USA > North Carolina > Guilford County > The History of Guilford County, North Carolina > Part 11
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About 1830, Pleasant Union was built. Rev. Alson Gray, one of the greatest preachers of this denomination, organized the church. In 1842 Peter Julian, Christian Kime and G. W. Bowman were appointed trustees. Peter Bowman was first Sunday School superintendent. One special rule in a long list of rules which were read each Sunday was: "That males and females were not to go together, but males by themselves and females by themselves." In 1855 the church numbered twenty-four males and eleven females. Following this time the pastors were : Revs. Jordan Neese, A. W. Lineberry, T. H. Pegram, J. L. Michaux, W. C. Kennett, C. F. Harris, R. R. Michaux, J. H. Page, J. W. Heath, J. W. Ball, R. H. Wills, S. W. Coe, T. F. McCulloch, J. R. Hutton, W. W. Amick, G. F. Millaway.
Bethel, Flat Rock, Ai, are also Methodist Protestant churches, built up by the labors of Revs. Alson Gray and A. W. Lineberry. Grace Methodist Protestant Church was erected in 1892. Its first pastor was Rev. W. F. Ogborn, from Maryland, who was suc- ceeded by Rev. J. S. Williams. Rev. J. F. McCulloch served one 2. 19-2 year and was followed by Rev. T. M. Johnson. The erection of this church marked a new era in the life of the Methodist Protes- tant Church in this State, and in a great measure Grace Church determines the thought and progress of the denomination. Many little children attend Grace Church. Seated in a body they are a beautiful group.
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The Methodist Protestant Church at High Point was begun in 1894. On the fourth Sunday in September, 1895, Rev. F. T. Tagg, D. D., preached the opening sermon, at the close of which a collection was taken sufficient to cover the indebtedness. In the evening Rev. T. J. Ogburn preached the dedicatory sermon and organized the church with thirteen members. At the following conference W. R. Lowdermilk was made pastor.
The oldest of the German Reformed churches in Guilford County is Lows Church, standing on the old road from Hills- borough to Salisbury, North Carolina. (See Colonial Records, Vol. 8, 1735.) It was a union Reformed and Lutheran church until dissentions arose in regard to the Regulation war. Upon that the Reformed members moved out to a house of their own, "Brick Church," of which Rev. Samuel Suther was pastor until the close of the war. In these years Ludwig Clapp and Christian Foust were elders. After three years Rev. Bithahm succeeded the Rev. Suther. After this Rev. Andrew Loretz made annual visits for a number of years. The people were accustomed to meeting without a pastor each Sabbath for worship, when the ruling elder or the schoolmaster read a selected sermon. In 1812 Capt. Wil- liam Albright secured the services of a young minister, who was deputed to visit all of the Reformed churches of the South. Rev. James R. Riley came, making the visit on horseback by way of the emigrant route. Under his preaching fifty-seven members were added to this church. 1814 was the most prosperous year of Brick Church. In 1841 Rev. G. William Welker became pastor and served in that capacity this church about fifty years.
Frieden's Church was organized soon after Brick Church, probably by the same minister, ten miles northeast, in Guilford County. It was first known as Stahmaker's Church. The Re- formed families here were the Weitzells, Wyricks, Straders, De- Wolds, etc. In 1855 Rev. G. William Welker became their pastor, bringing new life to the church. Gideon DeWald and William Weitzell were chosen elders; John Clapp, Duncan Trosler and
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Joshua Weitzell, deacons. After a few years St. Mark's Reformed Church was built, at Boon's Station.
In 1851 the Reformed Congregation built a church on the old Martinsville road to Fayetteville, on the upper Alamance, and named it Mt. Hope. This congregation after the Civil War grew to be the strongest church numercially, numbering over 425 mem- bers. Rev. G. Wm. Welker was its pastor for forty-six successive years.
(It has been impossible to get the history of all the churches.)
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CHAPTER XII. THE TOWNS OF GUILFORD.
The principal towns of Guilford County are Greensboro and High Point. Those who travel say that in no part of the country, North or West, are there greater signs of growth and industrial development.
GREENSBORO.
