Biographical Sketches of the Members of the General Assembly of North

328,756 C713b Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2011 with funding from State Library of North Carolina http://www.archive.org/details/biographicalsketOOcoll ' lOGRAPHICAL ShSVcHES EMBERS ,»> JERAL ASSEMBLY .5/-^ICRTH CAROLINA, 1895. BY « '?*» COLLINS & GOODWIN, RALEIGH, M, C. H'I'OiS, litXSTKRS MSrj BlNri.EI;.; 1895. GENERAL ASSEMBLY Of NORTH CAROLINA, SESSION OF 1895. SENATE. First District, E. T. SNIPES, Murfreesboro. Was born February 26, 1841, in the western part of Hertford County, and is 54 years old. Politics, Republican, and is conser- vative (dwells on this). This is the sixth term Mr. Snipes has served his county and district in the General Assembly, having represented his county first in iS68-'69 and '70, and in :SSi. In the contest of i868 he was elected over Hon. Jesse J. Yates by 2x2 votes, who afterwards represented the First North Carolina Dis- trict in Congress. In 1881 he was opposed by Hon. Joseph B. Slaughter, over whom he was elected by 225 majority; and in the campaign of 1886 he defeated L,angley Taylor by 257 majprity, an increase of about 30 votes over his victory in 18S1, leading the ticket, as usual, by a handsome majority. Occupation, farmer, to ' which he devotes his principal time, and in which he has met with much success. He has recently engaged in a small way in the mercantile business, and bids fair to reap an ample reward. Wa-^ Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners for six years, m. -which position he served with credit to himself and to the cor' ;ty, the debt of the count}' of $17,000 having been paid when he .retired, all the public buildings, which were before in a dilapi- _ dat' 1 state, having been put iu proper order. Mr. Snipes was elec'ed to the Senate by 1,200, defeating his opponent, Mr. L,. W. McMullen, Democrat. On October 31, 1871, he married Miss Lo.'jisa Bradshaw, of Isle of Wight Councj", Va., and is the happy lauier of eight children. He is Chairman of the Committee on Pui'jiic Buildings and Grounds, and serves on the committees of De f and Dumb and Blind Asylums, Agriculture, and Propositions ttib'-" Grievances. First District, THEO. WHJTE, Hertford. orn, 1840, in the town of Brandon, Rankin County, Miss. Was 01 / seven years of age when he moved to the State of North Car- olliia in Perquimans County, the place where he resides. He is a at fa; mer bv occupation. Enlisted in the Confederate service the '"' ::0"irraencement of the war and served iu infantry of Cooke's Brig- ' % 27th N, C. Troop:-, commauded by Col. John A. Gilmer. Was taken prisoner at tlie battle of Bristoe, Va., and was confined in prison at Point Lookout, Md., thirteen months. He suffered intensely during imprisoument that space in this sketch will not allow us to express. He was exchanged at Savannah, Ga., and returned home, where he married the girl he left behind, Miss Carolina Virginia Harrell, tind was back to his old regiment, the 27th, in the trenches around Petersburg, in seven weeks. Mr. White has always been a Democrat, but in 1892 announced himself as a. Populist. Has been honored by the people of bis county for various offices ever since the surrender of General Lee. Represented his county in the Legislature in iSoi. Is Vice-Presi- dent of the Farmers' Alliance of Perquimans Count}', and President of the Sub- Alliance of his township. Is a Justice of the Peace, and has been for twenty years. Has been a County Commissioner oi his county for several years, which position he resigned to repre- sent his county in the General Assembly of 1891. Pa also is Chair- man on the Board of Supervisors of Public Roads in ^i'^ township, and is a member of the school committee. He was for two cam- paigns (1892 and 1894) Chairman of the First Congressional District of North Carolina. In the fall of 1894, at a convention held in Edenton, he was nominated by the "'opulists on the coalition ticket and canvassed the district with his opponents, Mr. L. W. McMullen and Geo. W. Ward, and defeated them by 1,030 majority, Mr. White is a gentleman of a jolly good nature, and is a raan that makes friends wherever he goes, especiallv among the yomg people. Second District, J. B. PARSONS, Middleton. Born in the city of Portsmouth, Va., in 1842. Was educated in the public schools of his native city. Entered the Virginia Iron Works as an apprentice, and is a good engineer. He served in the United States Navy about the time of the'virginian affair. Besides being an engineer, Mr. Parsons, is an orator, auth.