Dean Needham Yancey Gulley
Founder and Dean of the Law School at Wake Forest College (University)
& my Great-Grandfather for whom I was named
& my Great-Grandfather for whom I was named
My paternal great-grandfather, Dr. N. Y. Gulley, also known as Dean N. Y. Gulley, was a rather significant North Carolinian. I was named for him and spent my childhood hearing stories of various pieces of his life and looking at his obituary. While my childhood was less than glamorous, hearing about his educational triumphs was motivating and showed me an otherwise seemingly impossible future. As I got older and did my own investigating, I have learned a great deal more about his story and the family history. A bit of that information is shared here.
N. Y. Gulley was born in 1855 near what is now Clayton, N.C. At the time the area was called Gulley's Store for the general store and post office his father owned and operated. His brother opened a men's clothing store in town and N. Y. gained an education and moved to Franklinton, N.C. where he began teaching in the first graded school in the area and eventually editing the local newspaper and apprenticing law. He was later hired by Wake Forest College to start teaching law. It was a slow start but he eventually built the educational program to a respected and successful law school. He was known for the high percentage of students who graduated and passed the bar exam. While staying on as Dean of the law school he was named to the Wake County Board of Education on which he served for his lifetime. He also served a term in the N.C. Legislature and twice revised the N.C. legal statutes. During his career teaching and serving as Dean at Wake Forest College School of Law, it is estimated that he taught over 1700 students. When he retired he continued to support local education and was brought out of retirement in 1942 because of a lack of faculty brought on by the war. He served as an educator until his death in 1945.
My great-grandfather married Alice Wingate, daughter of the then president of Wake Forest College, Washington Manly Wingate. Later Wingate University would be named for him.
N. Y. Gulley was also a fan of agriculture and owned several farm properties, including a dairy, as well as a tree farm where I happened to grow up.
More information about N. Y. Gulley can be found at the following links.
https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/gulley-needham-yancey
https://wakeforestgazette.com/just-a-little-history-professor-n-y-gulleys-remarkable-record/
https://wakeforestmuseum.org/2014/01/04/the-high-humor-and-historic-times-of-dr-n-y-gulley/
https://books.google.com/books?id=XQgrjw9qiqcC&pg=PA456&lpg=PA456&dq=needham+yancey+gulley+google+books&source=bl&ots=rDbmSk-25o&sig=ACfU3U0FMfzT9qxeWIv0GVTDmWtema986A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiVzIPppeD1AhVhSjABHRM4C8MQ6AF6BAgDEAM#v=onepage&q=needham%20yancey%20gulley%20google%20books&f=false
N. Y. Gulley was born in 1855 near what is now Clayton, N.C. At the time the area was called Gulley's Store for the general store and post office his father owned and operated. His brother opened a men's clothing store in town and N. Y. gained an education and moved to Franklinton, N.C. where he began teaching in the first graded school in the area and eventually editing the local newspaper and apprenticing law. He was later hired by Wake Forest College to start teaching law. It was a slow start but he eventually built the educational program to a respected and successful law school. He was known for the high percentage of students who graduated and passed the bar exam. While staying on as Dean of the law school he was named to the Wake County Board of Education on which he served for his lifetime. He also served a term in the N.C. Legislature and twice revised the N.C. legal statutes. During his career teaching and serving as Dean at Wake Forest College School of Law, it is estimated that he taught over 1700 students. When he retired he continued to support local education and was brought out of retirement in 1942 because of a lack of faculty brought on by the war. He served as an educator until his death in 1945.
My great-grandfather married Alice Wingate, daughter of the then president of Wake Forest College, Washington Manly Wingate. Later Wingate University would be named for him.
N. Y. Gulley was also a fan of agriculture and owned several farm properties, including a dairy, as well as a tree farm where I happened to grow up.
More information about N. Y. Gulley can be found at the following links.
https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/gulley-needham-yancey
https://wakeforestgazette.com/just-a-little-history-professor-n-y-gulleys-remarkable-record/
https://wakeforestmuseum.org/2014/01/04/the-high-humor-and-historic-times-of-dr-n-y-gulley/
https://books.google.com/books?id=XQgrjw9qiqcC&pg=PA456&lpg=PA456&dq=needham+yancey+gulley+google+books&source=bl&ots=rDbmSk-25o&sig=ACfU3U0FMfzT9qxeWIv0GVTDmWtema986A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiVzIPppeD1AhVhSjABHRM4C8MQ6AF6BAgDEAM#v=onepage&q=needham%20yancey%20gulley%20google%20books&f=false