Lenoir County, NC - Industrial Issue
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Rosalyn Moody <moody911@earthlink.net>
Pages 35-44
The progressive and public-spirited Mayor of Kinston is Hon. N.J. Rouse, one
of the best equipped members of the Kinston bar, and a leading man of the city. He
is the eldest son of the late Noah Rouse and Eliza Harper Rouse of Moseley Hall
township, Noah Rouse was a highly esteemed farmer, commanding the respect and love
of all who knew him.
The maternal grandfather of Mr. N. J. Rouse was James M. Harper of Greene county.
His maternal grandmother was Charlotte Parrott, daughter of Jacob Parrott and
sister of the late John A. and James M. Parrott. His paternal grandmother was
Nancy Waters. So it will appear that Mr. Rouse is related to a large number of
Lenoir county people.
Mr. Rouse was born September 13, 1861 on his father's farm near LaGrange. After
preparation for college mainly under the instruction of Prof. Joseph Kinsey at La
Grange, he entered the University of North Carolina In September 1878 and was
graduated with the degree of Ph. B. in June 1881. After graduation he studied law
and was admitted to the bar in 1883. He came to Kinston where by close application
and diligent work, coupled with great natural ability he has risen to the front
rank of Eastern North Carolina lawyers. He enjoys a large and lucrative practice
and is held in high esteem by the public in general. In addition to the duties of
the mayorality and of his law practice Mr. Rouse holds several responsible positions.
He is the president of the citizens Bank, of Kinston, of the Rouse Banking Company
of LaGrange and of the Kinston Cotton Mills of Kinston. He is also a director of the
Chesterfield Manufacturing Company, of Petersburg, Va., and of the Fire Insurance
Underwriters, at Greensboro. Mr. Rouse is a trustee of Atlantic Christian College at
Wilson and is an official member of the Christian Church here at his home In Kinston.
He was one of the prime movers in the newly or-ganized North State Mutual Lite
Insurance Company, which is a Kinston enterprise.
In 1902, Cleveland's second campaign, Mr. Rouse was an elector on the Democratic
ticket, making an able and enthusiastic canvass. He has served his people as county
and city attorney and in 1902 was warmly supported for the nomination for attorney
general of the State. In the distribution of nominations however, this one tell to
the western section of the State.
When the Kinston graded school was established in 1899 Mr. Rouse did very
effective work as a member of the township school committee and also of the board
of trustees of the new graded school, of which latter board he was chairman. It was
at this time that the school system demanded re-organization and the establishment
of a definite policy. Mr. Rouse devoted his time and energy to the work with results
that have proven highly satisfactory.
In 1903 Mr. Rouse was elected Mayor of Kinston and to the lot of his
administration fell the duty of floating and expending $150,000 in bonds voted by
the city for improvements. The work is now about complete and is commended by all.
During his professional career Mr. Rouse has been associated with J. R. Uzzell,
J. Y. Joyner, 0. H. Allen and Y. T. Ormond at various Intervals in the practice of
law. Now, however, he is alone. He has one brother, Mr. T. R. Rouse, cashier of the
Rouse Banking Company, and five sisters, Mrs. J. Y. Joyner, of Raleigh, Mrs. W. G.
Wilson, of Wilson's Mills, and Misses Bessie and Eula Rouse, of Wilson and one
sister deceased, Mrs. Haywood Edmundson, of Wilson.
On October 16, 1889 Mr. Rouse married Miss Mattie H. Rountree, to whose valuable
assistance he cheerfully ascribes to a large extent whatever of success may have
attended his efforts.
ALDERMAN McDaniel was born in Jones county, March 28, 1867. His father was Duff
G. McDaniel and his mother was Miss Susan Dillahunt before her marriage. His father
died when Mr. McDaniel was a boy, and years after his mother wedded the late Hon.
R. W. King. She died in the summer of 1893.
Mr. McDaniel was married on June 8, 1892, to Miss Laura Warters.
He was educated in Kinston under Dr. R. H. Lewis, and at Wake Forest College in
1887-'89. In 1890 he attended Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, NY.
He merchandised for a while on his return home, but sold out and devoted himself
to farming operations on his plantation on Falling Creek, and near Kinston.
In 1893 Mr. McDaniel bought the land, 350 acres, adjoining the town of Kinston
East of the Atlantic Coast Line, and built far out in the field a beautiful
residence. He began cultivating and improving a portion of it and laid the balance
off into lots and extended the streets from the town through the farm, set out trees
and began to offer all kinds of inducements to parties wishing to build. This
addition he named "Trianon."
That residence, once far out in the field, has now drawn the town up and around it.
This residence is now the Robert Bruce Mc Daniel Memorial Hospital, much enlarged
from its former size, and the spacious grounds so carefully tended by him for years
have been donated to the city as a public park. This part of the city once existed
only in the brain of the young enthusiast. It has now become one of the most
attractive portions of the modern city of Kinston.
Mr. Mc Daniel has large business interests in other lines also. He is a
distributing agent and independent dealer in pianos, organs, sewing machines and
bicycles, and his guarantee of the quality of an instrument has a cash value. He
has recently begun the erection of a big brick block on part of his Queen street
property, adjoining the City hall. This will provide him with a store for his own
business and will have offices for rent on the second and third floors.
Mr. McDaniel has served the 3rd to ward as alderman for several terms.
He was elected in 1901, in 1903, and re-elected In 1905, and at present is
serving in that capacity. He is Mayor pro-tem for this term, is a director of the
Kinston Cotton Mills, and a trustee of the Wintervllle High School. He lives with
his family, at their handsome residence on Gordon street, which was completed in
1904.
ALDERMAN Moseley was born in Lenoir county, Vance township, in the year 1861. He
was educated in the schools of Lenoir county and at Eastman Business College of
Poughkeepsie, N. Y. when he returned home from the business college in 1881, he
taught school at Lenoir Institute for a year, then he came to Kinston and took a
position with S. H. Loftin, in 1882, which he held continuously until 1898.
