FOURTH GENERATION

53. Charles Brantley AYCOCK ⁽⁵⁾ was born on 1 Nov 1859 in Nahunta Township, Wayne County, NC. ^(34)(35) He received a degree in in 1880 in University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. ⁽³⁶⁾ He was elected as Governor in 1900 in North Carolina. ⁽⁵⁾ He died on 4 Apr 1912. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetary, Raleigh, NC. He was an attorney and elected official. "Aycock began the study of law with Dr. Kemp P. Battle during his Senior year at the University, completing the course under the direction and instruction of Mr. A. K. Smedes, a lawyer of marked ability and learning of the Goldsboro bar. He received his license from the Supreme Court at the January Term, 1881." (Connor & Poe: Life and Speeches of C.B. Aycock, p.44) He was named after Rev. Charles Brantley. ⁽³⁷⁾ Rev Brantley was "a Primitive Baptist minister for whom Benjamin and Serena felt strong affection." (Orr: C.B. Aycock, p.5) Known as the educational governor of North Carolina, Charles Brantley Aycock campaigned for Governor in 1900 on a platform of improving the public school system. Aycock received his education in eastern North Carolina and at the University of North Carolina. During his last year of college, he also read law, enabling him to open a law office in Goldsboro upon graduation. In 1892, he was appointed U. S. District Attorney for the eastern district and served in that role for six years. As Governor, he traveled around the state with the State Superintendent of Schools, Thomas F. Toon, to talk about his plans to improve the public schools. As a result mainly of their efforts and those of Charles D. McIver, the legislature increased its funding to the Department of Public Instruction, improved standards through consolidation of the training schools for Blacks, and established three colleges (Appalachian, Cullowhee, and East Carolina Teachers College). Most notable were the construction of 3,459 schoolhouses in an effort to expand the system of rural schools, and the addition of one month to the school term. Due to his successes in the educational arena, Governor Aycock traveled to other states to speak. While in Alabama in 1912, he was stricken and died while delivering one of these speeches to the Alabama Educational Association. He is buried in historic Oakwood Cemetery. (N.C. Dept. of Public Instruction) "The experiences of his family and community during the periods of Civil War and Reconstruction supplied him with lifelong attitudes of veneration for the people of the Confederacy, distrust of the North, and distaste for the Republican party. His father was a slave holder, and although Aycock assented to the idea of abolition, he never lost his conviction that the Negro race was inferior to the white race." (Orr: C.B. Aycock, p.3)

He was married to Varina WOODARD (daughter of ? WOODARD and (?)) on 25 May 1881.⁽³⁸⁾ Varina WOODARD was born about 1861.⁽³⁹⁾ She died on 9 Jul 1889.⁽⁴⁰⁾ Charles Brantley AYCOCK and Varina WOODARD had the following children:

86 i. Ernest AYCOCK was born in 1882.⁽⁴¹⁾ He died in 1882.⁽⁴²⁾
87 ii. Charles Brantley AYCOCK was born on 28 Dec 1883. ⁽⁴³⁾ He died on 10 Aug 1901.⁽⁴⁴⁾ He "died of spinal meningitis." (Orr: C.B. Aycock, p.37)
+88 iii. Alice AYCOCK.

He was married to Cora WOODARD (daughter of ? WOODARD and (?)) in Jan 1891.⁽⁴⁵⁾ Cora WOODARD⁽⁴⁶⁾ was born about 1868. ⁽⁴⁷⁾ "She was described as resembling Varina in appearance, gentleness of manner, and devotion to domestic life." (Orr: C.B. Aycock, p.37) Charles Brantley AYCOCK and Cora WOODARD had the following children:

89 i. William Benjamin AYCOCK (Private).
90 ii. Mary Lily AYCOCK (Private).
91 iii. Connor Woodard AYCOCK (Private).
92 iv. John Lee AYCOCK (Private).
93 v. Luoise Rountree AYCOCK (Private).
94 vi. Frank Daniels AYCOCK (Private).
95 vii. Brantley AYCOCK (Private).