Colonel Francis Henry Fries

Colonel Francis 'Frank' Henry Fries

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THE brilliant and brainy man whose character and business history form the subject of this sketch represents, in this year of Grace 1905, the foremost industrial life of piedmont North Carolina. His life work reads the strong and forceful story that goes with the best traditions of American business and gives significance to American progress. Into the fabric of this story is woven virile Saxon ancestry, pure, good blood, the power and courage of the pioneer in these wilds of a century and a half ago, fortitude and endurance, privations and self-denial, all graced with the immutable principles of integrity and lofty character formed under the inspiration of religion and under the guidance of the devout example of men significantly walking in the fear of Him "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand." This character, formed from such a source, is in every instinct American and "to the manor born"—a North Carolinian.

To write the complete history of Francis Henry Fries and of the affairs in which he shared the hazard is to take up and review the commercial progress of North Carolina for thirty years. This would indeed be an interesting work, but one which cannot be indulged in here, and, indeed, is not expected in a sketch that is compelled by its prescribed purpose to present only a personal picture.

Francis Fries, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a man distinguished in the manufacturing industries of North Carolina long prior to the conflict of the sixties, and had rendered famous throughout this State the cotton and woolen mills of Salem. Indeed, in the infancy of the son the father was interested in the then greatest internal improvement of the State, the building of the North Carolina Railroad, and was actively engaged in large contracts for its construction through the county of Guilford. Francis Fries married Miss Lizetta Vogler of Salem, a most respected name, and from this union sprung a large family, three sons and four daughters, all living to-day, either in full manhood or as gracious mothers of children, a significant instance of that one temporal reward offered for obedience to the commands of Jehovah—the reward for parental homage.

Francis Henry Fries, the second son of this honored family, was born in Salem February 1, 1855. The origin of the race was in the twilight of the German fatherland, his immediate ancestry coming to this country from Saxony, in 1809, to what is known as the Moravian colony. This devoted band came under the guidance and auspices of the Moravian Church. They purchased from Lord Granville 100,000 acres of land located by Bishop Spangenberg in Piedmont, North Carolina, and there settled this virgin forest under the name of Wachovia. The family of Fries was one of note in Germany, J. C. William Fries, grandfather of Colonel Fries, being the brother of the well-known Jacob Fries, a teacher of philosophy in the University of Jena; and there, in the Saxon province from which this family came, are living at this day many of recognized kinship to the well-known family of Salem.

The subject of this sketch spent his childhood in Salem, receiving his early education and making his preparation for college in the schools and from personal studies taken in his native town. In 1870 he was prepared for the University of North Carolina, but under the direful days that followed on the events of war that ancient institution was closed, and so young Fries entered Davidson College. He graduated from this prominent seat of learning in due course and with distinction, and returned to his home at once to begin the work of life. Thus early did he put his hand to the plow.

He entered the mills of F. & H. Fries, celebrated for the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods for many years, and the chief source of supply to the men in grey during the four years in which the South was blockaded against foreign entries. These mills were established, in 1840, by Francis Fries, who subsequently took into co-partnership his brother, H. W. Fries, and hence the name F. & H. Fries, so well known in manufacturing circles. Francis Fries died in 1863, but the mills continued operation under the well-known firm name, and to-day this name controls much of the properties of Salem.

This young college graduate thus starting life did not ask any right to easy position as heir apparent to the industries in which he sought occupation, but made his beginning, in overalls, at the hard grind of lowly labor, and from this plain and simple beginning passed through the toilsome journey to position and wealth. A marked career—an American lesson learned in the South.

In four years of this service he had shown industry and developed abilities—had won his spurs, and the man stood out, a success. In 1878, together with his uncle, H. W. Fries, and his brother, H. E. Fries, he made an interesting voyage to Europe, spending the greater part of a year traveling in the British Islands and on the Continent. On this trip he saw many lands and studied many peoples, visiting Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy and other principal countries. It will doubtless be imagined that that was not an excursion planned for a jolly outing, but a journey for knowledge and in this extensive view of the world's greatest civilization the active and impressionable mind expanded and developed.

