Jeffress, E. B. (Edwin Bedford), 1887-1961

Edwin Bedford Jeffress, owner of the "Greensboro Daily News"; mayor of Greensboro, N.C., from 1925 to 1929; and member of the North Carolina General Assembly from Guilford County in 1931. In May 1931, he was appointed chair of the State Highway Commission by Governor O. Max Gardner. When the North Carolina State Highway and Public Works Commission was formed in 1933, Jeffress was named chair by Governor John C. B. Ehringhaus. His tenure was cut short, however, by an illness that rendered him a semi-invalid for the rest of his life, much of which he spent at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, writing a history of North Carolina.

Edwin Bedford Jeffress was born in Canton, N.C., the son of Charles James (d. 1933) and Maria Love Osborne Jeffress (d. 1934). He was graduated from Asheville High School in 1903 and entered the University of North Carolina in that same year. At UNC, he earned a Phi Beta Kappa key for scholarship and an Omicron Delta Kappa key for leadership. During his last two years, he was an assistant instructor in geology. In 1907, he received his B.A. degree with a major in general science.

Jeffress taught at the Bingham Military School in Asheville from 1907 to 1909, working during the summers as a reporter for the Asheville Gazette News . In 1909, he quit his teaching job to become a full-time member of the Gazette News staff. Two years later, the Gazette News acquired the Greensboro Daily News . Jeffress is believed to have been the first reporter to serve as staff correspondent in the state capital, where he wrote special dispatches for both the Asheville and the Greensboro paper.

In late 1911, Jeffress purchased a half interest in the Greensboro Daily News and assumed the role of business manager. In 1918, he became president of the Greensboro News Company. The growth in circulation and influence of the Greensboro Daily News, and, later, its afternoon counterpart, the Greensboro Record, was largely attributed to Jeffress. In 1934, Jeffress became seriously ill; subsequent brain surgery resulted in a general incapacitation until his death in 1961. Although he experienced some difficulty getting around, he remained alert and lived out his days at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill.

During his years in public life, Jeffress demonstrated a deep interest in everything that concerned the growth and development of Greensboro. From the first, he was an energetic member of the Chamber of Commerce, serving as president 1921-1922. He also served on the city council, and, as mayor of Greensboro from 1925 to 1929, did much to enhance the city, including playing an important part in establishing the Greensboro-High Point Airport.

Elected to the North Carolina General Assembly, Jeffress proved to be an effective and energetic legislator in the 1931 session, where he served on the on the Commission to Study the Prison Situation in North Carolina and was chair of the House Committee on Reorganization of State Government. Jeffress also worked on the transfer of county roads and county prisoners from local to state control under the State Highway Commission, the consolidation of the three state institutions of higher learning into the Greater University of North Carolina, and other landmark legislation. In May 1931, he was appointed chair of the State Highway Commission by Governor O. Max Gardner. In 1933, the state's prisons were added to the Highway Commission's responsibilities. When the North Carolina State Highway and Public Works Commission was formed in 1933, Jeffress was named chair by Governor John C. B. Ehringhaus, but his tenure was cut short by illness.

Jeffress married Louise Bond Adams on 17 July 1913, and they had five children: Rebecca, who married Winfield S. Barney Jr.; twins Edward Bedford Jr., and Charles (Carl) Osborne; Mary Louise, who married A. Bradford McLean; and Sarah Clark Tate, who married Bruce O. Jolly.

(Adapted from the note by C. Sylvester Green in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Volume 3, 1988.)