Columbus-Robeson County NcArchives Biographies.....Dick, John Emmett 1860 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 2, 2008, 6:43 pm Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) JOHN EMMETT DICK THE Dick family, now fairly well scattered over the United States, though not so numerous as many others, is of Scotch origin, the original seats of the families having been in the Counties of Mid-Lothian and Forfar. One branch of the family moved from Scotland to Ireland and settled in County Antrim, and one was located in Dublin. In this way the Dick family came to be known in America as Scotch-Irish. As a matter of fact, the Scotch-Irish are purely Scotch, who came to America by way of Ireland, in which country they had resided for several generations, and during which time had, as a rule, by intermarriage among themselves, kept the blood free from any infusion of Irish blood. It is a fact, however, that the Scotch were themselves originally of Irish origin, the original Scotch being a tribe known as the Scoti, who went from Ireland to Scotland in the fourth century, won a footing by hard fighting and eventually dominated the country to which they gave its name. The first record we have of the family of Dick in America is of Edward and Elizabeth, who came to Virginia in July, 1635. Edward's age was given as thirty and Elizabeth's as eighteen. It cannot be definitely stated that they were husband and wife, for they may have been brother and sister, but the presumption is that they were a married couple. Erom eastern Virginia the descendants of Edward Dick spread out towards Fredericksburg and also towards the North Carolina line, and at a still later day they certainly went on into Tennessee, and possibly into Ohio. It is not quite certain, though, that the Ohio family came from Virginia, as there is a possibility that it descended from a family settled in one of the Middle States which came later than the Virginians. To this family belongs John Emmett Dick, of Fair Bluff, North Carolina, who was born November 24, 1860, at Alfordsville, Robeson County, in the same State, son of Dr. John Gustavus Adolphus Dick and Mary Rowlett Dodson Dick. This North Carolina family was founded by Samuel and Robert Dick, brothers, who settled in Guilford County in the eighteenth century. Mr. Dick's grandfather, Judge Dick, settled near Greensboro and married Parthenia Parenthia Williamson, of Granville County. The Dick family has contributed some splendid citizens to the State from both lines. Judge John McClintock Dick (1791-1S61) was a lawyer of high standing, a member of the State Senate and Judge of the Supreme Court for twenty-six years, from 1835 until his death in 1861. Judge John McC. Dick was the grandfather of John Emmett Dick. His son, Robert Paine Dick, born October 5, 1823, was also an eminent jurist. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina in 1843, admitted to the bar in 1846, was United States District Attorney for North Carolina from 1853 to 1861, member of the State Constitutional Conventions of 1S61 and 1865, member of the State Council 1861 to 1864, State Senator 1864 to 1865, Associate Justice of the North Carolina Superior Court from 186S to 1872, and United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina from 1872 to 180S. when he retired from the bench at the age of seventy-five. It may be noted that he served on the Federal Bench for the same number of years, twenty-six, that his father served on the State Supreme Bench. Judge R. P. Dick was honored with the degree of LL. D. by the University of North Carolina in 1769. He was an uncle of John Emmett Dick. Another uncle was Dr. Frederick Dick, of North Platte, Nebraska, and yet another was Dr. William Dick, of Lumberton, North Carolina. In the maternal line his uncle, Gustavus Adolphus Williamson, served as a foreign minister for the United States Government. Captain J. A. Dodson was long connected with the Southern Railroad, and his granduncle, Thomas Rowlett, was a prominent citizen of Warrenton, North Carolina. The branch of the Dick family which remained in Virginia had a very honorable record in the Revolutionary period. Major Charles Dick, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, had been appointed during the old French and Indian War by Governor Dinwiddie Commissary of the forces. During the Revolution he was a member of a board which operated a powder factory at Fredericksburg. His son, Alexander, entered the Revolutionary Army as a Captain and rose to be a Colonel before the end of the struggle. This was his only son. Of his two daughters, Mary married, first, Sir John Peyton, and after his death James Taliaferro. His daughter Eleanor married June 4, 1772, the Hon. James Mercer. Colonel Alexander Dick appears to have died in 1785, leaving no sons. Archibald Dick was in 1770 clerk