James Ozborn Carr

A native of rural Duplin County, James Ozborn Carr graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1895. He passed the bar exam in 1896 and eventually moved to Wilmington where he joined George Rountree (1855-1942) in a successful legal practice. Carr had been elected to the state legislature in 1898 representing Duplin County and, as a state legislator, met Rountree, a Democratic legislator from New Hanover County. Rountree, incidentally, chaired the committee on constitutional reform that drafted the “Grandfather Clause” to the literacy amendment to the state constitution. The latter enabled for extended white voting even while effectively enabling the disenfranchisement of the black male population. Carr’s partnership with Rountree practicing law led him to reside in Wilmington until his passing in 1949.

Along with his legal practice, Carr had strong interests in the educational advancement of the state. Like other Democrats of his time, Carr envisioned educational growth within the context of Jim Crow segregation. Simultaneous with his service as a charter member of the ECTTS board, Carr chaired the New Hanover County Board of Education, from 1909 to 1916. As an ECTTS trustee, Carr was appointed along with fellow trustee Yancey Ormond (1858-1922) to serve on the committee responsible for negotiating the purchase of the 47.5 acres of land that became East Carolina’s original campus. At the state level, Gov. Angus W. McLean (1870-1935) appointed Carr to the North Carolina Education Commission in 1925. As that commission’s chair, Carr oversaw “the first comprehensive study of the state’s public school system.”

Carr was also president of the Wilmington Star Company, newspaper publishers, from 1919-1927, and a founder of the People’s Savings Bank and Trust Company and Carolina Savings and Loan Association. He was also active in bar associations at every level.

Sources:

• James O. Carr Papers, #1787, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/c/Carr,James_O.html

• Carr, Eugenie W. “Carr, James Ozborn.” NCPedia. Article from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by William S. Powell. University of North Carolina Press. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/carr-james-ozborn

• Cowper, Albert W. “Rountree, George.” NCPedia. Article from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by William S. Powell. University of North Carolina Press. https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/rountree-george

• Hunt, James L. “Grandfather Clause.” NCPedia. Article from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by William S. Powell. University of North Carolina Press. https://www.ncpedia.org/grandfather-clause

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