Secretaries of State
Rckin£ a brief skelcli of the various men who
have held this important position in North
Carolina, ttigetlier with some of the work
that is clone by the office.
THE Secretary of State is the
Prime Minister of the Adminis¬
tration. and the office has been
graced by some of the most famous
names in our history. Limits of
space preclude mention of the
Secretaries of "Albemarle" from
1675 to 1694 and of the “Colony"
from 1694 through 1775. Upon
the adoption of our State Consti¬
tution in 1776. Secretaries of State
were provided for under the terms
of the Fundamental law. and since
then the following have been in¬
cumbents of the high office:
JAMES GLASGOW: Incumbent
from 1777 through 1798, and a
dominent political force in the
Commonwealth, so universally
popular that he was honored by
having a county named in his
honor. But Alas and Alack! he
presents one of the few instances
in which an officer of State has
been involved in gross misconduct.
He was found to be trafficking in
fraudulent land grants; was de¬
prived of his office; and what was
the county of Glasgow' became the
county of Greene.
WILLIAM WHITE, of Lenoir:
Incumbent from 1798 through
1810. hailing from the county from
which came Richard Caswell, first
Governor of our State.
WILLIAM HILL, of Rocking¬
ham, coming from a county which
has furnished our State with five
Governors. He held his office from
1811 through 1859. a period of
forty-eight years, a tenure ex¬
ceeded in our history only by Fed¬
eral Judge Potter of Cumberland
County who occupied his office
more than fifty years.
RUFUS H. PAGE, of Wake,
served from 1859 through 1862.
the early days of the Civil War.
JOHN P. H. RUSS, of Wake, a
former Representative and State
Senator, came in with the Vance
Administration in 1862 and served
through 1864.
CHARLES R. THOMAS, of
Craven, served from 1864 until the
By It. C. LAWRENCE
close of the war. He was the father
of Congressman Charles R.
Thomas, outstanding lawyer and
legislator.
ROBERT W. BEST, of Greene,
was the first of the post-war Secre¬
taries. serving from 1866 until
1867.
HENRY J. MEMINGER, of
Wake, came in with the wreck¬
ers of Reconstruction in 1868
and remained in office through
1871. He was a turbulent poli¬
tician and was promptly dubbed
"Ipecac” Meminger by the vitri¬
olic Josiah Turner; who politely
inquired that if the Secretary of
State gave ipecac to his negro
servant to see if he had stolen a
cake from his pantry, why did he
not administer a larger dose of
the same medicine to himself to
see if it would bring to light thou¬
sands of dollars stolen from the
State!
WILLIAM H. HOWERTON, of
Rowan, was the last of the Recon¬
struction Secretaries, serving from
1872 through 1875.
JOSEPH H. ENGLEIIARD. of
New Hanover, eminent editor,
came into office with the redemp¬
tion of the State under Vance in
1876 and remained in office for
three years.
WILLIAM L. SAUNDERS, of
Wake, was elected in 1879 and re¬
mained in office through 1891. He
was a Colonel in the Confederate
service and was seriously wounded
during that struggle. Immediately
following the war he was Grand
Dragon of the original Ku Klux
Klan. and as such was summoned
before an inquisitorial committee
of the United States Senate and
threatened with criminal prose¬
cution and contempt proceedings
unless he revealed all that he knew
about the hooded order. The val¬
orous Colonel stood upon his con¬
stitutional rights, refused to in¬
criminate himself or his associates,
and returned to Raleigh in triumph
to receive a great ovation from his
home people. He was a brilliant
editor, and the most talented man
who has held the office. During
his incumbency he compiled, ar¬
ranged and published the monu¬
mental “Colonial Records!' in
twelve volumes, a work of incal¬
culable value to the antiquarian
and Carolinian, and but for the
services of the Secretary much of
this valuable original source ma¬
terial would have been lost. I ap¬
praise him as the most outstand¬
ing among the Secretaries.
OCTAVIUS COKE, of Wake:
Outstanding lawyer, who served
from 1891 through 1895.
CHARLES MATHER COOKE,
of Franklin: Gallant Captain of the
Confederacy; leader of the Bar;
President of the Baptist State Con¬
vention, served from 1895 until the
overthrow of the Democratic party
by the Fusion regime. Later he was
elected to the bench of the Superior
Court, on which he remained for
many years, in which position he
was absolutely sui generis. Vol¬
umes of anecdotes have been
written concerning his wit and
humor; his deep insight into
human nature; his sympathy and
compassion for the underprivi¬
leged.
CYRUS THOMPSON, of Ons¬
low: Brilliant country physician,
he was elected in 1897 on the
Fusion ticket. He was by far the
ablest political debater of the
Populist party, and was the equal
in political debate of any man the
Democrats could send against him.
Noted for his repartee and inimi¬
table wit and humor. The only
physician who has held the office.
J. BRYAN GRIMES, of Pitt: Son
of a famous Major General of the
Confederacy, he held office for
twenty-two years following the in¬
coming of the Ayeock administra¬
tion in 1901. His outstanding
service was in the compilation and
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