Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians, with Illustrations and Speeches
History
Lives of Distinguished North Carolinians, with Illustrations and Speeches
North Carolina -- Biography
Captain Peace reposes by the side of his aged brother without as
yet a stone to tell his name. He was, I suppose, at the time of his
death, the oldest citizen of Raleigh, as well as the oldest man who
has passed from the living city to the city of the dead. I have
never yet met with a man whom I supposed to be a hundred years old.
Various colored persons have represented themselves of greater age,
but their computations would not bear scrutiny. The late William
Henry Haywood, the elder, died at the age of eighty-seven, and Mrs.
Haywood in her ninetieth year.
The honored name of their only son, the late Senator in Congress,
was given at the baptismal font to the senior proprietor of
Tucker Hall, in admiration of early promise, by a discerning
father. The suit of clothes presented to the child by the Senator
in acknowledgment of the compliment, is in a state of perfect
preservation, and will be kept as an interesting illustration of
the habits and customs of other days. We are to be instructed by
grave lecturers in every department of science and art; shall we
not have a miniature museum, a portrait gallery and a niche for the
preservation of specimens of the antique, among which the best _bib_
and _tucker_ of earlier times may find an appropriate place?
John Rex was one of the earliest citizens of Raleigh. My
acquaintance with him was slight. In appearance he was said to bear
striking resemblance to John Quincy Adams. He was a grave, sedate,
quiet, retiring, modest man, not unlike in character to his worthy
contemporary William Peck. By long years of industry, economy
and thrift in the management of the first tannery established in
Raleigh at Rex's spring, near the railway station, he accumulated
a handsome estate, and like Mr. Peace, atoned for his failure to
build up a family, by a liberal provision for the children of
misfortune and want. He manumitted all his slaves at the close of
life, and bequeathed the remainder of his estate to the endowment of
a hospital, the construction of which is understood to be in early
prospect.
The Rex Hospital and Peace Institute, the latter far advanced
towards completion, will constitute the appropriate and enduring
monuments of these public benefactors. Mr. Rex died January 29,
1839, aged seventy-four years.
As scant justice is done to the memory of the ladies who repose
in the cemetery, as is accorded to their sex on the page of
modern history. The memorials are few, and the information given
comparatively meagre.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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