Copyright Notice: This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

26 Feb. 1887–22 Mar. 1951

Wilbur High Royster's 1907 picture from Yackety Yack, UNC Chapel Hill's yearbook. Image courtesy of the NC Collection, UNC Chapel Hill.
Wilbur High Royster's 1907 picture from Yackety Yack, UNC Chapel Hill's yearbook. Image courtesy of the NC Collection, UNC Chapel Hill.
Wilbur High Royster, lawyer, merchant, and teacher, was born in Raleigh, the son of Vermont Connecticut and Hallie Lee High Royster. He attended the Morson Academy in Raleigh and was graduated from The University of North Carolina in 1907. A member of the North Carolina National Guard between 1904 and 1911, he attended the Johns Hopkins University in 1908–9 and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece, in the same year. He received the master of arts degree from Harvard University in 1911.

From 1912 to 1915 Royster was an instructor of Latin and Greek at The University of North Carolina. While there he contributed to Studies in Philology an article on the authorship and interpretation of a work attributed to Aeschylus. Leaving the university, he returned to Raleigh to manage the A. D. Royster Candy Company on Fayetteville Street, a popular Raleigh institution for many years, founded by his father. When the company was sold some years later, he studied law and became a member of the Wake County bar.

In 1913 Royster married Olivette Broadway, of Monroe, La., and they became the parents of three children: Vermont Connecticut II, Saravette, and Thomas Broadway, who was killed during World War II in the invasion of Tarawa. Royster, a Baptist, was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.

References:

Daniel L. Grant, Alumni History of the University of North Carolina (1924).

Raleigh News and Observer, 23 Mar. 1951.

Who's Who in the South (1927).

Additional Resources:

Royster, Wilbur High. "Authorship and Interpretation of the 'ЕК ТНΣ МОгΣΙΚНΣ 'ΙΣТОРΙАΣ." Studies in Philology. 1913. JSTOR (through Internet Archive): https://archive.org/details/jstor-4171669. 

Image Credits:

"Royster, Wilbur H." Yackety Yack. 1907. University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Image courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, UNC Chapel Hill. http://library.digitalnc.org/cdm/ref/collection/yearbooks/id/936.

Citation

Powell, William S. "Royster, Wilbur High." NCpedia. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press. Accessed on December 12th, 2024. http://ncpedia-02.dcs.mcnc.org/biography/royster-wilbur-high.