Lenoir County, NC - Industrial Issue - 1906
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OUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
HON. FURNIFOLD M. SIMMONS
Hon. F. M. SIMMONS was born January 20, 1854, in Jones County, N.C. In 1873 he
graduated at Trinity College with the degree of A. B. In 1875 he was admitted to
the bar and has been engaged in active practice ever since. In 1886 he was elected
to congress from the second district. He was collector for the fourth collection
district of North Carolina under President Cleveland. He has served since 1892 as
chairman of the State Democratic executive committee. He is a doctor of laws,
having received the degree from Trinity College in June 1901.
Since Senator SIMMONS has been representing his State in the upper house of the
federal legislature he has taken high rank as a legislator and statesman. His career
has reflected credit upon his native State. He has given much thought to the social
conditions prevailing in the South, and is active in efforts to find a solution for
the labor famine prevalent in this section.
Before the Southern Industrial Parliament held in Washington, D.C., May 24, 1905,
Senator SIMMONS delivered an address on the immigration question, a part of which
address is given below:
Twenty years ago North Carolina was distinctly an agricultural State. Nearly its
whole population was engaged in agriculture. At the beginning of that time, with
fifty-two thousand square miles of territory, we had a population of only about
thirteen thousand people, a population manifestly inadequate to the agricultural
demands of so large an area. To-day North Carolina has seventy-two hundred and
twenty-six manufacturing establishments, most of them established within this period,
employing ninety-six thousand wage earners, nearly every one of whom has been drawn
from our rural population, while there has been practically no accession to this
population to supply the drain except of natural increase. The resulting condition,
therefore, in North Carolina to-day is a depleted rural population on the one hand,
while on the other our factories have practically exhausted the source from which
they have, during these years, drawn their supply. As a natural and inevitable result
there is in nearly in every part of the State to-day, both from the factory and the
farm, an urgent demand for more labor. This double demand has brought a labor scramble,
so to speak, between the farmer and the manufacturer, which will of necessity continue
as long as the demand for labor is in excess of the supply.
The system of farming almost universally in practice in the South is what is known
as the share plan. The land owner furnishes the land, house to live in and fuel, horse
to cultivate crop and feed for him, farming implements and seed; the tenant does the
work and has one-half of crops, or, if the landlord furnishes only land, house and
fuel, the tenant gets two-thirds crops and in some sections, three-fourths of the
cotton.
A tenant farmer, under this plan, with the same industry, frugality, and an equal
amount of work will, I believe, ordinarily earn more in the South than he could under
the wage system in the West. In a good year he would earn much more, and in the
trucking regions he would earn many times more, to say nothing of enjoying a large
degree of independence with this great additional advantage that in a few years he
can have laid aside enough to buy a farm for one-tenth of what it would cost in the
West. Neither need he fear the bug-bear of Negro competition, because it would not be
a competition between wage earners at all, but competition between independent tenant
farmers; it would be the same competition that he, in a general way, would have to meet
if his farm was located in any other section of the country. For, broadly speaking,
every farmer competes with other farmers growing a like product. Competition between
unequal wage earners may be and generally is, disastrous to the one who is more
efficient, but competition between capable farmers is not always, or generally, to the
disadvantage of the most efficient.
I would advise those actually engaged in efforts to induce immigration from other
sections, or even foreign immigrants, to the South, to present this plan and not to be
misled into a comparison of wage scales, for this is the plan in use in the South, and
it is a most attractive plan to men of independent spirit whose objective is to own
his own home.
HON. LEE S. OVERMAN
Senator OVERMAN was born January 3, 1854, in Salisbury, Rowan County; graduated at
Trinity College, North Carolina, with the degree of A.B., June 1874; the degree of
M. A. was conferred upon him two years later; taught school two years; was private
secretary to Governor Z. B. VANCE in 1877-78, and private secretary to Governor THOMAS
J. JARVIS in 1879; began the practice of law in his native town in 1880; has had a
leading practice; was five times a member of the legislature, sessions of 1883, 1885,
1887, 1893, 1901; was the unanimous choice of the Democratic caucus for speaker in
1887, and was defeated by one vote through a combination of Independents and
Republicans; was the unanimous choice of his party and elected speaker of the house
of representatives, session of 1893; was president of the North Carolina Railroad
Company in 1894; was the choice of the Democratic caucus for United States Senator
in 1895, and was defeated in open session by Hon. JETER C. PRITCHARD through a
combination of Republicans and Populists; was president of the Democratic State
convention in 1900; has been for ten years a member of the board of trustees of the
State University; was chosen President elector for the State at large in 1900; married
MARY P., the eldest daughter of United States Senator, afterwards Chief Justice, A. S.
