The Bar of Beaufort
I
Beaufort County has produced some of the
leading lawyers and jurists in North Caro¬
lina. Air. Lawrence calls attention to the
service which they rendered the state.
BEAUFORT is an ancient
barony, named in honor of
the Duke of Beaufort who,
in his capacity as Grand Master
of English Masons issued a com¬
mission to Joseph Montfort of
Halifax, constituting him Ma¬
sonic Grand Master of "All Amer¬
ica” — which took in quite a bit
of territory. It has an illustrious
legal history, and when it comes
to lawyers and jurists, few coun¬
ties can surpass the big bar of
the barony of Beaufort. Limita¬
tions of space preclude even a
mention of all its famous sons,
but let us briefly glance backward
along the trail of its legal history
and pick up just a few names
here and there of those whose
names have adorned its annals.
Beaufort was the bailiwick of
the Blounts, a name which still
prevails in that section. John
Grey Blount was the largest land-
owner in the state, and you will
find recorded in the courthouses
of many counties grants issued by
the state to this pioneer believer
in a landed gentry — often run¬
ning as high as 75,000 or 100,000
in acreage, for land was cheap in
those pioneer days. Here lived his
distinguished kinsman, William
Blount, one of the leading poli¬
ticians and statesmen of his pe¬
riod, a veteran in public and
legislative service, and a mem¬
ber of the Convention which
adopted the Federal Constitution,
his name being affixed to that his¬
toric document.
First Senator from Tennessee
Later he moved to Tennessee
where his family owned hundreds
of thousands of acres of land in
the primeval forest, and there he
rose to prominence so rapidly
that when Tennessee was ad¬
mitted as a state, he was elected
as its first United States Senator,
and was thereafter expelled from
that body for inciting the Indians
to rise against the Spaniards —
which would be regarded as a
badge of honor in this day and
generation!
By R. C. LAWRENCE
From this county also sprang
the famous Stanly family, whose
progenitor owned a fleet of ships,
most of which were sunk by the
British during the Revolution
while loaded with supplies be¬
ing brought in for the use of the
state, an occurrence which was
the cause of some notable liti¬
gation between (United States
Senator) Benjamin Hawkins,
agent for the state in procuring
these supplies, the Stanly family
and the state. His son, John
Wright Stanly, was one of the
ablest lawyers and publicists of
his generation and it was he who,
after engaging in a bitter politi¬
cal campaign with Governor
Richard Dobbs Spaight, was chal¬
lenged by the Governor to a duel,
a challenge which the code duello
forced him to accept, and in the
ensuing engagement the Gover¬
nor received a mortal wound. As
these proceedings had been con¬
ducted in accordance with the
code of honor then prevailing,
Stanly was soon pardoned by
Governor Benjamin Williams;
and when a new Piedmont
County was created soon there¬
after, it was given the name of
Stanly in his honor. His manor
house is still in existence at New
Bern and is one of the show-
places of that goodly city.
Edward Stanly of this family
entered public life and became a
member of Congress, but shortly
before the Civil War he moved
to California. During the early
years of that fratricidal struggle,
after the Federal army under
Burnside had captured New Bern,
Stanly persuaded President Lin¬
coln that there was much Union
sentiment in Carolina and that a
Federal Civil Government should
be set up at New Bern, and he
received a commission from the
the President as Military Gover¬
nor of this state. Stanly found.
however, that he was sadly mis¬
taken regarding Union sentiment
which was practically nonexist¬
ent. He was never able to exer¬
cise the powers of his office and
soon left the state.
Loyal to the South
The bar of Beaufort were al¬
ways loyal to the South, and
immediately following the Civil
War when the judiciary was
debauched by the carpetbag re¬
gime and when men unfit to hold
office were elevated to the bench,
such as "Greasy Sam" Watts and
"Jay Bird" Jones (sobriquets by
Josiah Turner) it was the bar of
Beaufort which finally drove the
notorious Jay Bird from the
bench and forced his resignation
to escape merited impeachment
proceedings.
During this period a sturdy rep¬
resentative of one of Carolina’s
outstanding families. William
Blount Rodman, after a distin¬
guished legal and legislative ca¬
reer, was elevated to a seat upon
the bench of our highest court, a
position which he filled with a
high order of ability; and he also
served upon a Commission to
codify and revise the statute laws
of the state, a task to which he
brought a deep knowledge of his
science and in which he rendered
a great service to the public and
to his profession. A son of the
Justice, Colonel William B. Rod-
man, Jr., is one of the most dis¬
tinguished among living Carolina
lawyers. He became one of the
ablest trial lawyers of the east
and was a specialist in actions in¬
volving the title to real estate.
Years since, he was appointed as
General Counsel of the Norfolk
Southern Railway system, which
caused his removal to Norfolk
where he has since resided, one of
the ornaments of its great bar.
His son, William Blount Rodman
III, is already a veteran in the
public service having served sev¬
eral terms as state senator and
( Continued on page 20)
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