-- music teacher, newspaper correspondent and an athlete. He has made oratory and literature a special studv, U an e;:sy and good writer of verse, has composed music, and' has- B'^n- pieces not yet published. He is a mu.sic teacher ant has been principal of several High Schools. His politics have always _ been Democratic until the late .;l';c- tion, when he became a Populist. He was elected bv 487 major'ty out of a vote of 12,000 in his district, coryposed of seven count>3 viz.: Dare, Tyrrell, Martin, Washington, Beaufort, Patalico sod Hyde. He resides in Hyde, but his profession compel.s him V-o roam over a considerable latitude, and can be nracticallv said to live anywhere he may be. Mr. Parsons is food of high life and full of wit, and he mal- ed many friends wherever he goes. Second District, H. E. i«cCASKEY, Dardens. Tliis pfentleman \yas born in Martin County, November 6th, 1859. He was formerly a Democrat, but joined the new partv, the inconsistency of the party being his reason for leaving it. Is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, joining that organization in 1889, and has represenied that body in three State meetings. Was educated in the high schools of his native county and st the Uni- versity of North Carolina for the purpose of teaching, and is a prosperous farmer. He married Miss Mamie L. Waters, of Dar- dens, N. C. , Decemtier 23d, 1887, and is the father of four children, one boy and three girls. This is his first term in the I,egis- lature. He is a member of the Freewill Baptist Church. Fifth District, WILLIAM P. MERCER, Toisnot. Born in the county of Edgecombe, and is not far beyond thirty years of age. He was raised on the farm and is a Democrat. He was educated at Tritiity College, N. C, under the presidency of the late scholarly Dr. Braxton Craven, with degree of A. B. A fev/ years after graduating he delivered the annual address before the Alumni Association of that College, at which time the trustees of the institution honored him with degree of A. M. Attended medical department of the University of Virginia one session often months and completed his medical education at the University of the City of New York. Since that time he has Vjeen t)racticing medicine and farming very successfully. Married Miss Mary A. Jones, an accomplished daughter of ex- sheriff Joseph S. Jones, of Warren County, and has three children. "The doctor never took any active part in politics before the campaign of 1892, and was nominated for State Senator without solici- tation. He was elected over the Republican and People's Party candidates by a majority of nearly 400. In 1894 he was again nominated for the same position by acclamation, and was elected by a handsome majority over the Republican and Populist candidates. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Trinity Col- lege. Has been chosen to deliver the annual oration before the next meeting of the Medical Society of North Carolina in May, 1895, at Goldsboro. Is serving on a number of Senate committees, viz.: Judiciary, Railroad and Railroad Commission, Penal Institu- tions, Public Health, Agriculture, &c. Sixth District, A. A. FORBS, Greenville. Was born Febuary 3d, 1842, and is consequently fifty-three years of age.- Attended the common schools of the county and at the age of fifteen entered Trinity College, remained there till 1861, left there and joined Lee's army as a private, Seventh Confederate Cavalry, and in 1863 was elected lieutenant, but declined that position, and accepted the position of musician, and leader of the Regimental brass band, which he served until the 9th daj' of April, 1865, and surrendered with Lee's army at Appomatox Court House. Married January 9th, i856. He was nominated for the Senate in 1S92, and defeated by 62 votes. In the fall of 1894 he was again nominated fbr the Senate and elected by 500 majority, in which capacity he served with diatinction and honor. Occupation, farmer. Seventh District, J. C BELLAMY, Whitakers. Joseph Clinch Bellamy was born in Nash County, near Battles- boro. on the manor farm where his father, Dr. John Fletcher Bellamy, and his wife, Sarah Hunter, lived and are buried. The Bellamys are of Huguenot descent, who came to Edge- combe County earl;,' in the seventeenth century. The great-grandmother of the subject of this sketch was a sister of Col. Joseph Clinch, for whom he was named. Col. Clinch was a man of wealth and a foremost rebel against the British govern- ment in its oppression on the American Colonies, who raised and equipped at his own expense a company of three hundred caval- rymen for the Continental service, with which, as its captain, he became a terror to the Tories in Eastern Carolina.

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