MERRIMON, October 31, 1878; was elected to the United States Senate to succeed JETER C.
PRITCHARD, and took his seat March 4, 1903. His term of service will expire March 3,
1909.
Senator OVERMAN has been honored by his home people with various positions of honor
and trust and no position of trust, however humble, in which the good of his town or
county was involved has been rejected by him. He is now identified with nearly every
prominent enterprise in the city, is president of one bank and director in another.
His domestic life is ideal. Three daughters, the eldest, Mrs. EDWIN CLARKE GREGORY,
whose maiden name was Miss MARGIE OVERMAN, one of the most beautiful young women in
the South, with Mrs. OVERMAN, this distinguished household. Mrs. OVERMAN and her
husband were one of the most popular of all the Senatorial couples in Washington last
winter, both winning great clat whenever their popularity drew them out.
Personally, Senator OVERMAN is the most lovable of men. He is without assiduous
trumpeting of tin horns, a man of the people. As handsome as a demi-god, he has a way
that woos and wins. No man is insignificant to him.
At the bar, he has had a remarkably successful career. Before a jury he is
irresistible and his splendid ability has called him into some of the greatest cases
tried in the State. He was the foremost figure in the celebrated JAMES case which
went the rounds of the State and Federal judiciary and ended with a compromise. Senator
OVERMAN receiving a large sum from the railroad for his client. He was counsel also in
the SHERRILL-WHITE and GRUBB cases which attracted national attention.
Great as he is as advocate of the law, his chiefest claim rest upon his tremendous
power on the stump. There his personality and phenomenal eloquence combined, make him
probably the greatest campaigner in this State of great orators. Since he became of
age, his voice has been heard on every stump. There is not living in North Carolina,
a man of more splendid party record. In his own county, there has been no party
service too inconsequential for him. He has spoken at every school house in it, It is
these qualities, the willingness to serve, that finally have landed him in the world's
greatest forum.
Senator OVERMAN is popular in this great body. He has been on some of the most
important committees and helped to conduct the examination of APOSTLE SMITH in the
celebrated SMOOT case. He has appeared seldom, but each time with credit to himself
and his State, which latter he is most anxious to honor. He has secured large
appropriations for his State and upon the committee is a most indefatigable worker.
He has great influence already in the body of which he has been a member for three
years.
HON. CLAUDE KITCHIN
CLAUDE KITCHIN, Representative in the Congress of the United States from the
Second District of North Carolina, was born in Halifax county, this State, March 24,
1869. He graduated from wake Forest College, in June 1888, and was married to Miss.
KATE MILLS, daughter of Prof. L. R. MILLS, of Wake Forest, in November,1888. He was
admitted to the bar in September 1890, and has been engaged in the practice of law
ever since.
Mr. KITCHIN never held public office until elected to the Fifty-seventh Congress,
in the year 1900. He was re-elected to the Fifty-eight Congress in 1902 and again
re-elected to the Fifty-ninth Congress, in 1904.
In the stormy campaigns of 1898 and 1900, Mr. KITCHIN did strong and effective
work for the Democratic party in North Carolina and has taken into the Congress of
the United States the entire confidence and trust of the people of his district and
his State.
His home is at Scotland Neck, Halifax county.
The citizens of Kinston have a very cordial feeling for Mr. KITCHIN because of
his valuable public services and especially on account of his persistent and
successful efforts to secure a much needed public building for this city.
HON. DAVID L. WARD
Hon. DAVID L. WARD, State Senator from the 8th district, was born in Greene County,
October 24,1860, and was educated at Wake Forest College. He was married in New Berne,
February 7, 1900, to Miss LOUISE SCHOLLENBERGER. He has taken part in all political
campaigns since his youth and is one of the most effective eloquent public speakers
in Eastern North Carolina. He has been County Attorney of Craven county about 6 years.
He obtained license to practice law soon after graduating at college and practiced
first at Wilson, afterwards settled in New Berne where he has built up a large and
increasing practice. He made a brilliant campaign and was elected with 4,800 majority.
