State

The Dockery Family Starting with Thomas, hack in 17517. they have been prominent citizens of North Car¬ olina ever since and have rendered valu¬ able service to their state along various lines. By К. C. LAWRENCE FOR more than n hundred years i he Dockery family ranked os the most outstanding Whig and Republican family in North Carolina. Moreover, they were not professional men ; not even agriculturists, but plain ilirt. farmers. From the days of old Thomas Dockery back in 1797 the family owned thousands of acres of Richmond County land, a self-con¬ tained empire; and as late as my own day my schoolmate, John 0. Dockery, was the largest farmer in that county, running more than one hun¬ dred and forty plows. Alfred Dockery, son of Thomas, had no military record, but so deeply impressed were the people of his state with his ability, with his integrity, and with the calibre of his public services, that they ex того motu cre¬ ated him a full General, and lie was thereafter known by that title. He shares with Governor William A. Graham and with Governor John M. Morehead, the honor of being the lead¬ ing Whig of his generation, and he himself missed the governorship by only 2,000 votes. Trustee of Wake Forest lie was one of the original trustees of Wake Forest College wheu that in¬ stitution was chartered in 1833. It was originally a manual labor school, and the General presented its first gift, a set of blacksmith tools. The Wake Forest charter was not granted with¬ out a struggle, and in the Senate the vote was a tic, broken in favor of the charter by the deciding vote of the Speaker, William D. Moseley, who afterward became Governor of Flor¬ ida. The General went to the Commons in IS22, remaining several terms, lie served with distinction in the Consti¬ tutional Convention of 1835. Then he went to the State Senate and served there from 1830 to 1844. He was elected to Congress in 1845 and again in 1851. During the campaign of 1851 lie repeatedly stated from the stump that if South Carolina undertook to secede ho would vote for the men and the money to whip her hack into the Union, and he would do the same thing if North Carolina ever undertook such a course. Yet this strong old line Union Whig had five sons all of whom became officers in the Confederate Army when the roar of the Charles¬ ton batteries firing on Fort Sumter ushered in the Civil War. Candidate for Governor The General was the candidate of his parly for Governor in 1854, and although the Whig party was then on the verge of political disintegration, from which the Republican party was to emerge, such was liis great personal popularity that Thomas Bragg defeat¬ ed him by only 2,000 votes. In this campaign he rendered perhaps his greatest single service to his state. He strongly favored state aid to internal improvements such as railroads, turn¬ pikes, etc., and his arguments were so convincing and compelling that the re¬ luctant Democrats were forced to pro¬ ceed with a plan for such improve¬ ments. This meant railroads and other means of communication for central and western Carolina, and opened up a vast section theretofore isolated. Ho was a tower of strength to Governor Morehead in the great, work that that builder did for his state. The old General died in 1875, but he was not through. He loft two dis¬ tinguished sons, Oliver 11. and Henry who carried on. Oliver II., after graduating from the University in 1848 and enlisting in the Confederate army, served as Congressman in 1887 and again in 1869. He was nominated by his party to preside over the Constitutional Convention of IS7G, hut was defeated by Dr. Edward Ransom, his Demo¬ cratic opponent, hv one vote. In 1888 he was candidate for Governor against Daniel G. Fowl©, and the prestige of the Dockery name was such (hat he increased the Republican vote by more than 1 2,000. Colonel Dockery was Consul General to Riode Janeiro from 1 8!'!l to 1903. His son. Oliver II.. Jr., became a Colonel in the United States Army, but after his retirement from that sen-ice, he carried on the family flare by running for Congress last year from an Ohio district. Other Descendants Henry C., another son of General Alfred, served twice in the State Sen¬ ate, and was United Slates Marshal under presidents McKinley and Roose¬ velt. He also was one of the state’s most useful and high minded private citizens. For years he served on the Board of Trustees of Wake Forest College and in a >iinilnr position at the Baptist Orphanage at Thomas- villo. I stated that the Dockerys were farmers; and so they were for more than a Century, lint then they started to practicing law. Settle, son of Henry U., was one of the most brilliant of North Carolina lawyers. Hi- brother, Henry C., Jr., down at Charlotte, i- somotliing of a lawyer himself. Feed The Bears And You'll Gel Pinched There are few people who haven't received a ticket for speeding or pass¬ ing on a hill or similar traffic viola¬ tions, but you can get a ticket for feeding the bears on North Carolina State Highway 107. Why not feed the bears? The main reason is they are wild and are ju-t a littlo too playful at times. Of course, there arc other unusual regulations along N. C. 107, such as not picking wild flowers; throwing stones at trees, not taking your pet cat with you. or dumping all trash into garbage cans. Funny regulations for a highway? Not at all, N. I 107 i- the main artery through the Great Smoky Mountains National Bark, the country's most popular national park which last year boasted more than a million and a quarter visitors.