In after life, in various important undertakings, his grasp of the situation and his broad and liberal views of men and measures are logically attributable to the expansive ideas thus received from early contact with the various phases of national enterprises in the great world. On his return from Europe, although then a young man, he took charge of the cotton and woolen mills of Salem as their superintendent, and gave his entire time to manufacturing until the year 1887. This was an important era in the growth of the cotton industry in this country; its manufacture was undergoing many changes; the fight was rapidly developing to place the American product in the world's market, and in this contest the subject of this sketch first developed the full powers of his mind. He became accomplished in his business, and many young men to-day holding prominent positions in various factories learned the lessons of their art under his skillful direction. He may not have had any maxim given him for special guidance, but if there was any rule which had his constant obedience, it was, "What is worth doing at all is worth doing well."

It would not be a correct statement to say that Colonel Fries indulged in politics or sought political preferment, yet he always took an interest in the good government of the State and gave it his cordial support. On the election of Governor Scales as governor of North Carolina, in 1884, he was called on by that patriot to take a position on his military staff. This honorary position he accepted, and served with the rank of colonel during the four years' term of his chief.

Having acquired as complete knowledge of the manufacture of cotton goods as the state of the art then afforded, Colonel Fries gave his active support to such enterprises as affected the general welfare. In 1887 tne Richmond and Danville Railroad alone offered an outlet to the country surrounding Winston-Salem, and the necessity for a new and independent system of railroad, placing this section in touch with the outside world, was fully recognized. The citizens along the line projected a road from Roanoke, Virginia, across the Blue Ridge Mountains to Winston-Salem, and, at the earnest appeal of his fellow-citizens, Colonel Fries accepted the responsible charge of financing and building this road, a task approaching in difficulties and hazard the famous engineering feat over Swannanoa Gap. Although only thirty-two years of age, he shouldered this burden and assumed control of the enterprise. In its very inception were found difficulties and obstacles little contemplated by any, and so doubtful seemed the result and so strong the demands on him for the accomplishment of this undertaking that he withdrew from all other business, and entered with forceful energy and spirit into the absorbing task. This road was 126 miles in length, undertaken by disconnected communities, diverse interests and inexperienced persons, with a capital of only $40,000 subscribed; yet after four years of unceasing labor it was completed, at a cost of $2,081,000. Colonel Fries followed its interests until it merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway Company, and it now forms one of the most lucrative branches of this great system, lending material aid in opening up a new and fruitful territory. He put his talent and reputation to the touch, and saw his triumph in the completion of the most valuable enterprise ever undertaken by private citizens in the Piedmont section, the completion and equipment of the Roanoke and Southern Railway.

Having accomplished the purpose sought in the construction of the road, he declined further connection with the railway service, and in 1893 projected the famous banking house and trust company known as the Wachovia Loan and Trust Company. This institution began business on the 15th of June, 1893, in the face of the fierce financial distress then foreshadowed, and which like a storm burst on the country the following month. The original capital of the company was $200,000, and at the end of the tenth year, all the while paying regular dividends to its stockholders, it declared an extra dividend of fifty per cent., payable in stock or money, at the option of the stockholders, and strange as it may appear, no part of this issue was accepted in money, but the entire amount taken by those entitled in stock. Not only this: an increase of $200,000 of extra capital was determined on at this time. All of this issue was taken by the stockholders under their charter privileges, and finally, in order to secure new stockholders for the company's contemplated branches, an additional increase of $100,000 of stock was issued. Thus was evolved its present capital stock of $600,000. The business of this institution is not confined to Winston-Salem. Within recent years branches have been established in Asheville, Salisbury, High Point and Spencer, and all are now vigorous and flourishing. The statement of the Wachovia Loan and Trust Company of May 15, 1905, discloses a remarkable condition, as follows:

Capital stock................................... $600,000 00
Undivided profits................................$72,142 70
Deposits...................................... $3,510,574 25
Total..............................................$4,182,716 95

It is no disparagement to those who aided in the establishment of this great company to say that to the ability and energies of Colonel Fries alone is due its unwonted success, and in the community where this work was done the fact is known of all men; those nearest the work are the first to give him the honor which belongs rightfully to him. If the life work of any ordinary man could be represented by this one achievement, it would be a life worth living, and well might its author stop as one who has borne his part; yet the vigorous mind which merits the praise of this work is not satisfied to be quiescent even when the work before him seems in its full accomplishment. When the task undertaken is done, there opens to him new lines demanding renewed energies. His interest in banking institutions does not end with his connection with the Wachovia Loan and Trust Company. At this time Colonel Fries is president of the Washington Banking and Trust Company of Fries, Virginia, and a director of the Wachovia National Bank of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. These three institutions represent a capital and surplus of $1,000,000 and assets of near $4,500,000.