In 1898 he quit the dry goods business and for a year was in the leaf tobacco
trade, but in 1900 bought a half interest in the hardware firm of B. W. Canady & Co.
He continued at this firm until in July 1902 when he bought the entire stock and
business of J. W. Collins, an old and established hardware concern, Mr. Collins
deciding to retire permanently from active business. He remained in the Collins
building until 1904 when he removed to one of the stores in the Loftin block where
he is now located.
In the few years he has been engaged in this branch of trade he has built up a
large and growing patronage and he now carries every line of goods usually found in
a general hardware store. His lifelong experience is equaled by few and excelled by
none. Mr. Moseley was married In July 1898 to Miss Jessie Harper of Kinston, now
deceased.
Mr. Moseley resides in his elegant home at the corner of King and McLewean
streets, with his little daughter Hortense, the only child by his late wife.
He has been twice elected an alderman man from the second ward, each term a
being selected, as city treasurer by the board, which office he now holds. He is
also a trustee of the North Carolina Christian Mission Convention Board. He is
recognized as one of the city's solid businessmen, and as such has the confidence
of all. Mr. Moseley is a prominent member of the Christian Church and is a trustee
of the North Carolina Christian Mission Convention board.
ALDERMAN L. P. Tapp is the proprietor of the Farmer's warehouse and one of the
aldermen of the city of Kinston. He was born in Orange county, September 22, 1868.
His father was a farmer and Mr. Tapp early became acquainted with the culture of
tobacco. His first experience in the warehouse business was in Roxboro In 1891, and
he has been continuously in the warehouse business ever since. In 1895 he came to
Kinston and was one of the organizers and became manager of the Kinston Carolina
Warehouse.
That was the first warehouse to be established In Kinston, and in August of 1895
Mr. Tapp sold the first pound of tobacco ever offered on this market. In September
1903, the Kinston Carolina warehouse was burned whereupon Mr. Tapp secured an
interest in the Atlantic warehouse for the remainder of the season. For the season
1904-1905, he leased the Farmer's warehouse of which he is now the head. Mr. Tapp
is an experienced tobacco man, and understands the business from the ground up.
In May 1905, Mr. Tapp was made a member of the board of aldermen and in this
capacity he does efficient service as city street commissioner. The paving of Queen
street has been carried on under his supervision, requiring no small amount of his
time and attention. He was made a director of the Atlantic and North Carolina
Railroad last September by appointment of Governor Glenn. He has been active in
politics, and is a staunch Democrat He was married to Miss Lilla Laws, of Hillsboro,
in March 1890. They have two children, both girls, who are attending the city graded
school from which the eldest will graduate next June.
ALDERMAN James H. Ellis is a native of Pitt county, N. C., having been born near
Greenville, August 8, 1863. As a boy he and his brother, Oliver Ellis, learned to
repair buggies and finally to turn out a buggy complete. They had small capital,
but they thought, on coming of age, that they could do better In a larger field,
where they might in time enlarge their business, so on January 1, 1886, they came
to Kinston and located.
Oliver Ellis died in 1887, and Mr. J. H. Bills then assumed sole control of the
business.
Beginning in a very humble way with the manufacture and sale of a few buggies a year,
he has by this energy and careful attention to his business and to the needs and
tastes of the public, built up a flattering trade and established a flourishing
business. Mr. Ellis does not travel in the in-terest of his buggies nor send out a
salesman, and yet he is constantly filling orders from far and near for his buggies.
Their reputation for lasting qualities, which has been built up after years of honest
work, is their best advertisement.
The growth of the business is shown by the fact that in 1886, the first year of the
Ellis brothers in Kinston, they turned out forty complete jobs, while during the year
1905, the Ellis Carriage Works turned out 1569 jobs. Mr. Ellis is now serving his
second term as city alderman. He was elected to that position first in 1903, and was
re-elected in May 1905, for a term two years longer. During his first term, Mr. Ellis
was cemetery commissioned and now he is garbage commissioner for the city.
Mr. Ellis married Miss Hattie P. Coleman, of this city, and they live in quite a
pretty home on West Blount street.
ALDERMAN R. L. Crisp was born in Caswell Co. N. C, December 5, 1865. His father was
a large tobacco farmer and until he was eighteen years or age young Crisp remained on
his farm and engaged In the culture of tobacco. At eighteen he attended Graham Normal
College, from which Institution he was graduated In June 1883. The following year he
went into the tobacco business at Hillsboro, N. C., in leaf and manufacturing. Here
he remained for two years, whereupon he spent two years as a leaf dealer in Durham, NC.
Just at this time the tobacco culture in Eastern Carolina began to attract attention,
and in 1891 Mr. Crisp went to Wilson where for five years he was engaged in the leaf
business.
Seeing a still more favorable point of location, he came to Kinston in 1896, and
identified himself with our market. During that year he connected himself with the
Atlantic warehouse as one of the proprietors and has for ten years occupied that
position, with the exception of one year, before the, Atlantic was rebuilt after its
destruction by fire.
Aside from his warehouse business, Mr. Crisp is a member of the firm of A. S.
Copeland and Co. This firm conducts a sales stable and does a general time business
in fertilizers and supplies of all kinds.
During his residence here Mr. Crisp has served one term as alderman from the second
ward, and is now serving as a member of the board from the first ward. His first term
began in May 1902; and he succeeded the late "W. A. La Rogue as electric light
commissioner. In May 1905 he was elected to a position on the present board and is at
present serving the city as electric light commissioner.
In April 1899, Mr. Crisp married Miss Sallie Rountree, daughter of the late Dr.
Rountree, of Kinston. Their home has been blest with three children, two of whom are
today living, George Rountree Crisp and Frances Marion Crisp.
ALDERMAN John Travis Skinner was born in Green county, May 11, 1861. When about
five years of age he came with his father's family to Lenoir county, and lived on the
old James L. Canady place in Contentnea Neck. In the fall of 1881 he came to Kinston
and entered the mercantile business, conducting a grocery store until 1892, when he
decided to open an oyster and cold drink saloon. For fourteen years he has been
engaged in this business with a great deaf or success. His "stews" and "frys" are
famed far and wide, as is also his ice cream and cold drinks.