Greensboro, the County seat of Guilford, has a population of about twenty-two thousand. Situated on a plateau, slightly in- clined toward the sunrise, is Greensboro, Queen of Piedmont Caro- lina. Surrounded by beautiful, undulating fields covered with soft Japanese clover, buffalo grass and abundant wild flowers, she is called the "City of Flowers." Once this section was prairie, it is said, but there are now tall oaks, poplars and elms of such strength and size as to suggest the forest primeval. Greensboro, the Gate City, is the open door of transportation between North and South. This advantage alone would have made her strong industrially. Her hotels are famous. Her people are kind, cul- tured and hospitable. Her health is perfect. Greensboro, City of Flowers, Garden of Roses, Abode of the Birds, is the centre of Guilford County.
In 1909 Greensboro will see her centennial. One lucky Fri- day morning in May, 1809, the Court of Guilford County was removed from Martinsville to the centre of the county, Greensboro. From the Court Records, 1809, is the following:
"At a County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions begun and held for the County of Guilford at the Courthouse in the town of Martinsville on the third Monday of May, 1809, it being the fifteenth day of the month.
IV.
OF
COL. W. H. OSBORN, HEAD OF KEELEY INSTITUTE IN NORTH CAROLINA, MAYOR OF GREENSBORO.
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"The Esquires present were John Starratt, E. Burrow, Roddy Hannar, Jonathan Parker, Obadiah Anthony.
"Court adjourned from the town of Martinsville to the town of Greensboro to meet at 10 o'clock Friday.
"According to adjournment the court met Friday, 19 May, 1809, at Greensboro, for the first time."
The Judges present at this first court held in Greensboro .. . were John Starratt, Jonathan Parker, Joseph Barnett, John Gul- lett, George Swain, John McAdoo and E. Burrow.
When Greensboro was made the chief town of Guilford County, Raleigh, as the capital of the State, was still very young ; Wilmington was possibly a month's journey distant ; Fayetteville, the chief trade centre for Piedmont North Carolina; and Hills- boro, almost royal in its degree of aristocracy. The great high- way between Salisbury and Hillsboro, leading by the little town of Greensboro, was traversed by the stage coach, not hourly, as: the trains pass today, but a lumbering stage coach drawn by six horses. A daily newspaper was something undreamed of, but unconsciously the stage coach driver fulfilled the functions of newsmonger as well as engineer, conductor, baggage master and expounder of the law and Constitution.
The University of North Carolina, established in 1796, was not very old when Greensboro became a town. The first degree conferred by that seat of learning was upon a Guilford man, Dr. David Caldwell.
Even the United States had not grown old enough to feel its importance in the world. Boston was a town of much beer, rather than much learning. Fulton's first steamboat was only two years old. The spirit of Young America was just arising up. Did the citizen of Greensboro go to Washington then he might see Thomas Jefferson retiring from the President's chair. William Henry Harrison was fighting Tecumseh. The map of the United States looked very different from the map of the same territory at the present. Scientific study was only beginning. Darwin, Tyn- dall and Huxley had not yet begun their wonderful work. In
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fact, the city of Greensboro began with the beginning of a cen- tury, greatest in the civilization of the Germanic race.
The People's Savings Bank of Greensboro, N. C., the first mutual savings bank ever organized in North Carolina, and at present the oldest bank in Greensboro, opened its doors for business on July 2nd, 1887. Its organization was effected by many of the leading citizens of the city, to provide a safe and convenient place of deposit and interest for persons of small means, and to aid and encourage the youth and the industrious to save a portion of their earnings for a period of life when through sickness or misfortune or as capital for business they might need it. Its first set of officers was: President, J. M. Winstead; Vice-Presidents, Prof. W. F. Steele, J. A. Odell and J. H. Harris; Treasurer, Samuel L. Trogdon; Sec- retary. H. H. Cartland; Attorney, Robert M. Douglas. At the close of the first year the deposits of the bank had run up to $27,300, since which time they have gradually increased until for the last six months the average deposits have been about $200,000. Among its leading organizers, Judge Robert P. Dick, J. M. Winstead and H. H. Cartland have passed away, but the work is still being carried on by others, as hundreds of its depositors can testify, who have been enabled through its advantages to provide homes for themselves and families. Its depositors now number more than twenty-six hundred, scattered throughout the Piedmont section of the State. Its present officers are : President, J. W. Scott; Vice-President, J. A. Odell: Treasurer, J. Ad. Hodgin; Assistant Treasurer, L. M. H. Reynolds; Secre- tary, Samuel L. Trogdon; Attorney, R. D. Douglas.