He served as chairman of the Shell Fish Committee and as member of the following
committees:
Judiciary, Corporation, Claims, Fish and Fisheries, Shell Fish, Military,
Codification of Law, and four other committees.
Mr. WARD took a prominent part in all important legislation. He was particularly
interested in the bill to increase the salary of the judges and early introduced a
bill to that effect. He favored bills to establish a reformatory, immigration bureau
and regulating homestead. As a member of the Committee on Claims he took a deep
interest in the settlement of the South Dakota bond matter. The application for an
extension of Charter of the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad, which has forty-seven
years to run, found a vigorous opponent in Mr. WARD. He took the ground that inasmuch
as there was no immediate necessity for considering the matter, it was wise to let the
application go over to some other legislature. He was all the more inclined to this
position because, as he stated it, the Howland Improvement Company had increased the
freight rates and other wise irritated the people along the line of the road and it
was best to wait until a later date to consider this matter. After a hard fight the
extension was not granted by this legislature. Much legislation touching local matters
engaged Mr. WARD'S attention. He was chiefly known however, throughout the State by
reason of the fact that he is the author of the WARD Bill, a conservative and moderate
measure looking to secure adequate police protection where liquor is manufactured,
guaranteeing supervision and control of saloons by police and carrying into effect
some of the provisions of the Watts Law. In presenting his bill to the Senate Mr.
WARD made one of the greatest speeches of the session and the passage of his law in
view of the bitterness of his with which it was attached added greatly to his
reputation as a legislator.
HON. GEORGE TURNER
One of the substantial citizens and leading men of Pink Hill township is Hon.
GEORGE TURNER, Lenoir's representative in the last General Assembly of North
Carolina.
Mr. Turner was born in Tuckahoe township, Jones county, January 6, 1846. His
parents were SILAS McGLENN and ALICE TURNER. He received his education in the
immediate vicinity of his home.
During the Civil War Mr. TURNER was a confederate soldier, serving in the 61st
N.C., in Gen. THOMAS L. CLINGMAN'S brigade, HOKE'S division. His captain was W.S.
BIRD, in which company the late QUINCY JACKSON was first lieutenant. Mr. TURNER was
in service during the last fourteen months of the war in the battles around Kinston,
Wilmington and Bentonsville; at Cold Harbor; in the siege of Petersburg in 1864. At
this latter place in September 1864, he was seriously hurt by a bullet wound in his
skull.
In point of service Mr. TURNER is one of the oldest magistrates in the State,
having served continuously either by election or appointment since the adoption of
the constitution in 1868. In 1878 he was elected a member of the board of county
commissioners, serving one term. He was the regular Democratic nominee in 1894 for
the General assembly, but the Fusionists won out and he was defeated. In 1896 he was
appointed sub-elector for Lenoir county, during the presidential campaign.
In 1904 he was again the Democratic nominee from Lenoir for the General Assembly.
This time he was elected. He served on several important committees including those
on " Deaf and Dumb Asylums," " Public Roads," "Insurance" "Fish and Fisheries,"
"Printing" and "Justices of the Peace." Among the bills he introduced were for the
amending of the charters of Kinston and LaGrange; for the payment of officers and
witnesses in certain cases and a bill offered as a substitute for the WARD bill,
providing for the submission of the liquor question to the voters of each county.
Mr. TURNER is a Mason, school committeeman and member of the county Democratic
Executive Committee. He owns about 600 acres of land in Pink Hill township and
cultivates 100 acres. He is an officer of the Kinston Lumber Company, and an agent
of the same in the purchase of timber etc.
Mr. TURNER married Miss ELIZABETH daughter of ARETAS and MARGARET WILLIAMS, of
Jones County. He has a loveable and hospitable wife and family. The children are
Mrs. LILLIAN IDA HOWARD, HERBERT RANSOME, GEORGE MACON, THADDEUS, LESLIE CLEVELAND,
Miss MAGGIE and BERNICE EARL.
HON. W. L. ARENDELL
Our other Senator in the last General Assembly from the eight district was Hon.
W.L. ARENDELL, of Carteret. He was born at Beaufort, N.C. January 22, 1848, and was
the son of Dr. M. F. and ZILPHIA ANN ARENDELL. He was educated at Beaufort, Bingham's
school and West Point Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. He was a member of the
class of 1870 at the military academy, but did not graduate on account of rheumatism.
