Mr. Hoyt Patrick Taylor, Junior was born in Wadesboro NC on April 1, 1924, the son of Hoyt Patrick Taylor, who also served as Lieutenant Governor of the State. The two are the only father-son pair to have held the office. The younger Taylor went on to receive undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and to serve in the Marine Corps in both World War II and the Korean War. He subsequently practiced law in Wadesboro
In 1955, he was elected to represent Anson County in the North Carolina House of Representatives and served through 1967, the two last years as speaker. In May 1968, Taylor won the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor over Margaret Harper, the first major party woman to campaign for the post. He then went on to defeat State Rep. Don H. Garren in the general election of 1968 by the narrowest margin in decades (55-45%).
He served as Lieutenant Governor for Governor Bob Scott from 1969 to 1973. He was close to the governor and assisted with the legislative agenda. To pay for increased spending on education and infrastructure, the administration favored increased taxes, including tobacco taxes.
The North Carolina General Assembly honored Taylor and his father in a resolution in 2010. South Piedmont Community College named the Lockhart-Taylor Center after him and his wife and part of a local road bears his name.
Dr. Charles Herbert Flowers
Dr. Charles Herbert Flowers, Tuskegee Airman
Charles Herbert Flowers was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina in 1918. After graduating in May of 1942 from the Army Air Corps Flight Training Center located at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, he became the first African American with military training to become a primary flight instructor of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. During World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen served with distinction, and were honored by the Congress of the United States with the Congressional Gold Medal.
After the war, Dr. Flowers completed his college degree in Business Administration at what is now known as North Carolina Central University. While at Central, he became the first student government president. He later moved back to Maryland, and in 1965 he went to work for NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. He retired as the Manager of Employee Relations in 1990.
In 2000, Dr. Flowers became the only living person to have a school named after him in Prince George’s County Public Schools. In 2006, the historic Tuskegee University, founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881, bestowed upon Charles Herbert Flowers an honorary Doctorate in Public Service.
Dr. Altheria S. Patton
Dr. Altheria Smith Patton began her career in 1947, when she moved to Anson to teach at the former Polkton Colored High School until the schools were integrated. Then she taught at Bowman Senior High School.
Dr. Patton has been a trailblazer as a teacher, counselor, administrator and as the first African-American principal of Anson Junior High School, first African-American female associate superintendent of Anson County Schools, the first African-American female vice chair of the Anson County school board and was instrumental in establishing the Alternative Learning School-Anson Challenge Academy, a concept that originated from her dissertation.
Every municipality in Anson County recognizes Jan. 16 to be Dr. Altheria Smith Patton Day.
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James Holland, US Congressman. He was a major in the North Carolina militia and saw service in the Continental line during the Revolution. He served as comptroller and justice of the peace of Rutherford County, North Carolina, and later served in the North Carolina State senate. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1793, establishing a practice in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. Elected to Congress from North Carolina, he served a single term from 1795 to 1797, and declined to run for reelection. Elected to Congress again in 1800, he served five terms, from 1801 to 1811. He moved to Maury County, Tennessee, in 1811, and establised an estate near Columbia, where he died.
Sylvester Ritter (known as Junkyard Dog) was one of the most popular personalities in the business and among the first black wrestlers to be promoted as a headliner while selling out major venues such as the Louisiana Superdome whenever he was on a card during the 1980s. A former offensive lineman at Anson County (Bowman) High School and Fayetteville State, he was best known for the upper body strength that he regularly used to pick up and body slam opponents.
Standing 6-foot-3 and weighing 280-plus pounds, Ritter was given his wrestling persona by promoter “Cowboy” Bill Watts in 1984 and he rapidly advanced through the ranks. He won world titles in both the World Wrestling Federation, National Wrestling Alliance and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2012.
George Byrd
This is a photo of George Byrd. He was born in Lilesville Township in 1926 & he decided to move to Europe in the 1940's & lived in Germany for basically the rest of his life. He was the conductor of many symphonies during his long career. He was featured in "Jet" Magazine in the 1950's -- From “Jet” Magazine issue of September 10, 1959 – Page 59 - First African American Conductor Applauded by Berlin Audience – A 33 year old conductor (Born 1926) from Anson County NC & Brooklyn, New York. George Byrd was warmly applauded by a Berlin audience after he became the first American African American to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Julliard School of Music educated Byrd who had been studying & “guest conducting” in Europe since 1941, remarked that his greatest ambition is to have a “conducting job in the United States because I have a lot of bills to pay.” He loved his career choice. He died in 2010 & is buried in Germany. Click onto this website link to enjoy viewing all his other photos -- http://www.george-byrd.de/e/pix.html
Postmaster Margaret L. Sellers
Margaret Lucille Sellers was a 30-year veteran of the US Postal Service who was appointed chief of the San Diego Post Office in 1979.
Ms. Sellers, the first woman named chief of a large US Post office, headed 53 county offices in 1979 with over 4,500 employees. The annual budget that year was $90 million. She received the appointment almost two decades after she took her first post office job selling stamps for 4 cents a stamp.
The native of Lilesville, NC attended Pfeiffer Junior College in North Carolina for two years. She enlisted in the Navy in 1950 and served for four years.