The Greensboro Loan and Trust Company was organized on July 19th, 1899. Following is a list of officers and directors: President, J. W. Fry ; Vice-President, J. S. Cox; Secretary and Treasurer, W. E. Allen; Direc- tors, J. A. Odell. R. M. Rees, Geo. S. Sergeant, R. R. King, J. S. Cox, J. C. Bishop, W. L. Grissom, W. D. McAdoo, R. P. Gray; John Gill, Baltimore, Md .; W. H. Watkins, Ramseur, N. C .; O. R. Cox, Cedar Falls, N. C .; W. F. Williams, Red Springs, N. C .; J. A. Hadley, Mount Airy, N. C .; S. Bryant, Randleman, N. C .; J. Elwood Cox, High Point, N. C .; J. W. Fry. The company does a general banking business; acts as receiver, trustee, guardian, executor and administrator of estates; runs a savings department in which 4 per cent. interest is allowed on deposits remaining three full months; has a fire- and burglar-proof, steel-lined safe deposit vault, where safe deposit boxes are rented and chests of valuables are kept.
The City National Bank was organized January 20, 1899, with a capi- tal of $100,000, and succeeded to the business of the Piedmont Bank, which had been doing business in Greensboro for about ten years previous to that
MR. W. H. RAGAN, HIGH POINT, N. C.
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time. The Piedmont Bank was organized by ex-Governor A. M. Scales, who was its first president, and served the bank in that capacity until his . death, which occurred on February 9, 1892. He was succeeded by Col. J. M. Winstead, who from the organization of the bank and at that time was cashier. The first Board of Directors was composed of ex-Governor Scales, J. A. Odell, J. M. Winstead, Lawrence S. Holt and Samuel L. Trog- don. On August 23, 1894, the bank suffered the loss of its president, Col. Winstead, he having died suddenly, and in the following September J. M. Walker was elected to this position. As stated before, the Piedmont Bank went out of business in January, 1899, and was succeeded by the City! National Bank. The new bank commenced growing immediately and in two years had more than doubled its business. The surplus fund of the bank at present is $20,000, all accumulated since the organization of the bank, besides having paid the stockholders over $12,000 in dividends. The O present officers of the bank are: President, J. M. Walker; Vice-President, J. Van Lindley; Cashier, Lee H. Battle. The Board of Directors is com- posed of the following well-known business men of Greensboro: J. C. Bishop, president of the Merchant Grocery Co .; Jas. A. Hodgin, treasurer of the People's Savings Bank; R. H. Brooks, of the Odell Hardware Co .; Dr. Dred Peacock, president of the Greensboro Female College; Mr. J. Van Lindley, president of the Lindley Nursery Co., and Mr. J. M. Walker, president of the bank.
HIGH POINT.
High Point is a thrifty town of six thousand inhabitants, situated on the Raleigh and Charlotte road. Six miles to the west is Thomasville, a smaller town, but large industrially, as if it, too, had caught the spirit of work from its hustling neighbor. Within a few miles of High Point is the Orphanage of the great Mission- ary Baptist denomination of North Carolina.
High Point is the centre of the furniture business in North Carolina and the South. It is regarded as second only to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thirty years ago High Point was a little place, as dead industrially as a town could be. Dried fruit was its prin- cipal product. In 1872 the school house at High Point, according to Captain Snow, was a little log hut that cost less than twenty dollars. The seats were made of slab-boards with poles stuck in holes for legs. Shingles were simply laid on the roof and held
centro
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down by weights. Instead of windows, holes in the wall admitted the light. At present the little city has one of the finest graded schools in the State, in a beautiful stone building. The popula- tion numbers five thousand, with a factory for every one hundred and thirty-three of its inhabitants. The many northern men who visit this section and Pinehurst regard High Point as an exceed- ingly busy and industrious town, and its development one of the most remarkable anywhere. Her success is due to plain, legiti- mate business. Her people work. High Point has no "dead elephants," no wrangling. A spirit of co-operation pervades the place.
To what then is due this remarkable growth? Given a man of energy and knowledge of industry in the presence of North Carolina resources and much will be accomplished.
Captain W. H. Snow may well be regarded as the father of High Point. He is the pioneer in the State in the manufacture of shuttle blocks, spokes and handles. He brought into the State the first Blanchard lathe and band saw operated in North Carolina. The standing timber in Randolph, Davidson and Guilford counties determined Captain Snow's location at High Point. Our people had no idea of the wealth that was before them in sight. Captain Snow called out the latent energy to develop these resources.
