Rutherford County

by Trelease, Allen W. Baxter, Elisha by Allen W. Trelease, 1979 1 Sept. 1827–31 May 1899 Elisha Baxter, governor of Arkansas and a protagonist in the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Newell, Charles A., Jr. John Baxter, lawyer, legislator, southern Unionist, and U.S. circuit court judge, was the son of Irish immigrants, Catherine Lee and William Baxter, who had settled in Rutherford County. He was a [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Knapp, Richard F. Christopher Bechtler, metallurgist, goldsmith, jeweler, and coiner, was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden in Germany, probably to an insignificant family of the peasantry or middle class. Nothing is [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Stephens, George M. Cordelia Camp, teacher and writer, was born north of Rutherfordton, the daughter of Merritt Rickman and Letitia Morrow Camp. From her neighborhood one-room school she began teaching in McDowell [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Asbury, Hayden. Patriot, American Revolution military leader, and public official, James Johnston was born around 1742 in Scotland.  Of Scottish ancestry, his father Henry Johnston emigrated to North [...] (from Government & Heritage Library, State Library of North Carolina.)

by Copeland, J. Isaac. Franklin Coxe, industrialist, banker, and railroad executive, was born in Rutherfordton, the son of Francis Sidney and Jane McBee Alexander Coxe. An ancestor, Daniel Coxe, had settled in New Jersey [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Woodard, John R., Jr. Columbus Durham, Baptist minister and corresponding secretary of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, was born in Rutherford County, the son of Esther Baxter and Micajah Durham and brother of [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Trelease, Allen W. Durham, Plato by Allen W. Trelease, 1986 20 Sept. 1840–9 Nov. 1875 Plato [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Conway, Robert O. Clyde Atkinson Erwin, educator, was born in Atlanta, Ga., the son of Sylvanus and Mamie Putnam Erwin. He attended school in Charlotte and Waco, N.C., and was a student at The University of North [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Green, C. Sylvester. Forman, Joshua by C. Sylvester Green, 1986 6 Sept. 1777–4 Aug. 1848 Joshua [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Smith, Claiborne T., Jr. Angelo Garibaldi, steamboat captain and shipbuilder, was born in Italy of unknown parentage. He is said to have come to Baltimore as a boy with an uncle. On the death of this relative, young [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Hughes, Nathaniel C., Jr. William Gilbert, legislator and Revolutionary War figure, was born in Ireland and as an infant was brought to Massachusetts by his parents. In Pennsylvania, about 1760, he married Sarah McCandless [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Lackey, Mark Dixon. Clarence Wilbur Griffin, newspaper editor and historian, was born in Spindale, Rutherford County, the son of Lewis W. and Naomi Johnson Greene Griffin. After graduation from Spindale High in 1923, he [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Poe, Charles Aycock. John Cebern Logan Harris, attorney, newspaperman, and Republican political leader, was born in Rutherfordton, the son of Cebern Lemuel and Susan Logan Harris. In 1862, at age fifteen, he went to [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Crow, Mildred Martin. Raleigh Rutherford Haynes, textile manufacturer, the fourth child and oldest son of Charles H. and Sarah Walker Haynes, was born at Ferry, in Rutherford County. Charles Haynes, a landowner, teacher, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Hughes, Nathaniel C., Jr. James Holland, Revolutionary officer, legislator, and congressman, was born in either Pennsylvania or present-day Anson County, N.C., to which his parents moved about the time of his birth. He was [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Stafford, Garland R. Joseph Benjamin Ivey, merchant and churchman, the fifth child of George Washington and Selina Neal Ivey, was born in Shelby of English and German ancestry. He was the brother of George Franks Ivey. [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Bennington, David Allen. Thomas Laurens Jones, lawyer, legislator, and congressman, was born on his father's estate, White Oak, in Rutherford County. He was the son of George Jones, a planter of Welsh-English descent and a [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Green, C. Sylvester. Amos Isaac Justice, Baptist clergyman, was born in the Edneyville section of rural Henderson County. No record has been found identifying his parents, although it is known that his family moved to [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Flannagan, Clara H. R. Edwin (or Edward) Judson Justice, lawyer, Democratic party leader, legislator, and special prosecutor, was born in Rutherfordton, one of six children and the oldest son of Margaret L. Smith and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Roberts, B. W. C. Michael Hoke Justice, Confederate ordnance officer, attorney, state senator, and Superior Court judge, was born in Rutherford County. He was the fourth of six children of the Reverend Thomas Butler [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Jordan, Susan. Romulus Zachariah Linney, lawyer and congressman, was born in Rutherford County, the son of William Cope and Martha Baxter Linney. His father was a well-to-do farmer; his mother was a sister of John [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Trelease, Allen W. Logan, George Washington by Allen W. Trelease, 1991; Revised by SLNC Government and Heritage Library, December 2022 22 Feb. 1815–18 Oct. 1889 George [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Massengill, Stephen E. Frederick (Frank) Marchant, photographer, was born in Pennsylvania, one of three children of William J. and Henrietta (Hattie) S. Makeley Marchant. His father (b. ca. 1835) and his paternal [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Dunbar, G. S. McDowell, Silas by G. S. Dunbar, 1991 16 May 1795–14 July 1879 Silas McDowell, tailor, farmer, court clerk, scientific observer, and writer, was born in York District, S.C., the natural son [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by London, Lawrence F. Francis Johnstone Murdoch, Episcopal clergyman, teacher, and manufacturer, was born in Buncombe County, the son of William and Margaret Nixon Murdoch. His parents immigrated to America from Ireland [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Bowman, Charles H., Jr. John Tyrant Patrick, journalist and resort developer, was born in Wadesboro, the youngest of six children of William H. and Margaret A. Campbell Patrick. The Civil War interrupted his formal [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Riley, Jack. Darley Hiden Ramsey, editor, newspaper manager, historian, and scholar, was born in Gretna, Va., the son of Simeon Clay and Lucy Pinckard Ramsey of Ferrum, Va. In 1903 the family moved to Asheville, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Macfie, John. William Marcus Shipp, lawyer, judge, and attorney general, was born in Lincoln County. His father, Bartlett Shipp, an able lawyer "traveling on horseback hundreds of miles" as he followed the circuit [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Wert, Jeffry D. Randolph Abbott Shotwell, Confederate soldier, newspaperman, state legislator, and author, was born in West Liberty, Va., the eldest of three sons of the Reverend Nathan, a Presbyterian minister, and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Massengale, William F. W. James Burges Sill, Episcopal priest, was born in New York but grew to love the land and people of western North Carolina. From a family of divines, his father, Thomas Henry, served a Manhattan parish [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Davis, Curtis Carroll. Howell Tatum, officer in the Revolution and War of 1812, merchant, engineer, and lawyer, attorney general, and superior court judge in Tennessee, was the son of Joshua and Amey Tatum of Halifax [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Ham, Marie Sharpe, Blake, Debra A., Morris, C. Edward. Umstead, Merle Holland Davis by Marie Sharpe Ham, Debra A. Blake, and C. Edward Morris. Excerpted from North Carolina's First Ladies, 1891-2001, copyright 2001. Reprinted with permission from [...] (from North Carolina's First Ladies: 1891-2001, North Carolina Historical Publications.)