In 1868, Mr. ARENDELL and H.P. KINGSBERRY were the only two Southern boys at West
Point at that time, and both were from North Carolina.
Before he was elected to the Senate in the last general assembly, Mr. ARENDELL was
chairman of the board of county commissioners of Carteret, and for $40,000 with ten
years time set he settled the county's bond debt amounting to over $160,000. In the
General Assembly Senator ARENDELL was always alert to the interests of the people
as he saw them. He was chairman of the committee on insane asylums, member of the
committee on care of cities and towns, on railroads, on fish and fisheries and on
propositions and grievances-better known as the "whiskey committee"-and here he
proved to be one of the champions of temperance reform in the State.
In 1864, Senator ARENDELL, joined the Methodist church, of which he is now an
active member, having been district steward almost continuously from 1870 to the
present time. He has frequently been a representative at district and annual
conferences.
In 1870 Senator ARENDELL, married Miss SARAH C. DAVIS, of Beaufort. They have no
children, but as the senator says they have "raised quite a lot of other people's."
They live at Morehead City, N.C., where he is a whole sale dealer in fish, oysters,
clams, terrapins, game, etc.
DR. HENRY TULL
Dr. HENRY TULL was born January 4, 1855, in Lenoir county. He is the eldest son
of the late JOHN TULL, who was for many years one of the largest farmers in the
county.
Dr. TULL received his early training in the schools of Kinston, later he attended
the Bingham Military school, taking their full course with credit to himself, and
leaving with the rank of first lieutenant. Thereafter he matriculated in the Harvard
Medical school. From Harvard he went to the University of Pennsylvania, from which
he received a diploma in 1876.
He entered upon the practice of medicine in Kinston, where he has ever since
followed the profession. He has made gynecology and obstetrics a specially.
Dr. TULL is a man of great force of mind and character. He is not only a physician,
but has displayed the greatest public enterprise. In all that is really for material
interests of the county he stands forward as an advocate. He has been president of
the Orion Knitting Mills for several years and was one of the original promoters of
that establishment.
In 1886 he built the first brick hotel in the city, which was destroyed by the
great fire of 1895, and rebuilt immediately on the old stand, northeast corner of
Queen and Caswell streets, and in 1904 made such further additions that it is now
one of the largest and best equipped in this part of the State.
Dr. TULL has served a number of terms as Alderman for his ward and proposed and
advocated many of the reforms which have taken place in our municipal government. He
was one of the first to see the need of a city clerk and a departmental system of
city accounting, and it was during one of his terms that they were accepted and
instituted.
Every proposition in favor of municipal ownership as against private corporate
control has been urged by him and it largely due to his efforts that the city began
in that wise direction at the inception of its need for modern public utilities.
In 1902 he was elected county commissioner and selected as chairman of the board.
He was re-elected in 1904 and still serves as chairman. He has been fortunate in his
service to the county as well. Steel vaults and offices have been during his term of
service, installed for the county officers, the court-house has been remodeled, and
a new modern bridge added for the county needs under his direction and guidance. The
county home, also was built in 1904 under his direction.
Dr. TULL was married in 1882 to Miss MYRTIE WOOTEN of Lenoir county and they have
a family of two daughters and one son. They now reside in a new and imposing home
on Caswell street, rebuilt on the site of the residence destroyed by fire in 1904.
Besides the presidency of the Orion Knitting Mills he is a director of the Kinston
Cotton Mills. No other citizen of Lenoir county has a larger or more varied interest
in its welfare.
HON. JOHN C. DAVIS
County Commissioner, JOHN C. DAVIS, of Trent, was born at the Old Sam DAVIS
homestead, in Trent township, July 31, 1870.
His parents were JOHN SAMUEL and MARY CAMPBELL (nee CARR) DAVIS.
Mr. DAVIS attended the schools in the immediate neighborhood of his home and
later on, the Mt. Olive High School.
Mr. DAVIS is a good farmer, owning 700 acres of land, with about 140 acres under
cultivation. He raises cotton, corn, tobacco and home supplies, as do all the other
good farmers of the county. He has served one term as a member of the board of
county commissioners with honor to himself and with the praise of his constituents.
Mr. DAVIS married Miss LERA, daughter of J. J. BRYAN, of Institute. The children
are MAGGIE, SALLIE and JOHN BRYAN.
A. C. DAWSON
One of the best farmers and leading men of the county is County Commissioner A. T.
