Arthur Talmage Abernethy

Arthur Talmage Abernethy (October 10, 1872 – May 15, 1956) was a writer, theologian, and poet. He pastored several churches, contributed articles and poems to newspapers around the United States, and was named by Governor R. Gregg Cherry as the first North Carolina Poet Laureate in 1948.

Biography

Early life and education Abernethy was born October 10, 1872, in Rutherford College, North Carolina, a town named for the college of which his grandfather was founder and president. Born the fifth son to Rev. Robert Laban and Mary Ann Hayes Abernethy. Some of his work appeared in Collier's Weekly.

He married several times, the last time to widow Edna Beatty Lachot of Pennsylvania. She had two children and Abernethy adopted her daughter Anna Mary. He ran for United States House of Representatives in 1928 as an anti-Al Smith candidate, losing in the Democratic primary to incumbent Alfred L. Bulwinkle.

A member of the Ku Klux Klan, Abernethy vowed in 1922 that a million American Klansmen were set to invade Canada to bring Matthew Bullock, a black North Carolinian whose brother had been lynched the prior year, back to the state. Bullock, who had been allowed to remain in Canada after entering the country illegally, went into hiding as a result of threats from Abernethy and other white supremacists.

He was instrumental in helping establish a Carnegie library in Rutherford College, the first free public library in Burke County. That same year, Governor Clyde R. Hoey declared Abernethy to be an honorary citizen for life of Charlotte, Hickory, Asheville, and Valdese, North Carolina. Mechanics and Practice of Electric Telegraph (1891) Center-Shots at Sin (1918) Twenty-five Best Sermons (1920) Moonshine: Being Appalachia's Arabian Nights (1924) The Apostles' Creed: A Romance in Religion (1925) Christian's Treasure Island: A Restoration Romance (1927) A Royal Southern Family (historical romance based on his family history; 1934) Where are Our Dead? (1935)

Abernethy also authored pamphlets including: Did Washington Aspire to be King? (1910)