Duplin County

by Macfie, John. William Reynolds Allen, lawyer and associate justice of the North Carolina supreme court, was born at Kenansville, Duplin County. His father was William A. Allen, lawyer, state senator, and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Kenan, Thomas S., III. Mary Bingham, philanthropist, was born in Kenansville at Liberty Hall, her grandfather's home. She was the daughter of William Rand Kenan and Mary Hargrave and the eldest of four children. Her [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Copeland, Elizabeth H. Caleb Davis Bradham, founder of Pepsi-Cola, pharmacist, and Shriner, was born at Chinquapin, Duplin County, the son of George Washington and Julia McCann Bradham. He was of English and Scot-Irish [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Holloman, Charles R. Bright, Simon by Charles R. Holloman, 1979 ca. 1702–ca. 1777 Simon Bright, colonial planter, county official, Anglican church leader, and militia officer, was the son of John Bright (ca. [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Carr, Eugenie W. James Ozborn Carr, leader in law, politics, and education, was born on his father's farm south of Kenansville in Duplin County, the son of Joseph Hendley and Mary Susan Dickson Carr. He was descended [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Register, Alvaretta K. Richard Clinton, county and early state official, is believed to have been a natural son of John Sampson and a nephew of Colonel Charles Clinton, the father of Governor George Clinton and of General [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Patterson, Daniel W. Lucy Maria Cobb, folklore collector, teacher, and author, was born in Lilesville. She was a sister of Collier Cobb and a daughter of Martha Louisa Cobb and Needham Bryan Cobb, a Baptist preacher. [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Raney, R. Beverly, Jr. Claudius Baker Denson, soldier, educator, and public speaker, was born in Suffolk, Va., the son of Josiah Armistead (1814–1907) of Suffolk and Mary Baker Denson, daughter of the Reverend Daniel [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Ingram, Charles M. William Dickson, colonial leader, was born in Chester County, Pa., of English and Irish ancestry. His paternal grandfather, a stern English Puritan, fought with Oliver Cromwell and was rewarded with [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Woodard, John R., Jr. Amzi Clarence Dixon, Baptist pastor and evangelist for more than fifty years, was born in Shelby, the son of Amanda Elvira McAfee and Thomas Dixon, Jr., a pioneer preacher among the rural people of [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. John G. ("Ghost") Eliot, teacher, was the son of George Eliot of Ellerslie on Lower Little River, Cumberland County. The father was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1747, educated at the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Moorf, Claude H. John Miller Faison, physician and congressman, was born on a plantation near Faison, the son of Henry W. and Martha Hicks Faison, the paternal grandson of Isham and Sallie Thomson Faison, and the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Ingram, Charles M. Faison, Samson Lane by Charles M. Ingram, 1986 29 Nov. 1860–17 Oct. 1940 Samson Lane Faison, brigadier general, U.S. Army, was born in Faison, Duplin County. His father, Elias James Faison, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Schrader, Richard A. James Gillespie, legislator and congressman, was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, the oldest of three sons of David Gillespie. James received a classical education in Dublin, and, while still a [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cheape, Kathleen S. H. Benjamin Franklin Grady, educator, soldier, congressman, and farmer, was born in Albertson Township, Duplin County, the oldest son of Alexander Outlaw and Anne Sloan Grady. His Grady forebears were [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Kirkman, Roger N. Jesse Grimes, political and military leader in the Republic of Texas, was born in Duplin County, the son of Sampson and Bethsheba Winder Grimes. He evidently had little formal education. In January [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cecelski, David S. When I'm feeling down in the dumps, I like to meet my brother by the quiet blackwater creeks along the northeast Cape Fear River, two hours southeast of Raleigh. We spend the day paddling our canoe [...] (from Listening to History, News and Observer.)