DAWSON, of Institute township.
He was born in the township, April 23, 1857. His parents were THOMAS W. and ELIZA
DAWSON. His grandfather WILLIAM ROUSE, was a large farmer and probably the first man
to own a cotton gin in the county.
Mr. DAWSON attended the neighborhood schools and that of Mr. JOE KINSEY, at LaGrange.
He has a comfortable and attractive home at Institute and 385 acres of excellent
farming land, for which he has refused $65 an acre.
Commissioner DAWSON is a deacon in the Free Will Baptist Church. He has always taken
an interest in education and has been a school committeeman for several years. He is
now serving his second term as member of the board of County Commissioners.
Mr. DAWSON married a Miss NETHERCUTT.
The children are RAY, now in Florida; GUY, of the firm of A.T. DAWSON and son,
Institute, N. C.; CLEVELAND A., attending the R.M.I. at Kinston; HARRY and NELLIE,
who are at home.
SIMEON WOOTEN
Commissioner SIMEON WOOTEN, of Moseley Hall, was born in Wayne county, May 30, 1852.
His parents were JOHN and REBECCA WOOTEN. The earlier years of his life were spent on
his father's farm in Wayne County. In the schools of the neighborhood young WOOTEN was
prepared for college and in 1872 he entered Wake Forest College, where he remained two
years.
In 1872, after his father's death, Mr. WOOTEN left school and went to LaGrange, N.C.,
to clerk for JOHN L. HARDY and Son. He made his way as clerk until 1875, when he opened
up business for himself. From that time until 1883, he was engaged in the general
merchandise business with SHADE WOOTEN as partner, under the firm name S. and J.S.
WOOTEN. The partnership was dissolved by the death of SHADE WOOTEN and now Mr. SIMEON
WOOTEN conducts perhaps the largest mercantile business in the town. His general
merchandise covers a varied assortment of good-everything that is needed for household
and farming purposes. Besides this Mr. WOOTEN has a farm of 650 acres at Castoria, in
Greene County, most under cultivation and is productive.
Among Mr. WOOTEN'S business interests that of selling horses and mules is important.
He is director and vice-president of the ROUSE Banking Company and a director of the
Bank of LaGrange.
In 1883 Mr. WOOTEN married Miss MOLLIE A. HORDEE, of LaGrange. Their children are
S.E., HELEN R., MARY V., JOHN S., CECIL C., and LESTER D. All of the children except
Miss MARY, who is attending Peace Institute, Raleigh, N. C.
Mr. WOOTEN has served as Justice of the Peace and Mayor of LaGrange. In November,
1904, he was elected to the board of commissioners of Lenoir County on the Democratic
ticket which position he fills with credit to himself and his county.
WILLIAM PARKER GILBERT
County Commissioner W. P. Gilbert was born in Chinquepin Township, Jones County, on
February 21, 1853.
Mr. Gilbert owns a farm of 184 acres in Jones county and one of 587 acres in
Contentnea Neck township, Lenoir county, upon which farm he resides at present. He
cultivates about 175 acres at his home farm and ninety acres on his Jones County farm.
Besides his farm interest Mr. Gilbert he conducts a saw mill with a per deim capacity
of 7,000 feet. He is associated with his son-in-law, T. J. Abbott, under the firm name,
W. P. Gilbert and Company. The plant usually employs about twenty-five men.
Mr. Gilbert has been a member of the board of county commissioners for three years;
has been a member of the Christian Church seventeen years, and was a delegate to the
State Convention in Washington in 1888. He has been married twice. His first wife was
Miss Hannah Phillips, daughter of Stephen C. Phillips. She died in 1884, leaving two
Children - Stephen and Mrs. Lizzie Abbott. His second wife was Miss Martha E., daughter
of Washington T. Summerell. There are five children - Francis Marion, Missess Willie
and Mabel, Joseph Warren, and Miss Selina" (Selma).
* NOTE: Above provided by Jack Gilbert
The two people by the Sawmill are my grandfather, William Parker Gilbert and Uncle
Thomas Jefferson Abbott Husband of Lizzie Gilbert).
PLATO COLLINS
PLATO COLLINS, clerk of the Superior Court of Lenoir County, was born July 15, 1870.
