A 1967 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Melvin L. (Mel) Watt (1945-) earned the highest academic average in his class at UNC's Business School. He earned his law degree from Yale University in 1970, and returned to his hometown of Charlotte to practice law.
This educator, author and soldier was part of a prominent South Carolina family that owned land, sawmills, and iron works near in the York area. Daniel Harvey Hill (c.1821-1899) graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1838. He fought in the Mexican War (1846-48). During the Civil War he led troops in battles in Tennessee, northern Virginia, along the North Carolina coast and at the infamous Battle of Antietam, Maryland.
Benjamin Patton was one of the original signers of the Meckenburg Declaration of Independence. Very little is known about Benjamin Patton. He is believed to have moved here from Pennsylvania with other early settlers. Although he first purchased land on 1/24/1762 on Buffalo Creek in Anson County from Governor Arthur Dobbs' royal grant, he later was a citizen of Cabarrus County, Mecklenburg and Cabarrus Counties not having been formed yet.
Jane Smedberg Wilkes (1827-1913) is remembered as the Godmother of Charlotte Hospitals. A native of New York City. Jane Smedberg married Navy Captain John Wilkes in 1854. Captain Wilkes ran Mecklenburg Iron Works. Captain and Mrs. Renwick had nine children, five of whom died at an early age.
General Robert Irwin (8/26/1738 - ?) was one of the original signers of the Meckenburg Declaration of Independence. The Irvines, later Irwins, came from Ireland to Pennsylvania about 1730. Robert's father died in Pennsylvania in 1763, so he sold his land gained from his inheritance to a brother and moved to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
John Phifer (March 25, 1747 - 1778) was one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. He was the son of Martin Phifer, a Swiss emigrant, who came to America in the late 1730s. Phifer was a planter and prosperous land owner. His land included two State grants that were given after the state was organized. In 1768, he married Catherine Barringer, the daughter of Mecklenburg Declaration signer, Paul Barringer.
Captain John Wilkes (1827-1908) was a native of New York City. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy where he graduated first in his class in 1847. His naval travels took him from the Gulf of Mexico to China. After his marriage to the former Jane Smedberg, The Wilkes settled in Charlotte. Captain Wilkes was made manager of the Mecklenburg Iron Works plant in 1859. During the Civil War, the Confederate government took control of the plant to make tools and equipment for its navy.
Ivey's parents believed their young son's vision problems would prevent him from being able to learn in a classroom, so they arranged for him to study carpentry instead. As an industrious young man, Joseph Ivey (1864-1958), a Shelby native, went to work in general stores.
The eleventh president of the U.S., James Knox Polk (1795-1849), was the oldest of 10 children. He was a descendant of a Scottish religious reformer named John Knox. His family members helped organize the Presbyterian Church in the region. Polk was born near Pineville in Mecklenburg County, not far from the birthplace of another president, Andrew Jackson. Polk graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1818.
John Taylor Williams (1859-1924), the man who would become an educator, physician, businessman and diplomat, was born in Cumberland County, N.C., the son of free blacks during the time of slavery. In 1880, he graduated at the top of his class at the State Normal School, now Fayetteville University. He taught at Myers Street School, the first school for black children in Charlotte.