In the great fire of 1895, he was burned out on the corner next Einstein's. Since
January 1896, he has been in the Pridgen block on Queen street.
He was made a city alderman in May 1905, and serves in the capacity of cemetery
commissioner. He is a prominent Odd Fellow, and is regarded as one of our leading
citizens.
Mr. Skinner has been married twice. His first wife was Miss Dora Faulkner, of this
county. His second wife is Miss Beulah Abbott, of this city. They have eight children,
all of whom are now at home.
CLERK L. J. Mewborne was born in Vance township, December 4, 1871. In 1880, when he
was nine years of age, his parents moved to Kinston, and for two years young Mewborne
attended the old graded school, under the tutelage of Prof. George Grimsley. These
two years completed his academic education; but when he was about fourteen, he took
steps to secure a practical education of much value. For it was at that age that he
entered the Free Press office, where he was engaged constantly for seventeen years.
During this time he filled every department of the work and acquired an office
training that is of great value to him in his present position.
In 1901, Mr. Mewborne was made city clerk, a position that he has held continuously
ever since. In this capacity he has acquired an Intimate knowledge of the several
departments of the city government, with its recently enlarged equipment and expanded
activities, such as very few other citizens possess. He is scrupulous in his honesty
and attention to business, and the general opinion Is that "Lam" Mewborne makes a
good clerk,
In 1895 Mr. Mewborne married Miss Fannie Kilpatrick, daughter of George L.
Kilpatrick, of this city. He is an Elk, a Pythian, being district deputy Grand
Chancellor of the order, and member of the Christian Church.
Orion Knitting Mills
ABOUT the year 1889 there was in Kinston a reaction from an unnatural boom, and from
the consequent mushroom growth that the town experienced between the years 1882 and
1886. There were many vacant houses here, and therefore house rent was ridiculously
cheap, and real estate was low in price. This stagnant condition into which the town
was plunged opened the eyes of dazed people to the necessity for doing something that
would turn back the tide, cause an influx of population, occupy vacant stores and
dwellings and give employment to the crowds of unemployed a1ready here. Public meetings
were called and committees appointed to investigate and report if some kind of
manufacturing industries could be started, which could be operated on a small capital
and which would give most employment to labor and yield the largest margin of profit
to the amount of money invested.
After considerable investigation and inquiry the committees reached the conclusion
that nothing would so completely meet the requirements of the community as a mill for
the manufacture of hosiery. It was evident that a company could not be organized
with a fully paid capital, so the only course left was to organize a company on the
co-operative installment plan. The committee in charge decided upon issuing stock in
shares of the value of $50 each, payable $2.60 cash and 60 cents per week thereafter
until paid. Subscription books were opened and after two or three months of hard work
$9,860 was subscribed and the company organized.
It was the purpose of the promoters to eventually equip a $26,000 mill and so they put
up a building with that object in view. It was built 40x80 in feet, two stories, with
an annex 24x40 one story, all of brick, and is a model mill building. The construction
of this building took largely of their ready capital, so that they were unable to
purchase very largely of machinery, and it began operations in January, 1891, with
machines for the employment of only about forty operatives, which number was increased
to 75 before the close of the year.
After the mills had been running about two years, in order to place them on a more
productive basis. It was decided to increase the capital. And so in June 1903, by the
hardest kind of work for three months, mostly those already holding stock took $3,250
of common stock, and $8,000 in preferred stock was subscribed for. The indebtedness
was paid off, additional machinery purchased and put in place, enabling an increase of
operatives up to 120.
The mills were now on a pretty good basis-the rocky and uncertain period was passed
and they saw the light of a new day dawn. It was a great victory for the few fearless
men, who in the hour of Kinston's direst need had the wisdom to see and realize that
need and the courage to arouse the community to the necessity for action.
Since 1893, the mills have earned money each, year, and have paid dividends of from
6 to 10 per cent every year, with the exception of one year when it was thought best
to put all the earnings into additional machinery. The equipment has been added to,
however, almost every year since 1893 out of its own earnings, until at present it
employs 225 people.
Many changes have been made in the equipment of machinery, bringing the plant fully
up-to-date in every respect until the stockholders own a plant of machinery that while
not as large as some is yet the equal in quality to any hosiery mill in America.
In 1897 a small addition was built to the mill and other later additions made until
now it is 60x160, with a dye-house 40x102 and an annex 18x80, two stories.
The plant is now worth about $70,000 and has a capacity of from 1,000 to 1,200 dozen
pairs of hose per day. The product is sold mostly in the northwestern and southwestern
states and shipments are made every year over a territory covering 30 of the states.
They buy the principal part of their material from the Kinston Cotton Mills, and
their hosiery is then mostly from cotton grown in this section and marketed in Kinston,
which is as good as the average the South over. The mills have been under the same
management from their inception to the present time. The board of directors is
practically the same as it was at the beginning. The board is composed of the
following staunch business men, viz: S. H. Abbott, J. W. Collins, Dr. Henry Tull,
W. C. Fields, S. Oettinger, Dr. H. D. Harper, Sr., L. Harvey, J. F. Taylor and P. C.
Dunn. Dr. Henry Tull has been president since 1893. He has during those six years
given largely of his time to the mills and his counsel has been a source of much
profit in their management. He is a thoroughly practical and sensible business man,
and showed his interest in the mills in a most substantial way in 1893 when the fate
of the industry hung in the balance, by lending large financial aid to set it firmly
on its feet.
These mills have made better running time than any in the country, if you exclude,
the two or three weeks rest and vacation given the operatives in the hot weather to
better prepare them for the fall and winter work. Even in the financial panic of '93
and '94 the mills did not shut down a single day. They continued operations not with
a view to the profit they made, for they could have realized more by shutting down
for awhile, but mainly to keep their operatives in employment.