Captain W. H. Snow was born in Washington County, Ver- mont, in 1825. In response to the call to arms by President Lincoln, Captain Snow responded and arrived in Washington City from New England among the first troops. He was in the first battle of the Civil War with the Sixth Regiment from Massa- chusetts. So when he came to Guilford County at the close of the war the odds were against him. The people regarded with suspicion a Yankee, as if he were seeking his own good at their expense, but at length Captain Snow won the lasting high regard of our people. For seven times he has been elected mayor of High Point, by all the people.
His work in industrial life of North Carolina has been an
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important factor. In 1867 he sent a single barrel of persimmon shuttle blocks to Mr. E. A. Thissell, of Lowell, Massachusetts, the first sent from the South, as an experiment. Hitherto shuttle blocks were made of apple trees. Captain Snow discovered that persimmon, dogwood and hickory timber had a commercial value. Men came ten miles to see the man who was such a fool as to pay money for dogwood. In 1872 he went to High Point and built its first factory working in wood. Soon this was burned, and he found himself four hundred dollars poorer than when he began business. Upon borrowed money without security, he began again.
Captain Snow says: "If any man is able to say that a good name is capital, I am the man." For fifteen years he was the busiest man in the country. For some time all the wood business in High Point was under his management. But suddenly the energy of the people "broke loose," and then High Point became one of the greatest examples of industrial workmanship. Captain Snow's son, Mr. E. A. Snow, and his son-in-law, Mr. J. Elwood Cox, entered work with him; now in his old age they have taken the burden of his business, which has many times doubled itself.
Captain Snow is a remarkable man. He is a genius in indus- trial development. He went to Australia to better his fortune in early life and built the first telegraph system south of the equator for the Colony of Victoria, from Melbourne to Sydney, in Aus- tralia. With his knowledge of people all over the world he says the North Carolina type of character has as high a sense of honor and integrity and perhaps the best of any people on earth.
Mr. J. Elwood Cox purchased from Captain Snow the plant for manufacturing spokes and handles, shuttle blocks and bobbins. Gradually the business has increased until these mills are dotted over North Carolina, and the South as well. Mr. Cox received his education at Guilford College, North Carolina, and at Earlham College, Indiana. He is president of the Globe-Home Furniture Manufacturing Company, the largest industry of the kind in the South, having a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand
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dollars. He sells ninety per cent. of the shuttle blocks of the world.
In June, 1891, Mr. Cox was elected president of the Com- mercial National Bank at its organization, and still holds that responsible position, lending his energy and business skill to its successful operation. Mr. Cox is connected also with many of the industries of High Point, and is a fine type of North Carolina manhood. He is much interested in the "History of Guilford County."
Another one of the best business men of this "Hub of the Furniture and Wood Business in the South" is Mr. W. H. Ragan. Mr. Ragan was born in Randolph County, one of the daughter- counties of Old Mother Guilford. Early in life he came to Guil- ford and began farming and merchandising nine miles southeast of Greensboro, at the age of fourteen. Before the Civil War he went to Franklinsville, N. C., where he learned the cotton manu- facturing business. At the close of the war he returned to Guil- ford, entering into the mercantile business of the firm "Pleasants, Ragan & Co.," afterward the "Ragan, Millis Co.," of High Point. "Tell something of Mr. Ragan's work in Guilford County, please?" asked the author of a certain book on North Carolina.
"Something of Mr. Ragan's work? Well, I'd like to know what line of honorable business he is not engaged in," responded the well-informed business man of Greensboro. Then, more kindly, "Mr. W. H. Ragan is one of the most public spirited county commissioners of this State. I believe he will send a copy of that history of Guilford County to every county commissioner in the State and to every public library in North Carolina. But to tell you, lady, something of his work. He is secretary and treasurer of the Eagle Furniture Company, president of the Oak- dale Cotton Mill at Jamestown, president of the Southern Chair Company, director in National Bank of High Point; director in National Bank of Greensboro, director in Wachovia Loan and Trust Company of Winston, treasurer of the High Point
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Hardware Company. He has held important positions in the city of High Point and is an expert in banking business." More than this still I have learned. Mr. Ragan is a good Methodist, a man of fine taste and education, exemplifying in life the golden mien.
High Point is the head of a triangle made by Deep River. This town is remarkable for its soberness, piety, business and thrift. The city has never had a bar-room or saloon; only one murder case in all its history, and this was an imported affair ; everybody works in High Point; everybody there has a good living and, judging from the beautiful homes and other new build- ings going up, everyone has plenty of money to lay by. To Quaker influence and ancestry this city owes these pronounced character- istics. Morality, soberness, living within one's income, thrift and love of work are Quaker attributes, the inheritance of the youth of High Point, better than grandure, better than gold. The yearly meeting of Friends has been held in this town in August for years, this is the North Carolina city of good-will, of brotherly love.