by Walser, Richard. Bernice (Christiana) Kelly Harris, writer, was born in eastern Wake County. Both of her parents, William Haywood and Rosa Poole Kelly, came from a long line of sturdy, independent farmers. She had [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Kirkman, Roger N. John Sprunt Hill, philanthropist and banker, was born near Faison, the son of William Edward and Frances Diana Faison Hill. Among prominent relatives were his grandfather General William Lanier Hill [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Evans, Phillip W. Charles Hooks, planter, legislator, and congressman, was born in Bertie County. At age two, he moved with his parents to Duplin County where the family settled on a plantation near Kenansville. His [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Golnick, W. Michael, Jr. William Houston, Sr., was a physician, apothecary, and local political leader of Duplin County. His early life is obscure until he arrived in North Carolina about 1735 from County Antrim, Northern [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Taylor, R. Hargus. James Dunn Hufham, Baptist clergyman, editor, and historian, was born near Faison, Duplin County, the second of nine children of the Reverend George Washington and Frances Dunn Hufham. His [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Powell, William S. John Huske, early state and local official, and merchant, may have been related to British Major General John Huske (1692[?]–1761), some of whose family settled in New England. The younger John [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Pennywitt, Neil C. Felix Kenan, sheriff of Duplin County and active Tory in the American Revolution, is said by family tradition to have settled in the 1730s with his two brothers, Thomas and William, in the upper part [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Yearns, W. Buck. Owen Rand Kenan, planter, legislator, and Confederate congressman, was born in Kenansville on land that his Scot-Irish grandfather, Thomas Kenan, had acquired about 1735. His parents were Thomas and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Eagles, Charles W. Wade Hampton Kornegay, lawyer and judge, was born near Outlaw's Bridge in Duplin County while his father was serving in the Confederate Army. He was the son of Henry Robert Kornegay, a Baptist [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Gillespie, James D. Larkin, Thomas Oliver by James D. Gillespie, 1991 16 Sept. 1802–27 Oct. 1858 Thomas Oliver Larkin, businessman and [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by London, Lawrence F. John MacDowell, Anglican missionary, was licensed on 8 Aug. 1753 by the bishop of London to serve in the colony of North Carolina and to receive the king's bounty of twenty pounds for travel [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Lawson, Dennis R. Allen Jay Maxwell, editor, politician, and state official, was born in Duplin County, the son of Hugh Gillespie and Nancy S. Maready Maxwell. He was a descendant of James Maxwell, Revolutionary War [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Troxler, George W. Hugh McAden, Presbyterian minister, was born in Pennsylvania to "poor but pious parents" of Ulster Scots ancestry. He was graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1753 [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Green, C. Sylvester. Edwin Lee Middleton, educator and Sunday school administrator, was born near Warsaw in rural Duplin County, the son of David John and Lucy Jane Nicholson Middleton. The family was English, and the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Rigsbee, John Leonard. Moore, George by John Leonard Rigsbee, 1991; Revised by Jared Dease, Government and Heritage Library, December [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Ingram, Charles M. Peter Weddick Moore, educator, was born near Faison in Duplin County, the son of Weddick and Alecy Thompson Moore, both enslaved people. His father allegedly was killed by the Ku Klux Klan during [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Lennon, Donald R. John Sampson, planter and colonial official, arrived in North Carolina during the 1730s from his native Ireland. He quickly obtained major landholdings in New Hanover County and purchased a residence [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Melvin, Katharine S. Herbert Floyd Seawell, lawyer and public official, was born in Wallace, Duplin County, the son of Dr. Virgil Newton and Ella Croom Seawell. His father was a native of Moore County, but after [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Moore, Claude H. Ruth Faison Shaw, teacher, artist, lecturer, and originator of finger painting, was born in Kenansville, the daughter of the Reverend William M., a Presbyterian minister, and Alberta Faison Shaw. She [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Massengill, Stephen E. Edward Featherston Small, Confederate soldier, photographer, and salesman, was born near Washington, Beaufort County, the son of Henry H. and Margaret Hill Small. He was a cousin of Congressman John [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Reidinger, Martin. Smith, Ezekiel Ezra by Martin Reidinger, 1994 23 May 1852–6 Dec. 1933 Ezekiel Ezra Smith, educator and diplomat, the son of free Black Americans Alexander and Caroline Smith, was born [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Grant, Dorothy F. James Sprunt, exporter, Cape Fear historian, and philanthropist, arrived in Wilmington in 1854 from his native Glasgow, Scotland, with his parents, Alexander and Jane Dalziel Sprunt. She was the [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by McGowen, Pearl Canady. Sprunt, James Menzies by Pearl Canady McGowen, 1994 14 Jan 1818–6 Dec. 1884 See also: James Sprunt, nephew James Menzies Sprunt, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Ingram, Charles M. Stevens, Henry Leonidas, Jr. by Charles M. Ingram, 1994 27 Jan. 1896–5 Aug. 1971 Henry Leonidas Stevens, Jr., jurist, Veterans' leader, and soldier, was born in [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Stevenson, George, Jr. William Surginer, General Baptist leader who established churches in present Warren, Halifax, Edgecombe, and Nash counties, was a major figure in North Carolina colonial Baptist history. He is said [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Bullock, J. Marshall. Zollicofer Wiley Whitehead, businessman, editor, and journalist, was born in Kenansville, one of three children of Wiley W. and Cordelia Hussey Whitehead. After attending the county public schools, [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Moore, Claude H. Mary Lyde Hicks Williams, artist, was born in Faison, the daughter of Captain Lewis (Company E, Twentieth North Carolina Regiment, Confederate States of America) and Rachel McIver Hicks. She was a [...] (from Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.)

by Cecelski, David S. I visited Nancy Grady Wilson at her home in the Wesley Chapel community, in Duplin County, 80 miles southeast of Raleigh. A retired elementary school teacher, she is legendary there for making [...] (from Listening to History, News and Observer.)