They have perhaps the most refined and intelligent force of operatives, mostly young
ladies, of any mills in the State. The management and operatives seem to understand
each other and are in thorough accord and sympathy the one with the other. Such a
thing as a strike is unknown to them. The happy state of affairs is attributable to
the high class of people employed and the liberality of the management in dealing
with them. The company's property interests and by a full equipment of automatic
sprinklers and fire pumps, and a water tank 60 feet high, with pipes running from it
all through the mills, having 600 feet of hose attached.
The product of the Orion Knitting Mills is as good as the product of any mills in
the country. Their hosiery are finished, nicely, are durable, and the black goods are
dyed In fast colors that neither fade nor weaken the goods.
They make a fast black and misses' hosiery, the excellence of which has made the mill
an enviable reputation throughout the country. They are the proprietors of the
celebrated brand of black known as the Columbian Sanitary Black that never changes and
will wear away before it will change color or fade.
Mr. J. F. Taylor has been secretary and treasurer and superintendent since the
beginning. He was born in Lenoir county, September 8th, 1864. He is regarded as one
of the strongest and best equipped young businessmen in Kinston. He is wise and
cautious, weighing the probable result of every movement, but once he has reasoned out
his course he goes unflinchingly on in the full confidence of the correctness of his
decision. He came to Kinston from his father's farm and began to business as a broker
and commission merchant in 1886. He soon established a good business here, his honesty
and integrity being early recognized. He continued the brokerage business until 1898,
when on becoming treasurer of the Kinston Cotton Mills, he quit it, his other duties
demanding his entire attention.
Is not too much to say that Mr. Taylor was the father of the Orion Knitting mills.
Certainly he was the most active spirit in promoting its establishment. He worked
unceasingly and untiringly before its organization, and when he was made its first
secretary and treasurer, he spent years of labor nursing it into warmth and a vigor.
It is very much easier now, but very few will ever fully understand the many serious
draw backs and difficulties the management of the mills encountered. He bravely and
prudently met and overcame them all. Mr. Taylor was the right man in the right place.
He is cool and determined and believes in keeping at it until success comes. He spent
much time at the mills in the day and worked late at night in the office. He has made
of a brilliant and substantial success of the plant and built up a good trade for the
output of the mills.
If the manager had been unworthy or had he shown bad faith, co-operative
establishments would have received a set back in Kinston. Much depended on this man
and he has more than met the responsibility imposed upon him.
Mr. Taylor is superintendent as well as secretary and treasurer. He married Miss
Fannie Murphy, of Kinston, and they live at their home on McLewean street.
As an evidence of the happy relations of the management with its employees a few
names may be mentioned with term of service: Mr. H. P. Fort has presided over the rib
department for 14 years, Mr. J. B. White has had supervision over the finishing and
shipping for 13 years; Mr. Geo. W. Tull has been Inspector and time-keep-er for 12
years, and Mr. J. F. Taylor has been secretary and treasurer since the company was
organized. The business of the Knitting Mills and the Kinston Cotton Mills is all
transacted in the same office under Hotel Tull.
KINSTON COTTON MILLS
The Kinston Cotton Mills, estab-lished in the fall of 189S on the co-operative plan,
was the natural outcome and offspring of the Orion Knitting Mills when the success of
that enterprise became an assured tact. The Knitting Mills were organized in 1890 on
the co-operative plan and their success has been surprising. The Knitting Mills needed
cotton yarn, hence the suggestion that we organize another mill on the same plan, and
manufacture the yarn in Kinston, naturally came into the minds of the men interested in
the Orion Knitting Mills.
A meeting was called December 15, 1897, by those originally interested in the project,
at which time a committee was appointed to solicit stock. At first a capital of $40,000
was all that the most sanguine hoped to raise, but by the untiring efforts of Dr. Henry
Tull, W. C. Fields, D. Oettinger, J. F. Taylor, F. C. Dunn, W. S. Herbert and IL others,
about $50,000 was subscribed by February 8, 1898, when the company was formally
organized and chartered.
Immediately upon the receipt of the first cash payment, which was made February 15th,
1898, the board of directors proceeded to investigate cost of machinery, to secure
plans for the buildings, etc. They purchased twelve acres of land from J. A. McDaniel
in East Kinston, and traded four acres of this to the Orion Knitting Mills for the site
where the mill is now located. The plant is situated east of the A. C. Line, between the
Knitting Mills and Hines Bros. Lumber Mills. The Coast Line built siding into the mill,
which enables them to unload cotton, wood, etc., right on their yards.
The plant consists of a large main building, built two-stories high of brick 240x75
feet with a tower 70 feet high. The picker room 54x40, engine room 68x40 and boiler
room 40x40, all one story and of brick, are annexed to the main structure. In the rear
of the main building, at a safe but convenient distance, stands the cotton warehouse,
with 6 compartments, built of galvanized iron, with storage room for 1,200 bales of
cotton.
The mills are equipped with two 100-horse power high pressure boilers, a 326 horse
power Frick-Corliss engine with condenser, and with Howard and Bullough textile
machinery complete for 12,200 spindles.
The plant was constructed to conform to the insurance specifications and is adjudged
a standard and model mill building. There is little or no danger to the mill property
through loss by fire. They have 2 large hydraulic cylindrical fire pumps with a
capacity of 600 gallons of water a minute, with hydrants at five separate places about
the buildings. The buildings are equipped throughout with automatic sprinklers
supplied from a 12,000 gallon iron tank located in the tower, by which arrangement in
case of any unusual heat in any part of the buildings water would be sprayed all over
the place on fire and the fire extinguished. The cotton warehouse is also filled with
the sprinklers supplied from the tank in the tower.
Besides this, however, the company carries ample insurance against losses by fire,
so that the interest of the stockholders are abundantly safeguarded in every way.
The factory is illuminated by an electric light system owned and operated by the
company, they having their own dynamo. The company has a well equipped machine shop,
where all necessary repair work is quickly done. About 260 operatives are now employed
on day work.
The cotton mills make hosiery yarns of all sizes from No. 6 to No. 30, inclusive.