In a town such as this all its citizens are people of beauty and strength of character. When none stands up as a type above his fellows it is a token of special energy. When one writes, it is a duty to tell the truth, the truth creative, which can help some other to lift up his heart and take good courage. The real success of one good man is an inspiration to many another. The real suc- cess of a whole city full is a great inspiration to very many people. I like people who have done something. I like people who do things. For the sake of young people just now struggling, fight- ing life's battles that shall place them firmly, I like to tell of the. success of other people, our own kin, they are; and work like theirs will gain recognition at last ; victory is indigenous in every real effort. There is no failure. Failure is like sin, a deformity. Our successful men have all had their struggles.
Another one of Guilford County's successful men, and a resident of High Point, is Mr. J. H. Millis. He began life as a salesman for the Worth & Walker Company of Asheboro. Later
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he came to Greensboro to the firm of Odell, Ragan & Co., where he remained two years. He became afterward a member of the firm of Ragan, Millis & Co., now under the name of W. H. Ragan & Co., of High Point. Mr. Millis is largely interested in the furni- ture and wood business in High Point. For ten years he was chairman of the Board of County Commissioners for Guilford County.
Mr. J. A. Lindsay is a citizen of High Point who has gained for himself an honorable name in the business world as an indus- trial leader. The Lindsay Chair Company was organized in May, 1900; this company manufactures rocking chairs, diners, making twenty-five dozen chairs per day. Mr. Lindsay is also president of the Union Furniture Company of High Point, which manu- factures suites beautifully finished in golden oak.
The High Point Mantel and Table Company was incorpor- ated March 15, 1900, with Messrs. E. M. Armfield, A. M. Rankin, Wescott Roberson as incorporators. This company makes hat racks, tables and kitchen safes. These goods find a great market all over the South and Southwestern States.
The only complete upholstering business in North Carolina is High Point Upholstering Co., which was organized in 1895 by Messrs. T. T. Wrenn, J. J. Welch, P. V. Kirkman. In fact, this is the only establishment South making handsome overstuffed parlor suites and pulpit and lodge furniture. Their Morris chairs are very beautiful and delightfully comfortable. Their leather- bound rockers are especially elegant. They make felt and hair mattresses also.
The Southern Chair Company was incorporated in 1896 by W. H. Ragan, J. A. Lindsay, J. J. Welch, E. A. Snow, R. F. Dal- ton and others, with a capital stock of $24,000. In 1898 Mr. W. H. Ragan resigned as secretary and Mr. S. L. Davis was elected his successor. This company makes arm chairs, rocking chairs and dining chairs. Mr. Davis is a graduate of the University of North Carolina.
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MR. A. M. SCALES, CITY ATTORNEY FOR GREENSBORO, N. C.
OF
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The Victor Chair Company was organized March 21, 1901, with Mr. S. L. Davis as president, Mr. W. H. Ragan as vice- president and Mr. Harvey Davis as secretary and treasurer. The name "Victor" was given it by the secretary in honor of his friend, Mr. Victor Clay McAdoo, of Greensboro. The Victor Chair Company makes a specialty of children's chairs, all grades and designs. Mr. Davis is a University of North Carolina student of the class of 1899.
The Tomlinson Chair Factory was established in 1900 by Mr. Halstead Tomlinson.
The Welch Furniture Company began business in 1900, with Messrs. W. P. Picket, president ; R. B. Strickland, vice-president ; J. W. Harris, secretary and treasurer. They manufacture oak and parlor chamber suites, chiffoniers, odd dressers, folding beds. No other factory in this State makes folding beds. This very successful business yields an output of $100,000 yearly.
The youngest manufacturer of High Point, the boy manufac- turer of North Carolina, is Mr. Willie E. Snow, who in 1899 took in hand the business of the Snow Basket Company-the only basket factory in the State. He is a grandson of Captain Snow, the father of the furniture manufacturing business in North Caro- lina, and inherits much of his grandfather's genius for work. The Snow baskets are sold to the tobacco men of Wilson, Durham, Henderson, Oxford, Winston, Rocky Mt., Greeneville. Snow baskets are used by the cotton growers of the eastern and southern section ; the truckers of Mt. Olive, Faison, Kinston and all along the A. C. L. buy the Snow basket.
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