William Asbury Whitaker was born on this day in 1843, in Yadkin County, to John and Mary Vestal Whitaker. His parents died when William was young, so he lived with his uncle, John Long.
He attended the Academy at East Bend for three years, and joined the Confederate Army. He rose to the rank of major. He worked on a farm and in a country store, with limited education and business opportunities because of the Civil War and reconstruction.
In the early 1870s, he worked in Georgia as a representative of Joseph A. Bitting, a Yadkin County tobacco manufacturer. He worked there in the tobacco business, then came to Winston-Salem to become a member of the partnership firm of Bitting and Whitaker. When Mr. Bitting died, Whitaker took over the business and conducted it under his name as long as he lived. He formed the business of Whitaker-Harvey, with Thomas Rucker and William L. Harvey.
In 1881, he married Anna Bitting, the daughter of his early employer.
One of his tobacco brands was “Lucille,” and the 1889/1890 ad shown below advertises his tobacco manufacturing business.
Although Whitaker had limited educational opportunities, he was interested in developing the city’s educational system. He was a member of the first five-man Board of School Commissioners, elected by the citizens, to establish and carry on a system of tax-supported schools. They established the town’s first graded school, West End Graded School.
Whitaker was one of the founders and the president of the city’s first electric power and streetcar company. He was also one of the founders and the first president of the Twin City Club. He was also a Mason.
In 1953, the new school under construction in Buena Vista was named for William A. Whitaker. That original school was demolished, and another Whitaker school was built on the site.
William A. Whitaker passed away in 1912. His son, John C. Whitaker, followed his father in the tobacco business, and was chairman of the board for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
At the time of his funeral service, sales of tobacco were halted at the four tobacco warehouses, and the warehouse bells tolled.
Photos courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