He is the only son of JOHN W. COLLINS, a retired hardware merchant, who is honorable
and just in all his dealing. His mother hailed from Cumberland County, and like most
of the best people of that favored section, was Scottish birth. She died when the
subject of this sketch was an infant, but she left him many relations in that section,
and in Randolph County.
Mr. COLLINS prepared for college at Dr. R.H. LEWIS' school in Kinston, and graduated
at the University of North Carolina in 1892, having completed the law course in
addition to his collegiate studies, and was admitted to the practice in 1894. While at
the University, he was a recognized leader among his fellows and won honors as a speaker
and writer, taking the debater's medal in 1889, and the essayists in 1890. In 1890-91
he was editor of the University magazine.
In 1899 he wrote up the Industrial Issue of the Free Press, a work which has not been
excelled anywhere as a journalistic performance in that line, and one which has aided
very materially in the up building of Kinston.
The popular clerk of the Superior Court is a deep dyed-in-the-wool, old time
Jeffersonian Democrat, and it is to a large extent due to his active service in the
Democratic ranks of late years that Democracy has secured such large majorities in
Lenoir County. Nothing has ever shaken his loyalty. He was bold and true to the party,
when it was almost heresy to proclaim Democracy.
He is an extemporaneous speaker of marked ability, a ready and logical debater, has
the happy faculty of saying the right thing at the right time, and in the right place,
is possessed of strong convictions and an assured address, which, together with his
integrity, sterling honesty and strict adherence to duty, mark him as a leader, and a
man in whom the people trust.
He is one of the most accomplished, energetic and able young man in the East.
He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and is now Grand Master of the latter in North
Carolina. He is probably as widely known, if not more so, than any other of our
citizens.
He has been repeatedly mentioned for higher honors but disclaims any higher ambition,
being content as long as it is their will to serve the people he loves in the office
congenial to his tastes and talents and where all concede, he is the right man in the
right place.
In a county of the importance of Lenoir, the clerk's office is one requiring much
arduous labor, a knowledge of the law, and ability of a high order. A slow man would
be run over in the variety and press of business.
Clerk COLLINS has re-classified the office and completely changed the old arrangement,
so that he is familiar with and can lay his hands on any paper or record in the office
without delay. He is now serving, by election in 1902, his first term.
In 1898 Mr. COLLINS was happily married to Miss ETHEL G. WOOTEN. They have three
bright children, two girls and one boy, to make their home more cheerful. Mrs. COLLINS
is a lady of fine presence and rare good sense, and is deeply interested in her home
and children, and yet takes an active interest in her social duties. Mrs. COLLINS is
an active member of the Daughters of the Confederacy, and shows as much interest in the
welfare of the Confederate soldiers, as her husband demonstrates in his official
position in increasing the number and pay of the soldiers and widows of the same.
Mr. And Mrs. COLLINS are active members of the Methodist Church.
Dr. JAMES CANNON GREEN
The newly elected coroner of the county is Dr. J. C. GREEN, a promising young
physician of LaGrange. He has not lived in Lenoir County long, but he has rapidly
built up a good practice and possesses the confidence of the people.
He was born in Greenville, Pitt county, N.C., his parents being ROBERT and Sarah
E. GREEN. His father was a civil engineer of Greenville, and his mother was a
daughter of the late SPIER SMITH, a prominent attorney of Hyde county.
Dr. GREEN was educated at the university of Nashville, and at Richmond College,
graduating from the latter institution in 1900. for two years after graduating he
practiced medicine, in Greene County, and later removed to LaGrange.
Dr. Green is a member of the County Board of Health, and succeeded Dr. R. K. WOOTEN
as county coroner.
WILLIAM D. SUGGS
Register of Deeds WILLIAM D. SUGGS, second son of JOHN H. and WINEFORD SUGGS, was
born in Lenoir county, Institute township, May 9, 1872. Seven years of his early
boyhood were spent on his father's farm in Greene County. When eleven years of age
he removed with the family to a farm two miles west of Kinston, which then became
his home for most of the time until 1898. He was prepared for college in Kinston under
the tutelage of Dr. R. H. LEWIS, and after clerking at the St. James Hotel in Goldsboro,
for a few months, he entered Trinity College in the fall of 1892. Here he remained two
years, after which time he returned to his father's farm, and shared the pleasures of
farm life until 1898, when he was selected as the Democratic nominee for Register of
Deeds for Lenoir County.