of Caroline County, Virginia. His wife's name was Susanna. They had a son, Archibald Dick, Jr., who in 1791 was living with his wife, Molly, in Louisa County, Virginia, and was in the mercantile business, but in 1796 he had evidently moved back to Caroline County. Major Charles Dick and his son, Colonel Alexander Dick, were both ardent patriots. The Tennessee branch of the family furnished Forrest, during the Civil War, one of his gallant Captains, who later moved to Arkansas; and a Congressman in the person of John Dick who moved to Pennsylvania and represented a district of that State in the thirty-third, thirty-fourth, and thirty-fifth Congresses. In the Revolutionary period the northern branch was represented by Samuel Dick, who was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1783 and 1784, and later by Samuel B. Dick, of Pennsylvania, who was a Colonel in the Federal Army during the Civil War, a railroad president after the war, and a member of the forty-sixth Congress. General Charles Dick of Ohio was probably descended from the Virginia family. He served from the fifty-fifth to the fifty-eighth Congresses as a member of the House of Representatives, and one term as United States Senator from Ohio. John Emmett Dick received his scholastic training at Oak Ridge Institute in Guildford County, North Carolina, and began his business career as a railroad conductor. In 1905, after several years spent in the mercantile business, he became interested in banking and is at this time President of the Bank of Fair Bluff. By his own efforts and ability he has gained a recognized position in his community as an able business man of proven integrity. A Democrat in his political beliefs, he has never been active in a partisan way. Captain Dick is a strong fraternalist, holding membership in the order of Railroad Conductors, Masons, and the Knights of Pythias. In all of these he has passed the chairs, having been Chief Conductor in the order of Railroad Conductors, Chancellor Commander in the Knights of Pythias, and Worshipful Master in the Masons. A Presbyterian, his religious views are those of his Scotch-Irish ancestors. He has been married twice, first at Rowland, North Carolina, in 1898, to Harriet McNeill Cox, of Alfordsville, daughter of Chalmers B. and Catherine McKay Cox. The second marriage was contracted at Fair Bluff in 1907 with Frostie Bell Anderson, of Fair Bluff, daughter of Bertie A. and Susan C. Anderson. The only child of this marriage is Dorothy, born August 26, 1908. Captain Dick's reading and his convictions show him to be one of that great mass of conservative citizens who form the strength of the country. The Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, Paradise Lost, Ridpath's History, and works of that character have been his favorite lines of reading. He believes that the State should in no way protect any form of vice and, being an advocate of temperance, would prohibit the sale of alcoholic liquors as well as all harmful drugs. His ideal of statesmanship is high and he strongly adheres to the opinion that all our lawmakers should be Christian men. A great many men are awakening to the fact that we should place in our lawmaking bodies men of the strongest moral integrity who will write into our laws the principles of Christian ethics. That we have not done this before is largely responsible for the economic unrest which is the inevitable result of legislation enacted for the selfish interests of the few rather than for the general good of the many. In all of his lines, paternal and maternal, except the Williamson line, Captain Dick is of Scotch-Irish descent. The fact that North Carolina is to-day the most progressive of the southern States is largely due to the fact that this strong element has been the controlling force in the life of the State since the Revolutionary period. The original Dick Coat of Arms is described: Argent a fesse wavy azure between three stars gules. There are several others in various branches of the family, but this is the most ancient and is the one adopted with certain variations by the principal family which was settled in Mid-Lothian. Additional Comments: Extracted from: MAKERS OF AMERICA BIOGRAPHIES OF LEADING MEN OF THOUGHT AND ACTION THE MEN WHO CONSTITUTE THE BONE AND SINEW OF AMERICAN PROSPERITY AND LIFE VOLUME II By LEONARD WILSON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSISTED BY PROMINENT HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WRITERS Illustrated with many full page engravings B. F. JOHNSON, INC. CITY OF WASHINGTON, U. S. A. 1916 Copyright, 1916 by B. F. Johnson, Inc. Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/columbus/photos/bios/dick62gbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/columbus/bios/dick62gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ncfiles/ File size: 10.0 Kb