History of Fayetteville, (Cumberland County) North Carolina United States of America

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Local History Notes:

FAYETTEVILLE, a flourishing town, capital of Cumberland county, North Carolina, is situated on the left bank of Cape Fear river, at the head of natural navigation, 60 miles S from Raleigh, and 100 miles N. W. from Wilmington. The town is regularly laid out, with streets of 100 feet in width. It is the centre of an extensive trade, which is facilitated by plank-roads extending in various directions. The adjoining country is partly occupied by extensive forests of pine, which supply important articles of export, in the form of turpentine, tar, lumber, &c. The navigation has lately been extended, by the construction of locks and dams, as far as the coal mines of Chatham county. The ample water-power of the river is employed in manufactories of cotton and flour. Fayetteville contains an arsenal of construction, a large establishment enclosing about 50 acres, now nearly completed; also 3 banks and 3 newspaper offices. In 1831 a large part of the town was destroyed by fire, and nearly $100,000 were subscribed for the relief of the sufferers by the citizens of this and other states. The prosperity of the place has recently been increased by the establishment of distilleries of turpentine, and by the construction of plank-roads. The aggregate length of the latter, completed and in progress, is about 350 miles. Population in 1853, about 7000.

Biographies:

Henry Potter, jurist, was born in Granville county, N.C., in 1765. He was educated for the law, and settled in Fayetteville, N.C., from which place he was appointed in 1801, by President Jefferson, judge of the U.S. circuit court for the 5th circuit, and in 1802, judge of the U.S. district court of North Carolina, succeeding John Sitgreaves, deceased, which office he held until his death. He charged the jury in the case of Lord Granville's heirs versus the governor of North Carolina in 1806, Chief Justice Marshall from personal considerations refusing to sit upon the trial. He was a commissioner to erect a governor's "palace" at Raleigh in 1813, and to sell lots belonging to the state for the purpose of enlarging the state house in 1819. He was a trustee of the University of North Carolina, 1799-1856; compiled, with John Louis Taylor of Craven county, and Bartlett Yancey of Caswell county, a revision of the "Law of the State of North Carolina" (2 vols., 1821), and is the author of: Duties of a Justice of the Peace (1816). He died in Fayetteville, N.C., Dec. 20, 1857.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

George McNeill, editor, was born in Fayetteville, N.C., Sept. 4, 1827; son of George and Minerva (Ruffin) McNeill, and grandson of John McNeill, who came to America from Scotland. He was a student at the Fayetteville high school; at the University of North Carolina, 1842-44; at Delaware college, 1844-46; at Union Theological seminary, New York city, 1846-47, and at Princeton Theological seminary, where he was graduated in 1849. He was ordained by the presbytery of Fayetteville, July 12, 1850; served as a domestic missionary and as stated supply at Ashboro, 1849-54, and Washington, N.C., 1854-55; was principal of schools at 0sceola, Fla., 1855-56, and Fayetteville, N.C., 1856-57; projected the publication of the North Carolina Presbyterian in 1857, and was editor and manager up to the time of his death, when he was succeeded by his brother, the Rev. James Hipkins McNeill, who was a colonel in the Confederate army, 1863-65, and was killed at Petersburg, Va., March 31, 1865. George McNeill died at Fayetteville, N.C., Aug. 18, 1861.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

George Rockwell McNeill, educator, was born in Fayetteville, N.C., July 1, 1854; son of the Rev. George and Maggie (Gilbert) McNeill. He was graduated from Davidson college, N.C., in 1874, and was married Dec. 23, 1875, to Mrs. Julia V. Marlin. He was principal of a private school in Rowan county, N.C., 1872-81; principal of the male academy at Reidsville, N.C., 1883-89; president of Lafayette college, Alabama, 1889-95; president of the Alabama educational association in 1895; president of Isbell Female college, Talladega, Ala., 1895-98; again president of Lafayette college, 1898-1900; studied history and geography in Europe and made an extended tour through the Continent and in Great Britain in 1900 and was elected superintendent of the city schools of Dothan, Ala., in 1900.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Washington Hilliard, diplomatist, was born in Fayetteville, N.C., Aug. 4, 1808. His parents removed to Columbia, S.C., and he was graduated from the South Carolina college with high honors in 1826. He then read law in Athens, Ga., with Judge Augustine Smith Clayton. He practised law in Athens, 1829-31; was professor in the University of Alabama, 1831-34; a representative in the state legislature of Alabama, 1838-40; a lawyer in Montgomery, Ala., 1834-61; and charge d'affaires at Belgium, 1842-44. He was a brigadier-general in the provisional Confederate army, 1861-65, and raised 3000 troops. He was a lawyer in Augusta, Ga., 1865-67; in Atlanta, Ga., 1867-77; and U.S. Minister to Brazil, 1877-81. He was an occasional lay preacher in the Methodist dhurch. In 1838 he answered Dixon H. Lewis (" A Nullifier") in six papers signed "Junius Brutus," opposing Calhoun's sub-treasury scheme. In 1840 he was a delegate to the Whig national convention, Harrisburg, Pa. President Tyler appointed him U.S. charg? d'affaires to Belgium in 1842, which position he resigned in 1844. He was a representative from Alabama in the 29th, 30th and 31st congresses, 1845-51. He supported the compromise measures of 1850 and opposed the extreme states' rights policy of the south. He was on the Fillmore electoral ticket of 1856 and on the Bell and Everett ticket of 1860. He opposed secession and met William L. Young in joint debate in a canvass of Alabama, 1860-61. When Alabama seceded he gave to the state his loyal support; was made a brigadier-general in the provisional army, raising 3000 men in Alabama, and was appointed by Jefferson Davis commissioner to Tennessee. After the war he advocated the election of Horace Greeley in 1872; was an unsuccessful candidate for representative from Georgia in the 45th congress, 1876; and was appointed by President Hayes U.S. Minister to Brazil, serving 1877-81. He helped forward the emancipation movement in Brazil by reciting the advantages a similar movement had been to the people of the southern states of the United States, and when the emancipation of one million and a ball of slaves in Brazil was accomplished he was given a public banquet and Iris letter and speech on emancipation were published in the official Blue Book of Great Britain by Lord Granville. He is the author of: Roman Nights (1848); Speeches and Addresses (1855); De Vane, a Story of Plebeians and Patricians (1865); Politics and Pen Pictures (1892). He died in Atlanta, Ga., Dec. 17, 1892.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor