Arris Idyl Ferree (1890-1965)

From the 1943 edition of the North Carolina Manual.

    It's not often that the same legislative session in a particular state produces more than one or two oddly named political figures at a time. With that fact in mind, this author can state with the utmost certainty that the 1943-44 session of the North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives takes the cake when it comes to oddly named public officials, as there were a grand total of nine men serving in that session with unusual names! Among these curiously named legislators were Fleetus Lee Gobble (1890-1961), Ippie Purvis Graham (1890-1962), Coble Funderburk (1905-2000), Erasmus Alston Daniel (1911-1948), Junius LeRoy Allen (1894-1970), Sumter Coe Brawley (1878-1961), Lorrimer Willard Midgett (1911-1980) and Gurley Stewart (1911-1996). Arris Idyl "A.I." Ferree (a two-term representative from Randolph County) is another amongst this motley crew of strange names and has the honor of receiving a write-up today here on the site.

   This prominent son of Asheboro, North Carolina was born in that city on October 9, 1890, the son of farmer and merchant Arris Mebane and Sarah Harrelson Ferree. Ferree attended the Gold Hill School and Asheboro Academy and studied at Guilford College from 1907 to 1908. He later enrolled at Wake Forest College and graduated in 1914 with a law degree. In the following year, Ferree established a law practice over a jewelry business in Asheboro and at the dawn of American involvement in WWI signed on for service in the Army, becoming a First Lieutenant of Field Artillery.

   After returning stateside Ferree reentered the practice of law, moving his office in 1922 to an area called "Lawyer's Row" in Asheboro, where he operated until his decease in 1965. In 1925 he won election as a Republican to the North Carolina State House of Representatives, and after taking his seat proved to be busy as a first-term legislator, being named to the committees on Agriculture, Education, Election Laws, the Journal; Judiciary (No. 1), Penal Institutions, Privileges and Elections, Public Roads and Turnpikes, and Public Welfare.

    After his term in 1927, Ferree returned to practicing law in Asheboro and in the following year launched a campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 7th district, running against three-term Democratic incumbent William Cicero Hammer (1865-1930). On election day 1928, the contest proved to be a close one, with Ferree losing to Hammer by a vote of 39,106 to 41,124. Despite losing by a slim margin, the undeterred Ferree went on to mount another campaign for Congress eight years later, running against Harold Dunbar Cooley (1894-1970) of Nash County. On election day 1934, the electoral results were clearly in favor of Cooley, who bested Ferree by a vote of 56,703 to 17, 179. Cooley would go on to serve a total of thirty years in Congress (retiring in 1967) and chaired the House Committee on Agriculture for a record sixteen years. 

  This period of unsuccessful candidacies saw Ferree achieve some measure of consolation when he was named as part of the North Carolina delegation to the 1932 Republican National Convention in Chicago that renominated Herbert Hoover for the presidency. In February 1936 Arris Ferree married in Asheboro to Mabel Parrish (1905-1993), and the new couple is recorded as later honeymooning in Florida. A notice on their wedding is provided below, as it appeared in the February 13, 1936 edition of the Spartanburg Herald.

   Following his nuptials, Ferree continued to be politically active, both at the local and state levels. In 1940 he was an unsuccessful candidate for North Carolina Secretary of State, losing out to Democrat Thaddeus Eure in a lopsided contest, 601, 395 votes to 192, 938. In 1941 Ferree was elected to serve on the Asheboro Board of Commissioners and in the year following was elected to a second term in the North Carolina State House of Representatives. During the 1943-44 legislative session, Ferree was named to the committee on Roads and in 1944 launched a run for the United States Senate, campaigning against former North Carolina Governor Clyde Roark Hoey (1877-1954). A notice on Ferree's Senate candidacy (shown below) appeared in the High Point Enterprise on November 2, 1944. It touted that Ferree "stands for world cooperation to preserve peace, also preparedness. His election would give North Carolina recognition nationally". Ferree was defeated by Hoey by a vote of 533, 813 to his own 226,037. 

From the Raeford, N.C. News-Journal, November 2, 1944.

   After 1944 A.I. Ferree refrained from further political campaigns but continued to be active in Asheboro civic affairs, serving as President of the local Chamber of Commerce, chairman of Randolph County's Red Cross Chapter, and is remarked by his obituary as being instrumental in establishing and editing the Randolph Tribune. In 1948 he was named a judge of the Asheboro Recorder's Court, serving until 1952.

 Ferree died of an apparent heart attack on June 19, 1965, while engaged in gardening at his home. Following a funeral service, he was interred at the Asheboro City Cemetery and was survived by his wife Mabel, who died in March 1993 at age 87. The following obituary for Arris Idyl Ferree appeared in the High Point Enterprise on June 19, 1965.

Ippie Purvis Graham (1889-1962)

From the 1949 South Carolina Manual of the legislature.

   Following on the heels of the April 18th article on Fleetus Lee Gobble, today's write-up highlights the life and accomplishments of another North Carolina State Representative--Ippie Purvis Graham. This interestingly named man served alongside Fleetus Gobble in the North Carolina legislature for several years, and one can wonder if these two funny-named politicians ever went palling around the state capitol together. I can almost imagine someone falling over with laughter when they were introduced to representatives "Ippie" and "Fleetus"!

   All humor aside, Ippie P. Graham's curious name didn't keep him from pursuing a lengthy career in public service. His story begins on February 3, 1889, when he was born in Proctorville, North Carolina, the son of Charles William and Mary Jane Hedgpeth Graham. Graham received the unusual first name "Ippie" in honor of his uncle, a North Carolina Baptist minister named Ippie Purvis Hedgpeth, and the only available biographical source on Graham is a brief write-up in the North Carolina Manual published during his service in the legislature. His birth year is variously given as either 1889 or 1890, although a good majority of the sources mentioning him give 1889 as the correct year.

  Graham received his education at the Stinson Institute and later studied at the King's Business College from 1911-1912. The majority of Graham's life was centered around farming pursuits in his native town, and he is listed by the North Carolina Manual as being the proprietor of a cotton gin. In addition to his being a farmer, the Manual mentions Graham as being a cashier at the Bank of Proctorville and also as a Sunday school superintendent for the Proctorville Baptist Church. Graham later married Ms. Athesia Powell (1895-1974), with whom he had three children, Hal, Paul, and daughter Stennett Graham McLeod (1927-2016).

                                          Ippie P. Graham, from the May 31, 1942 edition of the Robesonian.

   Ippie Graham's first candidacy for public office came during the First World War when he was elected as Mayor of Proctorville, serving from 1917-1919. Graham's obituary in the 1962 Robesonian newspaper also gives note that he served as judge of the Fairmont Recorder Court for six years, 1933-1939. In Graham's last year of service on that court, the citizens of Robeson County elected him to the first of four terms in the North Carolina State House of Representatives, and he began his first term in January 1939. His service in the legislature lasted nearly a decade (except the 1941-43 session) and during his tenure held seats on several committees, including the following: Agriculture; Appropriations; Banks and Banking; Congressional Districts; Counties, Cities, and Towns; Court and Judicial Districts; Drainage; Education; the Journal; Military Affairs; and Printing.

Ippie Graham receiving the Adrian B. McRae Award for Robeson County Man of the Year, in 1961.

   At the conclusion of his legislative service in 1949, Graham returned to his home in Proctorville and later held a seat on the Proctorville Board of Education from 1949 until he retired from public life in 1961. He served as the chairman of this board from 1950 until the fall of 1960. The Robesonian also notes that Graham was honored by his fellow citizens as Robeson County Man of the Year for 1961. In addition to this accolade, Graham was a longstanding member in the Masonic Lodge of Proctorville.

  Ippie Purvis Graham died at a hospital in Lumberton, North Carolina on February 10, 1962, at age 73 and was later interred at the Proctorville Cemetery in Fairmont, North Carolina. The obituary below for Graham marks the second picture that I've located of the man, and I'm extremely happy to have located it (via the website newspaperarchive.com!)

Graham's obituary as it appeared in the Robesonian on January 12, 1962.