Oh my goodness. Well I was born at Belvedere, N. C., which is in
Perquimans County, the adjoining county, and I went to a Quaker school
until I was about 15 years old. A Quaker school in Belvedere. These
Quakers were very closely associated with the Quakers at Bryn Mawr,
Pennsylvania, and their teachers were trained there. They posessed one
of the best schools, I think, in the community or in the area at that
particular time which was from 1905 to 1910. After my mother died my
father moved to Edenton and shortly thereafter I came to Edenton too.
Ifinished public school here and then around 1910 I went to Wake Forest
College. After Wake Forest I taught school for two years at Walburg, NC,
then I went to Harvard Law School. From there I went to officers
training school or camp some place in S. C. or east Tennessee, one or
the other, and after finishing there I became a 1st Lieutenant and
became a member of the 81st Division. We went to France and saw combat
until the war ended. I was lucky enough to escape being killed, but came
very near death two or three times. After the war ended the forces
decided to have pistol matches and rifle matches between the various
nations involved while waiting to be transported back home. With ships
only to carry us back it meant that it would take a long time for all
the forces to get back home. So they had to find something for us to do
to keep up busy. So I was lucky enough to make the team for the pistol
matches for the United States. We had several matches and the Americans
were very lucky and won out and we had quite a time at it. As a matter
of fact [Shows trophies that he won and modestly states that he was one
of the top American marksmen in the pistol matches] Quite an honor for a
country boy.
Then I came back and took my law examination and passed the bar and got
married; then Ehringhaus got to be Governor, he was from Elizabeth City,
and I ran for the Senate when he ran for Governor and I was elected to
the Senate twice and served with him while he was Governor. Then he
decided that he wanted me to take a job with him in Raleigh. I was
practicing law here, but I was very fond of him—he was a very fine
person—so I went up to Raleigh and took a job in his administration.
Stayed up there about 35 years.