She returned to school in 1954 and graduated from The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in business. She moved west to do graduate work in business administration at the University of California at Berkeley.
Margaret L. Sellers Dist. Center, San Diego
Red Barber
Hall of Fame Baseball Broadcaster. He was the baseball broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds from 1934 to 1938, the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939 through 1953, and the New York Yankees until he retired in 1966. He was awarded the Baseball Hall of Fame's first Ford Frick Award in 1978 along with Mel Allen. The award honors the recipients' major contributions to baseball. Beginning in 1981 until his passing in 1992, he was a weekly contributor on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. He was known as "The redhead in the catbird seat."
While Red Barber never lived in Anson County, his father, Mr. William Lanier Barber was born in Wadesboro in 1879 & once reaching adulthood obtained a job with the railroad which led him to the State of Mississippi whereas he met his future bride who was living in Mississippi, so they were living in Columbus, Mississippi when Walter Lanier Barber was born in 1908.
Marion Rushing
Have you heard of Marion Rushing? His Great Great Great Grandfather was Joel Rushing born December 26, 1799 in Anson County. Joel Rushing migrated to Bedford County, Tennessee with his parents Joseph & Martha Deason Rushing about 1812. Joel Rushing then migrates to Perry County, Illinois where he died on July 10, 1878 & was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Perry County. Joseph Rushing (born 1774 in Anson County & died 1845 in Bedford County, Tennessee & his wife Martha Deason birth & death dates not known) are both buried at Enon Cemetery in Bedford County, Tennessee. (All this great information posted above comes from Mr. Richard Deason & the “find-a-grave” website.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;Marion Rushing (September 3, 1936 – April 26, 2013) was a professional American football player. Born in Pinckneyville, Illinois, he played nine and a half seasons in the National Football League (NFL), mainly for the Chicago Cardinals/St. Louis Cardinals. He finished his pro football career in 1968 with the Houston Oilers of the American Football League (AFL). While at Southern Illinois University (SIU), Rushing earned more athletic letters than any other athlete in Saluki history. He earned a total of 13 letters while playing football, basketball, track, and wrestling for SIU. Following his career at SIU, Rushing went on to play professional football in both the NFL and AFL. He was inducted into the charter class of the Saluki Hall of Fame in 1978. In 2010 Southern Illinois University honored Saluki Hall of Famer Marion Rushing by renaming a street near the new football stadium.
Kitty Wells
Ellen Muriel Deason was born August 30, 1919 in Nashville, Tennessee and died July 16, 2012 at the age of 92 in Madison, Tennessee. Her Great Great Great Grandfather, Enoch Deason, pulled up stakes in old Anson County and moved his family to Bedford County, Tennessee around 1812. Ellen Muriel Deason married Johnny Wright in 1937, and when he died in 2011 they had been married 74 years. In the 1940’s she became known professionally as Kitty Wells & was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a female barrier in country music with her 1952 hit recording, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" which also made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts, and turned her into the first female country superstar.
Cora Alcindor and Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Did you know that, Basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar's (Born 1947 in Brooklyn, New York & originally named Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Junior) mother, Cora Douglas, was born in 1918 in Anson County, NC in Ansonville Township?
The Douglas family was originally from the Cason Old Field Community of Morven Township (Anson County NC) but around 1910 the family moved to a "sharecropping" farm in Ansonville & in the 1930’s the family had moved back to Morven or Cason Old Field so Kareem is close kin to the Kersey family & Douglas Family of the Sandy Ridge Church & Streater Grove Church Communities of Cason Old Field in Morven Township.
So, either late 1930's or early 1940's Cora Lillian Douglas decided to move to Brooklyn, New York where she met & fell in love with Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Senior. I (Steve Bailey) would guess that Mr. Alcindor Senior & Cora Lillian Douglas were married 1945 or 1946 when he returned home from World War II.
Kareem’s earliest known ancestor was his great great grandfather who was named Barnes born about 1799 possibly in Anson County NC. Barnes lived his remaining years at the old James C. Bennett Plantation on Diggs Road located between Lilesville Township & Morven Township in southern Anson County where Barnes passed away in 1849 & was buried in the abandoned cemetery on the property. The James C. Bennett House was built about 1833 & when Stephen Spielberg visited Wadesboro in May of 1985, he fell in love with the old home & decided to feature the old home in his movie, “The Color Purple” in July of 1985.
About 2003 Kareem’s girlfriend in California hired me to work on his family history. At the time, she didn’t tell me that it was for him. She only stated that she was having this done for her boyfriend as a surprise. Several weeks later, a distant cousin of his, who lives in Morven Township saw me & mentioned the girlfriends name to me & stated that I was researching Kareem’s ancestry.
In 2007 a Producer of the tv series, “Who Do You Think You Are,” contacted me about researching Kareem’s family history for a future episode of the tv series. I remember those phone conversations & email messages took place two days before Thanksgiving. I told them to contact Kareem’s girlfriend about the family history I had collected for her.
I told them that Kareem’s ancestry was made up of poor sharecropping families. The tv producers were in search of something spectacular in Kareem's family history & it just wasn’t there. I never heard from them again nor do I know if his family history made it on the program.
Posted here is a photo of Cora Douglas & her son Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
Cora Lillian Douglas Alcindor (1918-1997) buried in Los Angeles, California