It would be strange indeed, and perhaps unfortunate, if any one as well equipped in the art of manufacturing cotton and woolen fabrics as Colonel Fries should forego entirely putting his knowledge to account, and, as would be expected of one whose early manhood was spent in any particular line of labor, he is still interested in such enterprises, and, with the exception of a few years, has been active in the construction and operation of cotton factories. In the year 1896, together with a few associates, he established on the Mayo River, in Rockingham County, the town of Mayodan, a beautiful village on the Roanoke and Southern Railway. Here, in 1896, he led in the construction of the Mayo Mills, now operating 31,640 spindles. A mile or two above the site of the Mayo Mills, on Mayo River, in 1899, he developed an additional water-power, and, with his associates, constructed the Avalon Mills, now operating 18,120 spindles. At Fries, Virginia, in 1902, he projected a large and magnificent development known as the Washington Mills. He took the lead in this enterprise, obtaining large bodies of land on the waters of New River; in the counties of Gray son and Carroll, and there laid the foundation of one of the greatest cotton mill properties in the South. The town, now numbering over 2000 people, bears the name of Fries, given to it by his associates in honor of the subject of this sketch, and as a token of appreciation of his untiring efforts in their behalf. The development at Fries was made at a cost of nearly $1,250,000, and includes a water-power unrivaled in natural advantage, and affording at present 6000 horse-power. These three efficient mills, representing a capital and surplus of $3,000,000, were organized with Colonel Fries as president of each, and he now holds this executive office, daily engaged in its active duties. Among other cotton mills with which he is connected, Colonel Fries is at present director of the Arista Mills, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Oakdale Mills, Jamestown, North Carolina, and Thistle Mills, Ilchester, Maryland. Some idea of the extent of the business interests of this one man in the manufacture of cotton alone can be obtained when we consider the consumption of cotton in mills controlled by him, tabulated as follows: One bale of cotton out of every 500 raised in the United States; one bale of cotton out of every 150 used in America; one bale of cotton out of every seventy-five used in the South.

During all these years of business activity, personally filling important offices in banks, cotton mills and other institutions, Colonel Fries has given time to public affairs involving the interests of his associates or of those particular institutions with which he is connected. He has shown much interest in the North Carolina State Bankers' Association, has regularly attended its meetings and aided in perfecting this organization, being elected its president in 1904. At a meeting of this association held in 1905, in his home town of Winston-Salem, Colonel Fries delivered an address of especial merit. It was spoken of by those in attendance from within and without the State as a strong presentation of the work and duties of this important body of financiers. In the affairs of the American Bankers' Association he has actively participated as a member of the Executive Council, and is at present a member of the Executive Council of the trust company section of this association, doing work of national value. He has in this connection prepared and read many valuable papers noted in the American journals of finance, but perhaps the address delivered in New York at a meeting of this section of the National Bankers' Association, on September 15, 1904, received more comment from the general press of the country; and certainly no address from any source in regard to trust companies and their legitimate duties and obligations has received more favorable comment. Two extracts from this address are embodied in this sketch for the purpose of giving some idea not only of the author's literary style, but as evidence of the strong thought and intelligent reasoning which he gives this most important branch of finance, now receiving national consideration. In speaking of the present status of trust companies Mr. Fries says:

"The growth of the trust company business is slow and sometimes very discouraging, and there comes to not a few the necessity for some means of support. This fact and the temptation to obtain profits, cause the management to take up whatever presents the surest and quickest returns consistent with the charter. It may be, and it most frequently is, banking in its various forms. Again, the buying and selling of real estate, the dealing in stocks and bonds, or the promotion of some enterprise, and thus the trust company becomes in reality a bank of discount, a real estate company, a broker's office or something else. The name of the company and the chartered privileges in some cases indicate that the company was designed for other lines of business, and should never have been named a trust company at all. It is called a real estate and trust company and does a land company business, or an insurance and trust company and does an insurance business, or a banking and trust company and does a banking business, or a fidelity and trust company and does a bonding business. Besides this, we find that not a few State banks have been chartered with trust company privileges, and that some are seeking to do a business peculiar to the trust company."

