elastic, and on his robust constitution, and so brought his life to a premature close.
John Henry Dillard, born 1825, late one of the associate justices of the supreme court of the state, resides in this county. He was born in Rockingham County, in 1825. He was a student at the university, where he finished his sophomore year, and then he went to the William and Mary, Virginia, where he graduated. After studying law, and being admitted to practice in North Carolina, he settled in Patrick County, Virginia. In a few years he returned to Rockingham and devoted himself to his profession. He was elected county attorney, and was remarkable for his diligence and accuracy in the forms he used. He was appointed clerk and master, which position he was well calculated to make him an admirable equity draftsman, for which, in his practice, he became distinguished.
His war record is short. He was captain in a company in the 45th North Carolina regiment, and did his duty faithfully. After the war was over, he renewed the practice of his profession with such success that he was pronounced by Chief Justice Pearson "to be the ablest equity lawyer in North Carolina." He removed from Rockingham County to Greensboro in 1868, and became one of the firm of Dillard, Ruffin and Gilmer.
In connection with Judge Dick, he established a law school, which supplied the vacancy occasioned by the closing of the one so long carried on by the late Chief Justice Pearson.
He married Anna J., daughter of Colonel Martin, of Henry County, Virginia. He was an elder of the Presbyterian church, and a faithful follower of its exemplary teachings.
Calvin H. Wiley,*
* From the Living Writers of
the South.
was born in in Guilford County, January 2, 1819, and
graduated at the university in 1840, in same class with Judge David A. Barnes,
Governor Tod R. Cadwell, John W. Cunningham, William Johnston, John A.
Lillington, Judge Shipp, and others. He read law and was admitted to practice.
In 1850, he was elected a member of the House of Commons, and again in 1852, and was elected by the legislature superintendent of common schools for a term of two years. He was so approved in his high and important position that he was re-elected six times.
In 1856, he was licensed to preach by the Orange Presbytry.
So efficient was the system he inaugurated, that the schools were kept in regular operation during all of our long and bloody civil war.
His literary labors are "Alamance; or, the Great and Final Experiment," published by Harpers in 1847, which described the stirring scenes in this region in 1776, and was a very successful book.
In 1850, he published "Roanoke; or, where is Utopia?" likewise, an historical novel, published by Peterson. He published, in 1851, "the North Carolina Reader," which work is admirably calculated to make our state better known and our own people more familiar with our glowing history.
In 1863, during the war, he
published, at Greensboro, "
Albion W. Tourgee, who resided in Greensboro, is prominent as a politician, writer and advocate. He came to this state from Ohio, and as Moore says, is "one of the few whose advent has been beneficial to his adopted state." He is a lawyer by profession, learned and laborious, and as a politician, active and able.
He was a member of the convention of 1868, Calvin J. Cowles, president, and, in 1870, succeeded D. G. Fowle as a judge of the superior courts. His judicial appointment was
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