On December 30, 1854, Lunsford Richardson, inventor of Vicks VapoRub, was born in Johnston County.
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On December 30, 1873, John H. Kerr was born in Yanceyville. Educated at what is now Wake Forest University, Kerr began practicing law in Warrenton in 1895. After serving as town attorney and as mayor, he was elected judge of the Superior Court in 1916. Judge Kerr, as he was known thereafter, served on the bench until 1923.
On December 29, 1835, U.S. government officials and about 500 Cherokee Indians claiming to represent their 16,000-member tribe, met at New Echota, Georgia, and signed a treaty. The agreement led to the forced removal of Cherokees from their southeastern homelands to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.
On December 28, 1976, legislator and U.S. comptroller general Lindsay Warren died.A Washington, N.C. native, Warren became involved in Democratic politics at a young age, serving as chair of the Beaufort County Democratic Party before being elected to the state Senate in 1917. In Raleigh, Warren was closely associated with O. Max Gardner’s political machine.
On December 28, 1700, explorer John Lawson — with a party of five Englishmen and various Indian guides— set out from Charleston on a journey through the backcountry of Carolina.
On December 28, 1878, “Father of the Pacific Fruit Industry” Henderson Luelling died in Oakland, California.Born in Randolph County in 1809, Luelling was a Quaker active in the Underground Railroad before he risked his life to take fruit trees to the West Coast via the deep-rutted Oregon Trail.
On December 27, 1752, the survey for a Moravian settlement began in what is now Clemmons.
On December 27, 1857, Republican Congressman, educator, and conservative and diplomatic advocate for racial equality Henry Plummer Cheatham was born with slave status near Henderson.
On December 26, 1919, Civil War soldier, planter and politician William Ruffin Cox died in Richmond, Virginia.Born in Scotland Neck in 1832, Cox was raised and educated in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1857, he returned to North Carolina, where he owned a large plantation in Edgecombe County and established a law practice in Raleigh.
On December 26, 1959, businessman and amateur geologist Burnham Colburn died in Asheville.A native of Michigan, Colburn’s first enterprise after arriving in North Carolina was helping to organize Biltmore Estate Company, which sought to help local youths achieve independence by teaching them traditional crafts to sell for the economic benefit of the region. Before the end of his career, he was also heavily involved in North Carolina’s banking industry. Colburn was a man of many hobbies.