Later in the address, the speaker, in warning the public as to the legitimate essentials of this institution, concludes:

"The trust company was conceived and organized to take the place of individuals in those fiduciary relations enumerated as executor, administrator, guardian, trustee, assignee, committee or agent; it will be observed that each and every one of these are positions of trust that are given or bestowed upon trust companies, and are created either by an individual, a corporation or a court of equity; that the duties incident to these positions compel the trust company to labor for and on behalf of persons or corporations outside of the company itself; and that the character of the position is such that the utmost good faith is required, and nothing inconsistent with the duties assumed or adverse to the interests involved would appear permissible. Broadly speaking, the trust company acts for others and not for itself. It serves the interest it represents, and gets its compensation for the services rendered. To engage, therefore, in a business incompatible with these relations would seem to be foreign to the purposes for which it was intended."

Much more extensive quotations from the addresses of Colonel Fries could be given here, but the writer feels constrained by limit of space to omit much which would be of interest and value, and is content to submit the above citations, which he hopes will serve the purpose intended.

During these years of constant occupation this active life has spent its share under the sheltering influence of home. In 1881 he married Letitia Walker Patterson, daughter of the Hon. Rufus L. Patterson and granddaughter of Governor John M. Morehead. She, together with an only daughter, died in 1884.

In 1886 he was married to Anna de Schweinitz, daughter of Bishop E. A. de Schweinitz, and this gracious and accomplished lady, and one daughter, now compose his household. Colonel Fries followed the faith of his fathers, and in youth became a member of the Moravian Church of Salem, North Carolina. He has taught in the Home Sunday School since 1874, and has been its superintendent since 1885. He is now a member of the Board of Elders of the Home Moravian Church, having served in this office since 1885. This long service in church work had its effect on a mind of strong convictions and of high moral tendency. He has "the full faith and not the lurking doubt," and no man carries with him in the devious paths of active business life his religious faith, and that so surely and yet unostentatiously, as Francis Henry Fries.

In private life Colonel Fries is just what would be expected of such a man so surrounded and circumstanced. The love of home is shown in his stately residence, surrounded by ample gardens and park, bearing every evidence of a calm assurance of wealth, refined by good taste and judgment. In appearance he presents the logic of blood and environment—tall, fair haired, blue eyed, quick in motion and calm at rest, of distinguished figure and features, wherein strong lineaments predominate. While barely past the fiftieth mile post, his face gives the expression of his life. Thought and determination are in well-marked lines, as if in the battle of life work and labor had been master; yet in time of social relaxation nature asserts its sway, and the grace of character born with him assumes control; the tender light of kindness takes the place of the stern glance of the man of affairs.

He is not prodigal of the wealth he has acquired, and has none of the ways of the spendthrift, yet knows an object of his bounty, and lends his aid to hundreds. He seeks no notoriety in doing good deeds, but rather holds to that rule of golden charity, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." In this character there is no bluster, no effort, no fulsome expression either of thought or manner, but in all things simple—the simplicity of the man of brains. Of his abilities and mental make up nothing need be said. It is best described in the work accomplished, in the achievements which speak the power that wrought so much and so well.

If there is any particular characteristic uppermost, and one which would strike the ordinary observer, it would be that of quiet repose, and a critical mind, after years of observation, would be sure to say of this man that his chiefest attribute is sagacity. He is clear in his own view of matters and positive in demand of his rights, yet in council respectful of the opinions of others. He is a good listener, yet speaks well when occasion requires. He has great capacity for labor and the keenest appreciation of the true measure of those who labor with him. These characteristics are clearly evidenced in his every-day actions and excite no special wonder, but the genius of the man lies in his keen dissection of the best counsel of others, in his clear comprehension of that which is wisest and of practical accomplishment. In this he is pre-eminent, and, with a mind developed to such perfection, it becomes that something, indefinable in words, which makes its possessor as one above his fellows and which, for want of a better name, we call common sense, probably because it is so rarely bestowed on any of the children of men.

It is difficult to speak the last word in drawing the character of a man when that man is still in full vigor, striving toward the accomplishment of greater things. Especially is it so when one daily sees his grasp of the present and his hold upon work that is to be done to-morrow. When, in this year, it became evident that a railroad line from Winston-Salem to Charleston, South Carolina, crossing the Norfolk and Western, the Southern, the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line within a distance of a hundred miles would be of great advantage to this community, Colonel Fries began the gigantic undertaking. An organization for this purpose is now under his management, known as the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway Company. Subscriptions in excess of $300,000 have been obtained from communities along its route, surveyors are mapping out the line, rights-of-way have been secured, and this undertaking, fraught with so much of value to the transportation facilities of Central North Carolina, seems, under the inspiration of his touch, now assured.