These sizes include all that are used in the Orion Knitting Mills, of Kinston, which
are now using only THE Kinston Cotton Mills yarns. So if you buy the hosiery made by
the Knitting Mills here you will very likely wear hose made from cotton grown in
Lenoir county and manufactured here. The cotton mills are finding a ready market for
their output, the local mills in Eastern Carolina, and in Philadelphia, Amsterdam,
N. Y., and Boston is taking all the yarn they can supply.
They have erected on their eighty acres of land thirty-two houses for their
operatives. Mr. J. W. Black has been superintendent of this mill since it began
operation. An expert in every branch of the business, he has placed the Kinston
Cotton Mills on a very productive basis. Mr. Black is also a director and stockholder
in the mills. He is a New Englander by training, but has for several years made
Kinston his home.
The capital of the company is now common stock, $80,000; preferred, $20,000; and
is owned by about 176 different stockholders. About two-thirds of the stock is
owned by citizens of Kinston, and most of the balance is owned by Lenoir county
people outside of Kinston, with some little in the adjoining counties.
The following gentlemen, from the best business men In Kinston, compose the board
of directors, viz.: W. C. Fields, Dr. H. Tull, N. J. Rouse, S . H. Abbott, D.
Oettinger, H, B. Moseley, J. F. Taylor, E. R. Rouse, E. Hood, F. C. Dunn, J. W.
Black, J. A. McDaniel.
The officers are: N. J. Rouse, president; S. H. Abbott, vice-president; J. F.
Taylor, treasurer and manager; F. C. Dunn, secretary; A. E. Rountree, head
bookkeeper; T. V. Moseley, sten-ographer and typewriter.
The secretary of the Kinston Cotton Mills and secretary and treasurer of the Lenoir
Oil and Ice Company is Mr. F. Clyde Dunn, a rising young man of excellent business
ability. Mr. Dunn was born In Lenoir county. May 29, 1872. He was educated in Kinston
under Professor Joseph Kinsey in the graded schools. He then studied at the
University of North Carolina for one year-the session of 1888 and 1889. He then spent
one year on the farm and in June 1890, went to New York city to try his fortune. In
March 1891, he accepted the position of ship clerk in the Orion Knitting Mills, a
position he held for two years. In September 1893, he became bookkeeper for the
Knitting Mills and the brokerage business for Mr. Taylor until the Kinston Cotton
Mills organized in 1898.
He was one of the promoters of that company, and elected its first secretary, which
position he has held ever since. In 1900 the Lenoir Oil and Ice Company was organized
largely through Mr. Dunn's efforts. He was made secretary and treasurer of that
Company, has successfully managed it up to the present time.
In addition to this Mr. Dunn is a factor in and secretary of the Chesterfield
Manufacturing Co., of Petersburg, Va., the head offices of which corporation are in
Kinston.
Besides his official connection with Kinston Cotton Mills and Lenoir and Ice Co.,
as secretary, he is a director in these enterprises, and also the Orion Knitting Mills
and the Kinston Building and Loan Association. Mr. Dunn is a member of the Christian
Church, a prominent Odd Fellow, a Mason, an Elk, and a member and director in the
Lenoir Commercial Club. He is a young man of fine address and sterling worth, and is
ever ready to lend a hand to assist in the up-building of Kinston and Lenoir county.
On July 22, 1904 he married Miss Ida Ellison, of Baltimore, Md. They have one child,
a little girl.
THE story of the Hines Bros Lumber Company is the story of the rise of two Lenoir
county boys who, by indomitable energy, strict honesty, and integrity and a keen
business foresight have risen from a small beginning to the control of one of the
best equipped lumber plants in the South.
Mr. L. Hines was born in Wayne county, Jan. 23, 1852. When only about a year old
his father came to Lenoir county and located in Institute township. Here on Nov. 8,
1862, Mr. W. T. Hines was born. The brothers remained on their father's farm during
their earlier years. In 1885 Mr. Lovit Hines went into the lumber, business. He owned
a small mill In this county and moved it about from with a will. They had confidence
in their ability by hard work and careful management to obtain success, and results
show that they have done so. They borrowed sufficient additional money to improve
their plant and place it on a paying basis.
Thus the Hines Bros. Lumber Co. began business in Kinston with a plant originally
worth $6,000, with money spent for improvements, enlargements and purchasing timber
upon which to work. Today the value of the mill, the logging equipment and standing
timber is over $350,000 and the company is out of debt. It has here four brick dry
kilns, three new high pressure 150 horse power boilers, besides the one 100 horse
power boiler already used in one battery which is served by an Iron smoke stack 100
feet high and 72 Inches in diameter. This operates the band mill which has a
capacity of 40,000 feet per day. In addition to this there is a circular saw mill,
having a capacity of 15,000 feet a day. This is operated by a 40 and a 100 horse
power boiler. They have already placed an order for a band re-saw which will give
the mill a total capacity of 65,000 feet a day. Besides the property located in
Kinston, the company owns 24 miles of narrow gauge railway, supplied with 25 lb rail,
three locomotives and three log skidders, besides the necessary team used in logging.
Just recently they have begun operations to build a log road from Kinston to Snow
Hill, NC, a distance of 20 miles through a very fine timber and agricultural
country.
The property is in excellent condition and is one of the most valuable in the
State. It has in nine years made $450,000, upon original investment of only 12,000.
The story ought to prove an incentive to all energetic, active young men who are
willing to work, and work hard, both with brain and brawn for the betterment of
their condition.
THE Lenoir Oil and Ice Company was organized In the year, 1900, by local business
men for the manufacture of cotton-seed oil and ice. The idea of combining the
manufacture of these two products under one root was a novel one, but the saving of
power as a result of the combination of the two industries has proven the wisdom of
the plan. The company has a capital of $35,000, all common stock, owned entirely by
Kinston men, with one exception. J. F. Taylor, president; J. E. Hood, vice-president;
F. C. Dunn, secretary and treasurer. The board of directors comprises the above
officers and S. H. Abbott, S. Oettinger, C. T. Meacham, and Henry Well.
