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Matt Hines, General Contractor

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Matt Hines, General Contractor

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James Madison "Matt" Hines was born July 31, 1893 at his parent's farm in
Carroll County, Virginia - not very far from the North Carolina border. Matt's father
was William "Will" Hines. Will's parents were Robert Hines and Susan Forkner, who
lived in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Matt's mother was Mary E. Virginia "Mollie" Mitchell. Mollie was born in
Franklin County, Virginia and her parents were William Allen "Buck" Mitchell and
Nancy Jane Price.

Matt married Stella Sherman Parker on May 12, 1917 in Mount Airy. Early in
their marriage, Matt built a two-story home for his wife and young daughter, Alma. It was the first home he built and is located at the corner of Country Club Road and
North Main Street. The current address is 1809 North Main Street. Matt did most of
the work on that house himself. The lumber for the house came from his family's
land in Virginia. He loaded logs onto a horse-drawn cart and took them to a mill to
have them cut into lumber.

When a contractor came to Mount Airy to build a school, Matt got a job with
him, and stayed on that project until it was finished. The contractor then placed Matt in charge of remodeling a house. Soon after that, Matt's brother-in-law, WeldonParker, asked Matt to build a new house for him. Then, several other people asked him to do the same thing. Matt taught himself how to draw blueprints, and he started his own contracting business.

As Matt's business became successful, he built a new home for his family,
which later included another daughter Marianna. It was a two-story brick home and
is located at what is now 1132 North Main Street in Mount Airy. He built that home
in the 1920s and was originally numbered 480 North Main Street.
Over the years, Matt employed many people and built many houses, including
some of the nicest homes in Mount Airy. He built some of the stores downtown and schools and churches. Matt also built homes in other towns, including Dobson and Winston-Salem, where one of his projects was a big apartment building. He also built many houses to rent and sell. Sometimes Matt had three to five projects going at once.

To keep a steady supply of lumber, Matt bought tracts of land and started his own
lumber company. He also opened Hines Pallet and Reel Company where they made pallets for the government during World War II. The most active years for Matt and his contracting business were in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Matt eventually retired in the 1950s and moved part-time to Daytona Beach, Florida. He died on July 4, 1980 and was buried in Mount Airy at Oakdale Cemetery.