by Folmsbee, Stanley J. Felix Walker, soldier, politician, and pioneer, was born in Hampshire County, Va. His grandfather, John Walker, emigrated from Derry, Ireland, in 1720 and settled in Delaware. His father, John [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Riddle, H. L., Jr. John Walker, Indian fighter and Revolutionary officer, was born in Appoquinimink Hundred, New Castle County, Del., the son of John Walker of Derry, Ireland, who immigrated to Delaware in 1720. The [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Dedmond, Francis B. Zeno Wall, Sr., minister, World War I chaplain, and college president, was born in Mooresboro in eastern Rutherford County near the Cleveland County border. One of eleven children of Sidney F., a [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Carroll, Grady L. E., Sr. Walls, William Jacob by Grady L. E. Carroll, 1994 Related Entries: African American 8 May 1885–23 Apr. 1975 William Jacob Walls, Methodist clergyman, editor, and author, was born at [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Washburn, Benjamin Earl by William S. Powell, 1996 29 Dec. 1885–28 Dec. 1979 Benjamin Earl Washburn, physician and public health officer, was born in Rutherfordton, the son of John [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Sumner, Jim L. James Harvey Weaver, athletic administrator, was born at Rutherford College, of which his father was president. One of five children of the Reverend Charles Clinton and Florence Stacy Weaver, his [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. Wilson, Franklin Inge (Frank.) by William S. Powell, 1996 1822–16 June [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by King, William E. York, Brantley by William E. King, 1996 3 Jan. 1805–7 Oct. 1891 Brantley York, Methodist clergyman, educator, lecturer, and author, was born near Bush Creek [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)