Newhanover-Granville County NcArchives Biographies.....Bellamy, John Dillard 1854 - ************************************************ 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 February 28, 2008, 12:51 pm Author: Leonard Wilson (1916) JOHN DILLARD BELLAMY BELLAMY is an ancient surname prominent in England as early as the twelfth century. Of this ancient English family comes Honorable John Dillard Bellamy, of Wilmington, North Carolina, who was born in that city March 24, 1854, a son of Dr. John Dillard Bellamy, physician and planter, and his wife, Eliza M. Harriss. The history of this family in America goes back to the year 1670, when John Bellamy, with Sir John Yeamans and other associates founded the Charleston Colony in South Carolina. John Bellamy, a native of London, was a youth at the time of the fitting out of the Plymouth Colony, and manifested great interest in this pilgrimage. After the occupation of the Barbadoes Island by the British in 1625, his venturesome spirit prompted him to join the Barbadoes Colony, and it was here that he met Sir John Yeamans and became one of the grantees or charterers of the Yeamans Colony which, in 1665, effected a settlement of English families from Barbadoes at Charleston, South Carolina. According to a map made in 1711, John Bellamy's plantation was between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, and there he came to live about the year 1670. He died possessed of great wealth. His son, John Bellamy, settled on the San tee River, in South Carolina, and was a large planter. He had a son, John, born in St. George's Parish, in 1750, likewise christened John. This last-named John Bellamy became the father of Dr. John Dillard Bellamy, mentioned above. John Bellamy (born 1750) was a man of considerable wealth in slaves, real estate and vessel property. Physically of large and athletic build he was a leader among men. Nothing mean or petty found lodgment in his nature, and he was famed for his lavish hospitality. He craved the friendship that it was his royal nature to bestow, and among his closest friends was the late John Dillard of Rockingham County, North Carolina, for whom he named his son. John Dillard was the ancestor of the late Judge Dillard, of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He was a frequent visitor at the home of John Bellamy and joined him in his hunting excursions and in a cruise on one of his sloops. Abram Bellamy, a brother of John, was with General Jackson in the Spanish War, as a civil engineer, and moved to Florida about 1819, before that State was admitted to the Union. He settled on the site of Jacksonville, which city he laid out. He was accompanied by his son, John Bellamy, who became a man of great wealth, and the progenitor of numerous descendants who have achieved distinction, including the Baileys, Turnbulls, Lamars, Eppes, Parkhills and Mays, and Major Burton Bellamy, the largest planter in Florida. Dr. John D. Bellamy was born in All Saints Parish, South Carolina, September 18, 1835, and married, in Wilmington, Miss Eliza M., daughter of Dr. William James Harriss, a prominent physician, who, when he died in 1839, was Mayor of Wilmington. Educated at the College of South Carolina, and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Bellamy was a physician of great professional prominence. Politically he was a Democrat, of the John C. Calhoun school, and an ardent secessionist. While he always refused public office, frequently tendered him, yet he was for twenty-five years chairman of the Democratic party of his County, and saw it increase from only two literate whites in the Borough of Wilmington, in 1837, to an overwhelming majority in 1850 to 1860. At the breaking out of the Civil War he was one of the wealthiest men of North Carolina, a director in several railroads and banks and owning, in North and South Carolina together, on his several plantations, it was said, nearly eleven hundred slaves. It was his pride and claim that he never sold or separated married slaves, but much of his increase in slave property was due to the purchase of others who had wedded among his own slaves. He had regularly employed, on an annual salary, a Methodist minister to preach to them on the Sabbath, and to perform their marriage and burial services. His home at Wilmington still stands, is owned by the family, and is one of the finest pieces of Southern Colonial architecture extant, having immense Corinthian columns surrounding it. It became the headquarters successively of General Alfred Terry, General Schofield and General Joseph R. Hawley, when Wilmington was captured, in 1865, by the Federal troops, near the close of the Civil War. From its portico Chief Justice Chase, then having Presidential aspirations, made the first speech of reconciliation in the South after the war, contending that the Southern States were never out of the Union and were entitled to their electoral votes. This residence was withheld from the family for a number of years by the United States Government, until President Johnson granted a special pardon to Dr. Bellamy, and restored to him his property rights. John Dillard Bellamy, lawyer, capitalist, manufacturer and an influential factor in State and National politics, is regarded as one of the most able men in the South, conservative and cautious, but also far-sighted, enterprising and progressive. He was privileged to acquire a liberal education at Cape Fear Military Academy, conducted at Wilmington by General Raleigh E. Colston; Davidson College, where he received the degree of B.A., and graduated in a number of schools, and also in the law department of the University of Virginia, with the degree B. L., in 1875. For nearly forty years Mr. Bellamy has had an active and brilliant career before the Bar of North Carolina, both as a general practitioner and as attorney and counsellor for many of the largest corporations in