The tower of strength still stands, and the splendid achievements of this remarkable man may be but forerunners of greater achievements yet to come.

Clement Manly

Source: Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to Present, By Samuel A. Ashe, Vol. III, published 1906
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Fries was a manufacturer, banker and railroader, was born in Salem, the son of Francis Levin and Lisetta Maria Vogler Fries. His mother was the granddaughter of the silversmith, John Vogler, a prominent figure in early Salem; his father was active in community affairs and politics, serving in the General Assembly in 1858-59.

Young Fries attended the Salem Boys School and then was graduated from Davidson College in 1874. His career resembled that of his father, who founded the first successful textile mill in Salem. The Fries Manufacturing Company was built in 1839, became the F and H Fries Manufacturing Company in 1846, and was operated until 1928. It produced the famous "Salem Jeans." Fries, like his brothers, became a partner in the firm at age twenty-one; he was superintendent until 1887. In 1881 he built Arista Mills, the first mill in North Carolina to have electric lights. Shortly afterward, he started the Indera Mills.

In 1887, at the urging of R.J. Reynolds and others, Fries assumed the task of building a 122-mile railroad to cross the mountains and connect Winston and Salem to Roanoke. Completed in 1891 at a cost of $2 million, the Roanoke and Southern Railway, which Fries served at times as president and general manager, became part of the Norfolk and Western rail system in 1892. Plans to build another line from Winston and Salem to Wadesboro in order to connect with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad were postponed because of the depression of the 1890s. Later, in 1909-10, Fries helped his brother, Henry Elias Fries, then president of the Winston-Salem Southbound Railroad, complete the line to Wadesboro. The purpose of these rail lines was to prevent Winston and Salem from being commercially isolated.

In 1893, Fries went into banking as president of the first trust company in North Carolina, the Wachovia Loan and Trust Company, organized in 1891 by his uncle Henry, his brother John, and others. In 1911, this company joined with the Wachovia National Bank to become the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company, which became one of the largest in the South. Fries remained president until his death.

He also stayed heavily involved in the textile industry. In addition to his responsibilities at Arista Mills and Indera Mills, he founded Mayo Mills and the town of Mayodan in 1896, the Avalon Mills near Mayodan in 1899, and the Washington Mills at Fries, Virginia, in 1901. In 1923, these last three mills were consolidated as the Washington Mills at Fries, Virginia. Fries was president of the mills he organized as well as vice-president and director of the Oakdale Mills in Jamestown, president of the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company, and a director of several other companies.

A Democrat, Fries limited his political participation to serving on the staff of Governor Alfred M. Scales (1885-89), acquiring the title "Colonel," which he used thereafter as a convenient way to distinguish his name from that of his father. In 1904, he was elected president of the North Carolina Bankers Association, and he headed the trust section of the American Bankers Association. During World War I, he was a director of War Savings in North Carolina. Active in the Moravian church and his community, Fries was a Sunday school superintendent for twenty-five years and a trustee of Salem Academy and College. He initiated the Winston-Salem Foundation, which in 1970 had assets of $25 million.

On 23 November 1881 he married Letitia Walker Patterson, granddaughter of Governor John Motley Morehead and daughter of a leading North Carolina textile family; she died in 1884. Their only child, Louis Morehead, died in 1882. Fries's second wife, whom he married on 19 Aug. 1886, was Pauline deSchweinitz, daughter of a bishop of the Moravian church. Their only child, Rosa Eleanor, married Richard Furman Willingham. After his death in Winston-Salem, Fries was buried in Salem Cemetery.

SEE: Francis L. Fries Papers (Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill); Gilbert T. Stephenson, The Life and Story of a Trust Man: Being That of Francis Henry Fries (1930); Gary Trawick and Paul Wyche, One Hundred Years, One Hundred Men (1971); Who Was Who in America, vol. 1 (1943); Who's Who in the South (1927); Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel, 11 Oct. 1970; Margery W. Young, Textile Leaders of the South (1963).

This biography is by Tom E. Terrill