During the same year Mr. SUGGS was nominated for the State Senate as a running mate
for Hon. JAMES A. BRYAN, of Newbern. He declined this nomination, and the late Hon.
J. Q. JACKSON was nominated and elected in his stead.
Mr. Suggs was elected Register in 1898, on the county ticket with JOHN C. WOOTEN,
H. V. WILLIAMS and J. B. TEMPLE, all of whom did so much toward once more placing
Democracy in the lead in Lenoir County. He was elected by a handsome majority and has
served his constituents with such ability and faithfulness that he has been re-nominated
and elected for three consecutive terms.
In May, 1899, his father, JOHN H., died, and in June following, his brother, E.T.
SUGGS, was taken. He has now living, his mother, one brother, GEORGE F., and one sister,
Miss LULA G. SUGGS. In November, 1894, he married Miss EVA MAE LOOPS, of Kinston. Their
two bright children are ADA MARIE, ten years old, and WILLIAM DURWARD, two years. They
live in their pretty and convenient Queen Street home, a cut of which is shown on another
page.
Mr. and Mrs. SUGGS are members of the Methodist Church. Mr. SUGGS is Past Noble Grand
Kinston Lodge, No. 174, I.O.O.F., and a member of the Knights of Harmony.
JOHN HENRY DAWSON
Our popular county treasurer is JOHN HENRY DAWSON, born in Institute township, Lenoir
County, November 29, 1848. His parents were THOMAS HERRING DAWSON and HULDAH TRUITT
DAWSON. His father was a man of noble and generous impulses. In the Civil War he was a
member of the Senior reserves, but only served a short time, being relieved on account
of bad health and old age. At the same time he furnished to the Confederate government
a Negro man to work on fortifications etc., in his stead.
Mr. J.H. DAWSON'S mother, HULDAH TRUITT DAWSON, was known in her neighborhood as
"AUNT HULDAH," because of her many acts of kindness to the sick, and those in need of
her help. She was a daughter of the Revolution, being a lineal descendant of WILLIAM
DANIEL who was with the Cumberland County, Va., troops in the Revolution.
JOHN HENRY DAWSON attended school at Lenoir Institute and at Stantansburg. He is a
member of the Primitive Baptist church, at LaGrange, and has been a deacon in the
same for twelve years. His wife was Miss ANNIE E., daughter of ROBERT DALY. She is a
lineal descendant of JOHN DALY, who was appointed captain and commander of a fort,
on Neuse River, at Hanging Point, N.C., in the war of the Revolution.
Mr. DAWSON resides in his pretty home on North Queen street, and is active and
faithful in serving his fellow-citizens as treasurer, in which capacity he is serving
his first term.
JOSEPH PARK NUNN
Sheriff JOSEPH PARK NUNN is a native of Pink Hill township, Lenoir county. He was
born February 6, 1863. His parents were JOSEPH and MARY C. NUNN. His father was a
farmer, and a soldier in the Confederate service, meeting his death at Petersburg,
Va., in 1864, having taken part in nearly every engagement of the Army of the Potomac
up to that time.
PARK NUNN, the name by which every one knows our popular sheriff, was reared in
the home of his stepfather, HENRY A. EDWARDS, of whom he speaks in the highest terms.
He attended the neighborhood schools, and remained on the farm until he was twelve
years of age. Then he went to Kinston and clerked for the firm of MEACHAM and EDWARDS,
one of the proprietors being his stepfather.
Most of Sheriff NUNN'S life has been spent on his farm in Woodington township. Here
he has 300 acres of good land, and raises tobacco, cotton and corn, besides other
crops that farmers usually produce.
He married Miss MATTIE, daughter of WILLIAM and JULIA HARTFIELD. There are seven
children now in the home-NATALIE, ISABELLE, WILLIAM SNOW, HARRY Lee, RANDOLPH, JOHN
LEWIS and JOSEPH PARK NUNN, JR., all of whom are attending the Kinston Graded School.
In 1901, PARK NUNN became deputy under Sheriff WOOTEN, and in November 1904, he was
elected to the office of sheriff of Lenoir county. Sheriff NUNN stands well in the
estimation of the people. He has made every effort to collect the taxes, close and
endeavors to carry out all the requirements of his office, which he does in a highly
satisfactory degree.
Sheriff NUNN belongs to the Kinston branch of the Royal Arcanum, the Mystic Circle
and The Knights of Harmony. He is a member of the Christian Church.
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