the South. He served many years as one of the counsels for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, and in 1912 resigned to accept the appointment of District Counsel for the Seaboard Air Line Railway. He is also counsellor for the Western Union Telegraph Company, Southern Bell Telephone Company, and many other corporations requiring expert legal advice. Mr. Bellamy established, and was the principal owner of, the Wilmington Street Railway up to the time of its electrification. He is the President of the North Carolina Terminal Company, President and chief owner of the Bellwill Cotton Mills, the largest stockholder of the Delgado Cotton Mills, and a director in various industrial enterprises and banks. He was Grand Master of the State of North Carolina of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1S92, and representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge of that Order for the two following years. In public life Mr. Bellamy has rendered valuable service to the State and Nation, for years as member of the Democratic State Executive Committee, chairman of the County Executive Committee, as delegate to National Democratic Conventions, as State Senator, and as member of the United States House of Representatives. His first public office was that of City Attorney of Wilmington, and subsequently Attorney for Brunswick County. In 1891 he was elected a member of the Senate of the North Carolina Legislature, and in this connection we fittingly quote from an editorial estimate appearing in the "Raleigh Observer:" "Senator Bellamy has made a more favorable reputation for ability and learning than any member of this body." In 1892 Mr. Bellamy was chosen a Delegate-at-Large to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago, and in 1908 was again a delegate to the Denver Convention. His entry into national politics began in 1898 when he was nominated as Democratic candidate for the Fifty-sixth Congress. At that time his district was the largest in the State and included the cities of Wilmington and Charlotte. It was termed the "shoe-string" district. Mr. Bellamy's opponent was Honorable Oliver H. Dockery, the foremost Republican in the State. When the spirited campaign was over and the votes counted, it was found that Mr. Bellamy had carried the district by a majority of 6,000, reversing a 5,000 Republican majority in the previous election. His opponent saw fit to contest his right to incumbency on the plea that a local political riot, which occurred three days after the election, was the cause of the result. He did not claim that Mr. Bellamy had, any part directly or indirectly in the trouble, but insisted that his seat in Congress should be withheld as a rebuke to the local Democrats. The position of Mr. Bellamy was upheld by such distinguished men as Thomas Nelson Page, now Ambassador to Italy; the late Honorable John Hay, and former Attorney General John W. Griggs. Mr. Page vigorously defended Mr. Bellamy in the columns of the "Washington Post," commending him as a patriot, gentleman and scholar. Although the matter attracted much attention in the public prints, a Congressional Committee, upon investigation, found the basis of complaint to be unworthy of a report. As a tribute to the personal worth of Mr. Bellamy he was again elected, in 1901, this time to the Fifty-seventh Congress, by a greater majority than the amazing vote polled in 1899. He has been urged by the most prominent men in all parts of the State to become a candidate for Governor of North Carolina. Socially Mr. Bellamy is a member of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity, Cape Fear Club, Cape Fear Country Club, and also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the State Historical Society and the State Bar Association. His religious predilection is with the Presbyterian Church, he being a firm believer in the doctrines of John Calvin. Mr. Bellamy was married at Hibernia, Granville County, near Townesville, North Carolina, December 6, 1876, to Miss Emma May, daughter of Colonel John and Mary Grist Hargrove. Their children are: (1) Eliza M., educated at Mrs. Lefebvre's School, Baltimore; married James Walter Williamson, and is the mother of one child, Emma Bellamy Williamson; (2) William M., educated at the University of North Carolina, the University of Virginia, and now a practicing lawyer, at Wilmington, unmarried; (3) Emmett H., a graduate of the University of North Carolina, A. B., 1912; also attended Davidson College, Harvard, and Columbia Universities; (4) Mary H., educated at National Cathedral School, Washington, D. C, and the Finch School for Girls in New York City; (5) Marguerite G., a student at Wilmington at the school of Miss Hart. Mr. Bellamy is the author of a number of historical essays, among them, "The Life and Services of General Robert Howe of the American Revolution," and "The Life of General Alexander Lillington." In his reading (outside of law) he prefers the classics and French and German authors. He believes that the best interests of the State and Nation may be promoted by strict adherence to Jeffersonian Democracy, and by permitting women to vote and share in the responsibilities of government. The life of John Dillard Bellamy has been one of active labor. He has been a useful man to his generation. Regarding his success in life he enunciates a strict adherence to these principles: 1. Promptness and punctuality; never put off until to-morrow what can be done to-day. 2. Fidelity to your friends and to your clients. 3. Work without ceasing, and always be ready for trial. The Bellamy Coat of Arms is as follows: Sable on a fesse or cottised argent three crescents azure. Crest: An arm couped habited sable cuffed argent holding in the hand proper a sceptre or, on the top a crescent argent. 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. 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