The Ice plant has a capacity of fifteen tons dally and has the latest and most
modern machinery for the purpose. The company operates a cold storage plant also,
with a capacity of 5,000 cubic feet. Recently the company has begun the refrigerating
of cars for the A. and N. C. Railroad, used for transporting fruits, etc. The plant
furnishes all the ice used in the city, and has a growing patronage.
The cotton seed oil plant runs two presses with a forty ton capacity per day of
twenty four hours. It purchases the seed largely in the local market, but is
sometimes forced to buy at other places on account of a small local supply.
Its products are the usual products of a crude cotton seed oil mill crude cotton
seed oil, cotton seed meal, hulls, and linters, for, which it finds a constantly
increasing market. It is one of the three Independent mills, it is not under the
control of the American Cotton-seed Oil Company, and the directors seem to be
satisfied not to join it. This company has demonstrated that business methods,
economic management, and intelligent direction will produce dividends in this
business, as in others.
THE Kinston Lumber Company plant consists of a modern up-to-date saw and planing
mill.
B. H. Ellington and C. R. Guy, of Richmond, Va., and W. W. Mills and William Hayes,
own it of Kinston, N. C. The officers are: W. W. Mills, president; and William Hayes,
secretary. It is one of the largest and most convenient lumber plants to be found
anywhere in the lumber belt of North Carolina.
The product of the company consists for the most part of North Carolina pine, and
is furnished both to the local and foreign markets. This property is well located,
having a sufficiency of territory to run the mill from twelve to twenty years. The
annual capacity of the mill is ten million feet. Besides its lumber plant, and as a
feeder thereto, the company owns twenty four miles of narrow gauge railroad running
into its timbered lands.
The Ice plant has a capacity of fifteen tons dally and has the latest and most
modern machinery for the purpose. The company operates a cold storage plant also, with
a capacity of 5,000 cubic feet. Recently the company has begun the refrigerating of
cars for the A. and N. C. Railroad, used for transporting fruits, etc. The plant
furnishes all the ice used in the city, and has a growing patronage.
The cotton seed oil plant runs two presses with a forty ton capacity per day of
twenty four hours. It purchases the seed largely in the local market, but is
sometimes forced to buy at other places on account of a small local supply.
Its products are the usual products of a crude cotton-seed oil mill-crude cotton-
seed oil, cotton seed meal, hulls, and linters, for, which it finds a constantly
increasing market. It is one of the three Independent mills, it is not under the
control of the American Cotton seed Oil Company, and the directors seem to be
satisfied not to join it. This company has demonstrated that business methods,
economic management, and intelligent direction will produce dividends in this
business, as in others.
THE Kinston Lumber Company plant consists of a modern-up-to-date saw and planing
mill.
It is owned by B. H. Ellington and C. R. Guy, of Richmond, Va., and W. W. Mills and
William Hayes of Kinston, N. C. The officers are: W. W. Mills, president; and William
Hayes, secretary. It is one of the largest and most convenient lumber plants to be
found anywhere in the lumber belt of North Carolina.
The product of the company consists for the most part of North Carolina pine, and
is furnished both to the local and foreign markets. This property is well located,
having a sufficiency of territory to run the mill from twelve to twenty years. The
annual capacity of the mill is ten million feet.
Besides its lumber plant, and as a feeder thereto, the company owns twenty-four miles
of narrow gauge railroad running into its timbered lands. The company is now laying a
heavy rails, getting in standard gauge rolling stock, engines, and cars, preparatory
to making the road a stand b card common carrier. The road will soon be extended
eighteen miles further southward into Chinquepin, Duplin county, making, in all, a
total length of forty miles exclusive of it branches. There is now evidence, amounting
to a practical certainty, that within the next eighteen months a spur of the road,
which is now being built, will reach Seven Springs, Wayne county. The lumber plant
and road are in the hands of hustling business men, and the developments ahead of them
are sure to mean much for Kinston.
Hodges Machine Shop
Kinston has an expert machinist in the person of Mr. Edward M. Hodges, who is
proprietor of a well equipped repair shop. In 1887, he opened a machine shop on the
west side of Queen street, near North street, but soon moved to the southwest corner
of Heritage and Gordon streets. In 1893, he purchased his present convenient location,
on the west side of Queen street, just north of the A. & N. C. R. R. tracks, where he
has built a large repair shop. He is thoroughly prepared to make or mend boilers of all
kinds, to do fine brass work and blacksmithing, to repair agricultural implements, to
make castings of broken parts, and, in fact, his shops are equipped with the necessary
outfit to do any and all kinds of machinists' work. He offers for sale and will buy or
trade for second hand machinery. A full and complete stock of supplies for machinists
is kept constantly on hand for sale.
He was born and reared on a farm In Lenoir county. He was born July 15, 1854, being
the son of the late Simon E. Hodges, who was one of the best citizens and largest
planters in this county.
Mr. E. M. Hodges married Miss Elizabeth Moseley, of Lenoir county, November 11, 1875.
They had six children, four girls and two boys. His wife died in April 1892. He married
on July 11, 1894, Miss Barbara A. Parrott, of Darlington, S. C. Mr. Hodges is a member
of the Christian Church, and his wife of the Methodist Church.
Mr. Hodges' business has grown so rapidly that he is now making extensive
enlargements in his plant He is adding another story to the main building, and has
built an addition for his foundry. When these Improvements are completed the capacity
of the machine and repair shops will be more than doubled.
Mr. Hodges' talent for machinery has been transmitted to his eldest son, to Horace H.
Hodges, who learned his trade in his father's shops under his instruction. At the age
of 20 he was chief engineer and machinist of Hines Bros. Lumber Co., and now occupies
that position with the Kinston Cotton Mills.
THIS firm is composed of David V. Dixon and John F. Hooker, Mr. Dixon is a native of
the good old county of Greene, having first seen, the light August 26, 1856. He was
educated at Carolina Seminary, near Ormond's Chapel, in his native county. He began
clerking at 19 years of age for Mr. John Patrick, in Hookerton. After six years he
bought an interest in the business and they conducted together a prosperous and
flourishing business, dealing in general merchandise and farmers supplies, under the
firm name of Patrick & Dixon. They continued in business together for six years, when
Mr. Patrick sold out to Mr. Dixon. For ten years he ran the big establishment alone.
