturing business. They floated their logs from Caldwell County down the Johns River into the Catawba River. This led to extensive litigation brought by the county government of Burke, affect- ing the right of the Whitings, or others, to use the streams for that purpose, the outcome of which was a Supreme Court decision defining "floatable" streams. This decision has remained the law on this subject in North Carolina to the present time.
After leaving Hickory, Mr. Whiting and his brother went to Philadelphia and there established the Whiting Lumber Company. After a year in Philadelphia Mr. Whiting himself went to Eliza- bethton, in Eastern Tennessee, and operated a mill there until 1903, when he went to Abingdon, Vir- ginia, where he operated a lumber mill until 1911. In the meantime the Whiting Manufacturing Com- pany was organized and 93,000 acres of timber land in Graham County, North Carolina, was pur- chased and a mill built at Judson, in Swain County. About this time, also, Mr. Whiting's headquarters were changed from Abingdon to Asheville, where he resided for a period of eight years, at the ex- piration of which, in the summer of 1916, he came to Shull's Mills, in Watauga County, North Caro- lina, and, as president of the Boone Fork Lumber Company, built one of the finest lumber manufac- turing plants in the South and began to operate the same about January 1, 1917.
The plant of the Boone Fork Lumber Company is electrically driven, the power being largely de- veloped on Boone Fork. There is an auxiliary steam plant at the mill. The sawing equipment is composed of a single eight-foot band with a horizontal resaw. The character of timber manu- factured is hemlock and hard woods. The mill was constructed to conserve its by-products; for
instance, the chestnut sawdust and chestnut slabs are ground up and shipped away for extract pur- poses, while the poplar, hemlock and other soft- wood slabs are saved and sent to the pulp mills. The mill might be termed a board mill, as its principal function is to cut one and two-inch lum- ber. Hickory plank are sent to wagon works in the South, maple boards to wheel works in the North, hemlock lumber and a portion of the hard- woods are shipped to markets in the East and other hardwoods go into the Ohio River district.
The opening of the Boone Fork Lumber Com- pany's plant at Shull's Mills has done and will continue to do an incalculable amount of good to this section of North Carolina. In the first place, it was the means of bringing the Linville Railroad from Montezuma to Shull's Mills, this line being a part of the East Tennessee & West- ern North Carolina Railroad, a first-class road, sp.endidly equipped in every connection. Through the efforts of Mr. Whiting the railroad was finally extended to Boone and in this the people of Wa- tanga County have been very much interested. The Boone Fork Lumber Company expends about $20,000 per month, every cent of which remains in circulation at Shull's Mills. Under Mr. Whit- ing's direction the company will clear up about 42,000 acres of the surrounding timbered land, thus opening up for farming, dairying and cattle raising a large section of as rich agricultural land as can be found anywhere. This new development will add immeasurably to the wealth of Avery and Watauga counties and concentrate here prosperity that had not hitherto been dreamed of. Mr. Whit- ing is greatly enthusiastic about the future of this section of the state. He has erected a splen- did residence at Shull's Mills, where he has ex- tensive interests other than those connected with the lumber company.
Mr. Whiting is a shrewd business man whose good judgment has led him to take advantage of every square opportunity offered for advancement. While undoubtedly he has not been without that honorable ambition which is so powerful and use- ful as an incentive to activity in public affairs, he regards the pursuits of private life as being in themselves abundantly worthy of his best ef- forts. In community affairs he is active and in- fluential and his support is readily and generously given to many measures for the general progress and improvement. His life history is certainly worthy of commendation and of emulation, for ! along honorable and straightforward lines he has ' won the success which crowns his efforts and which makes him one of the substantial residents of Wa- ' tauga County.
At Hickory, North Carolina, in the year 1898, : was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Whiting to ' Miss Caroline Loretz Link, a daughter of the late Postmaster Link, of Hickory, a sketch of whose ' career appears on other pages of this work. The ' following brief data are here incorporated con- . ' cerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Whiting: Henry Whiting II., born September 22, 1899, is " now a sophomore in University of Michigan, and ' also a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity ;; of which fraternity his father was a member. Anna Belle Whiting, born October 19, 1903, is a junior in Grove Park School for Girls, Asheville, North Carolina. Caroline Loretz Whiting, born January 2, 1905, is in school at Shull's Mills. William Scott Whiting, Jr., born April 11, 1907, also in school at Shull's Mills.
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