He was known for his high character and honest methods. When at the height of his
success there, he left his big business in charge of his younger brother, with whom he
formed a partnership, under the firm style of D. H. Dixon & Co., and came to Kinston to
live and enter business here with Mr. J. W. Grainger in 1898.
This partnership continued until 1900, when it dissolved, when the present firm of
Dixon and Hooker was formed for the purpose of carrying on a general hardware business.
Mr. Dixon resides on the corner of McLewean and Blount streets with his family. He
was married in 1879 to Miss Corinne B. Patrick, of Greene county, and they have five
children. Errol Dixon, his oldest son, is one of the firms of L.Harvey and Son Company.
JOHN F. HOOKER
Mr. Hooker is a native of Greene county and was born October 15, 1868 near Hookerton.
He was educated in the county schools of Greene. He farmed on his plantation near
Glenfield, until 1899, when he moved to this city and formed a partnership with his
brother, F. C. Hooker, in the tinning and roofing business. This business was
discontinued in 1900, when Mr. J. F. Hooker went into the firm of Dixon and Hooker.
He was married in 1885 to Miss Etta Hoke Freeman of Snow Hill. They have five children
and reside at No. 612 N. Queen street.
Dixon and Hooker conduct a general hardware business in the Grainger Building on the
S. E. corner of Queen and North streets. In five years these two sons of Greene county
have steadily forged ahead with the luck, business ability and courtesy that the natives
of that good old county carry with them everywhere. They give the same attention to the
buyer of a pocketknife and the purchaser of a saw mill, and they will sell either in
reasonable terms. In addition to all kinds of hardware they carry a complete and first
class stock of paints, oils and varnishes. They handle all kinds of agricultural
instruments, firearms, wire fencing etc.
MR. J. E. Hood
MR. J. E. Hood was born at Bentonsvllle, Johnston county, June 26th, 1867. In 1887,
before he had attained his majority he began in the drug business in Smithfield in
partnership with one of his brothers, under the firm style of Hood Bros. He attended
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in '87 and '88, and in May 1889, the board of
pharmacy of North Carolina granted him license as a practicing pharmacist.
Mr. Hood's father was a druggist, and he had three brothers, all successful
druggists. From these facts it will readily appear that he thoroughly understands the
drug business, being a druggist by birth and inclination as well as by education and
experience. He moved to Kinston in August 1893, having bought out John E. Parrott's
drug store. Mr. Hood continued the business at the old stand for several months, when
he moved into the Hunter bundling on the southwest corner of Queen and Caswell streets,
where he remained until 1903, when, having bought the old Stevenson corner at Queen
and Gordon streets, and sold a half interest in the business to Mr. S. L. Stough, the
firm erected a handsome three story brick structure and the business was removed.
Mr. Hood has been a director of the Bank of Kinston since its organization, and is
now one of the directors of the Kinston Cotton Mills. He is financially interested in
and thoroughly identified with the tobacco industry here, as he is with everything that
goes to forward the commercial prosperity of Kinston.
He is also Vice President of the Lenoir Oil and Ice Company and a director of the
Chesterfield Manufacturing Company of Petersburg, a director of the Citizens Bank and
President of the Lenoir Commercial Club.
In 1899 he built a handsome and commodious residence on Caswell street where be now
resides. He married Miss Pauline Thornton, of Fayetteville, and they have a family of
four girls and two boys.
SYLVESTER L. STOUGH
Mr. S. L. Stough, the junior member of the firm of J. E. Hood and Company, was born
in 1866, in the town of Lincolnton, N. C., and was educated in the Shelby High School,
spending the early years of his life on a farm. He began his mercantile career as a
clerk with Lattimore and Blanton, in Shelby, but moving soon after to Forest City, he
bought out G. E. Young, of the firm of J. B. Blanton and Company, and the firm became
Blanton and Stough. This continued until 1891, at which date his adopted father,
Reverend A. L. Slough, was called to the pastorate of the Kinston Baptist Church, he
decided to remain with them and accordingly in 1892, he closed out his interest in
Blanton and Stough, and moved to this city.
He immediately took a position with J. C. Quinerly, staying with him one year, until,
being attracted by the drug business he was employed by Mr. J. E. Hood in 1894, as
manager. These two gentlemen have been associated together continuously ever since.
They form a strong business combination to which fact the enormous increase in their
business during the last few years bears testimony.
Mr. Stough is unmarried and is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., and the Encampment I. 0.
0. F. In 1903, this firm moved into their handsome new three story brick building on
Queen street with an equal frontage on Gordon street, surrounding the Citizens Bank.
Then it took a position in the front rank of drug firms in North Carolina. There is
no larger, handsomer, or more conveniently arranged business house of the kind in the
State.
It represents an outlay of $18,000. The store is furnished, throughout with plate
glass counter cases of the handsomest construction, with every modern arrangement for
show space. The stock is very complete. The prescription counter, with an immense
plate glass back faces both entrances at an angle, and gives a complete view of the
whole store from any point of view. Back of the counter is every convenience for the
scientific and careful preparation of prescriptions, and this branch of the business
a specialty with the firm. They handle all the standard proprietary medicines and do a
large jobbing business in this branch. They carry a large and complete line of standard
stock, food products, garden-seeds, flower seeds and bulbs. They handle pure drugs in
large quantities, and supply the best brands of mineral waters in any quantity desired.
In addition to this regular drug business, they operate an up-to-date soda fountain,
at which every month in the year all the popular soft drinks are dispensed. They
probably sell more of the popular southern drink, Coca Cola, than any other retail
dealer in this part of the State.
This firm is the depository for Kinston of the school books prescribed by a the State,
and in addition to a large stock of school books, carries a very large and complete
stock of first class stationery, commercial paper, ledgers, day books, type writer
supplies, fountain pens, inks, pencils, and all office conveniences.
This enterprising firm is composed of William C. Fields and Edward J. Becton. The
firm deals in cotton, fertilizers, insurance, and real estate. The business has grown
rapidly, and is now one of the leading firms in this section. Last year, from February
to February they handled 13,000 bales of cotton, and their business aggregates over
$700,000 a year.
William Carlyle Fields was born in Kinston, N. C., and February 22, 1880. He attended
the local schools, and was later a student at Bingham Military School, at Asheville,
N. C., and Drewry's Military School, at Fayetteville, N. C. After he left school he
returned to Kinston and entered business with his father, where he remained until the
latter's death, in 1902. After the death of Mr. W. C. Fields Sr., the firm of Fields
and Becton was formed which now carries on a large and prosperous business already
established. Mr. Fields is a director in the bank of Kinston, and is a member of the
Odd Fellows, the Elks, and the Lenoir Commercial Club.
The other member of the firm, Edward J. Becton, is a promising young business man who
came to Kinston in 1894, from Woodington township, in this county. He began his business
career in this city as clerk for the late Mr. W. C. Fields, after which he engaged in
the live stock business with J. C. Quinerly, of this city. In 1901 the partnership was
dissolved and Mr. Becton entered the Insurance business. Mr. Becton is a member of the
Methodist Church, the Odd Fellows, the Elks, and was a charter member of he Industrial
Club. In November 1902, he married Miss Katie Tull, and they live in a handsome
residence on King street in this city.
MR. KIEBER DEMARK
Mr. Kieber Denmark was born in Goldsboro, Wayne county, N. C., on August 10, 1866.
His father, Mr. S. H. Denmark, was a popular man in Wayne, having been clerk of the
court during the war. Kieber received his education in the Goldsboro graded schools,
far famous for their high and thorough instruction.
He had the opportunity of choosing a higher collegiate education, but being possessed
from birth with a great fondness for machinery, he preferred to follow the natural bent
of his mind.
He therefore attended the Horological School, of Waltham, Mass. There he was taught
to repair jewelry watches and clocks, and enjoyed the experience of being compelled
to mend every conceivable break, or mishap possible to their machinery.
The situation of the school is fortunate, because the students have access to the
great watch factories as a part of their instruction. Waltham is justly styled the
"City of Watches," for besides containing within its limits other watch factories, it
is the site of the great Waltham watch factory, makers of the celebrated American
Waltham watches.
Mr. Denmark completed a course there and immediately came to Kinston and located
in October 1894. He opened in a window in Temple's drug store, having only a bench and
his tools. There he plodded on, doing a great deal of repair work, until in the fall of
1895 he moved into the store he now occupies, three doors north of Einstein Bros., and
under the opera house.
About May 1st, Mr. Denmark, will remove to the southwest corner of Queen and Gordon
streets, where he will open up a handsome store in the building formerly occupied by
the Mark Mewborne grocery store. Here he will enlarge his stock, as he will have at his
disposal twice his present floor space. With him, as clerks, are Mr. Stephen Moore and
Miss Sue Wilson. Mr. Denmark draws patronage from a large territory around Kinston.
He carries the largest, handsomest and most selects stock of jewelry ever carried in
Kinston. He does as nice a business and carries as good stock as the trade demands. He
makes special orders whenever desired.
The stock, procured only from the most reliable houses in the trade, contains all
styles of foreign and American gold and silver watches, for ladies and gentlemen,
diamonds. Fine jewelry, spectacles, silverware, and fine table cutlery. He warrants all
his wares as represented, upon forfeit of double the price paid for them.
He has a full line of bracelets, necklaces, earrings, brooches and jewelry of all
kinds and at all prices. Mr. Denmark has excellent credit, and is in intimate relation
with the leading manufacturers and procures the latest novelties as soon as issued. He
carries an elegant stock and makes a fine display, which will be made even more
attractive in his new quarters.
Mr. Denmark is a young man of good business talents, and is generally popular as a
merchant and jeweler and his work has given extraordinary satisfaction. He is a
prominent Odd Fellow, and a member of the Methodist Church.
Quinn & Miller
This enterprising firm of young men came to Kinston in August 1898, and began selling
furniture at once. They have been selling it ever since. Beginning in a small way in the
Grainger block on N. Queen street they now occupy one of the largest stores in the city.
J.M. Quinn
Mr. Quinn was born in Duplin county in the year 1879, and was educated in the county
schools of Duplin. Starting in business with his present partner in Newbern, in 1898,
they soon determined to move to Kinston. Mr. Quinn married Miss Stephenson in 1902. She
is now dead leaving one child.
J. 0. MILLER
Mr. Miller was born in Duplin county in the year 1876. He was educated in the county
schools of Duplin. He formed a partnership with J. M. Quinn in 1898 and they began
business in Newbern soon moving to Kinston.
Mr. Miller married Miss Lizzie Quinn, of Duplin county, in March 1903. They have one
child, a daughter, and now live at No. 60 S. Mitchell street.
There is probably no firm in the South existing under just the same conditions as
this one. The two partners have been associated closely in their personal and business
relations since boyhood. Entering into business at the age when most young men have not
left school and before any business aptitude has shown itself in their minds, these
two young men have steadily forged to the front in of Eastern North Carolina in their
line of business. With an immense floor space 114 x 22 feet and two warehouses filled to
overflowing, they handle every line of house furnishings and office fixtures. Chairs,
stoves and heaters, they order in carload lots and they dispose of two car loads of beds
and bed room sets per month. As far as possible they handle North Carolina goods, but
the better qualities of quartered oak, cherry and mahogany they are compelled to buy in
other markets. Their line of brass and enameled bedsteads is not excelled anywhere.
They furnish Globe Wernicke sectional bookcases to a large territory. They do a large
business in furnishing lodge and society halls, having recently furnished complete the
hall of the Jr. 0. U. A. M., the Lenoir Industrial Club, the new addition to Hotel Tull,
and, on its completion, the county home. To supply their local trade they keep two
delivery wagons in constant service and employ three salesmen.
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